The Heritage Herb Garden at the Ozark Folk Center grace the park with visual colors and textures, sweet and pungent aromas, and help us to interpret the history of the human use of plants.
On February 9, 2013, the 5th Annual Ozark Seed Swap will take place in the Bois D’arc Conference Center at the Ozark Folk Center State Park. This event is collaboration between the park and the University of Central Arkansas at Conway.
The name of the project is Conserving Arkansas’s Agricultural Heritage (CAAH!). The motto is “One for the cut worm, one for the crow, one to share and one to grow”. Log on to www.arkansasagro.wordpress.com for more information about the program and seed sharing events throughout the state. The mission of CAAH! is to preserve and distribute traditional (heirloom) seed varieties. The results of the this project will be the collection of information on endangered seeds, promotion of a seed sharing resource and the rejuvenation of traditional Ozark seed swaps. University students will document the seeds, grow them out in CAAH! gardens to distribute the next season, and catalogue them in a database of local varieties. Arkansas farmers and gardeners have a legacy of heirloom seeds that are in danger of being lost. Sharing seeds will encourage production of diverse varieties for posterity.
Got Whippoorwills, Razorbacks, Red Rippers, Pencil Cob, Hickory King, Greaseback or Turkey Craws to trade? Are you saving dill, cilantro and parsley seed? We invite you to bring some seeds and stories to swap with other Ozark seed savers and yarn spinners. If you have no seeds to swap but want to get started, come along to mingle with gardeners and farmers who can help. Come with the intent to grow the seed you obtain and return in 2014 to swap what you save for even more varieties. If you do not have seeds, you could bring envelopes or garden implements, baked goods or tea, just anything to share or trade with other gardeners. In this way, we can conserve the heritage of Arkansas. It is also traditional to bring an instrument and join in a pickin’. If I don’t see you in the future—I’ll see you in the pasture!