Rocky Mountain Seed Alliance, Inc.

The Rocky Mountain Seed Alliance is a nonprofit organization working to assure an abundant and diverse supply of local seeds for the Rocky Mountain region through education, networking, and establishing community-based models of seed stewardship.

We are a nonprofit organization working to connect communities in the Mountain West with the local seeds that sustain them. The Rocky Mountain Seed Alliance is working to create community networks of seed growers, distributors, educators, and resources in our region. Our goal is to inventory the seed diversity we have, find out what we need, identify growers and stewards to conserve this diversity, and then save a backup copy of everything we find. The Rocky Mountain Seed Alliance is seeking gardeners and farmers to become Seed Stewards, Heritage Grain Trialers and Seed Teachers in their communities. Seed Stewards are individuals who are committed to preserving and sharing seed diversity. They may already be skillful seed savers or just beginning to learn about this ancient art and practice. The Rocky Mountain Heritage Grain Trials Project aims to revive the production, use, and cultural experience of locally grown heritage grains in our region's communities. We identified 285 ancient and heritage grain varieties that we think will perform well in our areas, and then recruited more than 100 citizen scientist growers to test first then increase quantities of the best performing varieties for use by local farmers. RMSA has also recruited and trained more than 100 passionate and engaged seed educators who can present their own Seed School in a Day workshops in their own localities. RMSA equips teachers with everything they need to do this including: resources, class materials, PowerPoint presentations, flyers, online event registration, and overall support.

Testimonials

"Seed School has been the most effective short training ramp-up for seed librarians, seed bankers, and small seed micro-enterprise startups of any initiative in the last two decades."

- Dr. Gary Nabhan, author and Kellogg Endowed Chair: Southwest Center, University of Arizona.

"I've been a home gardener for 23 years. Our garden has gradually increased to nearly 1/4 acre. Over the years I dabbled in seed saving, made lots of mistakes, and learned some along the way too. Going to the Seed School was huge in my life and has challenged me to be more purposeful and organized in my efforts, as well as in teaching other people in our area."

- Jean