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Del Rio Botannicals
It was while garden as an adult that Suzanne Peabody Ashworth realise there must be skillful tomatoes out there than the rock - arduous ones she had known as a child . “ [ They were ] the kind you could strike on the ground 10 times and they would not break receptive ! ” she remembers with disgust .
After reading about Seed Savers Exchange in the early 1980s and discovering tomato mixed bag such as ‘ Pink Brandywine , ’ ‘ Snowball , ’ and ‘ Gold Medal , ’ Suzanne knew she had found the community she was appear for .
Suzanne became a member of Seed Savers Exchange in 1983 . Soon after , she volunteered as an offsite curator , a character in which she develop and maintained SSE ’s collection of eggplants , ground cherries , and tomatillos from her farm in Sacramento , California .
Suzanne Peabody Ashworth at the 2016 Seed Savers Exchange Conference and Campout.
In 1991 she author the first comprehensive cum keep open manual of arms , Seed to Seed . This educational reference point contains the entropy and techniques needed to uphold cum from 160 different crops , each of which Suzanne trialed in her own garden . come to Seedis widely moot to be a pivotal resourcefulness for family nurseryman , and was the inspiration for its heir , The Seed Garden : the Art and Practice of Seed Saving .
year later , Suzanne returned to her family unit farm , Peabody Ranch , to start a concern of her own . Del Rio Botanicals catered to local gastronome through its seed caller , gastronome dining experience , and offering of CSA - style boxes – including a bon vivant food box and a eating place - supported factory farm box .
For more than 35 years , Suzanne was an advisor and active member of SSE and has contributed about 200 miscellanea to its cum depository financial institution collection .
The second edition ofSeed to Seedincludes local knowledge about seed saving techniques for each vegetable that has been shared by expert gardeners from seven regions of the United States.
Suzanne Peabody Ashworth passed away at her home on December 23 , 2021 , at the years of 70 .
Seed Savers Exchange has lead the heirloom seed drive since 1975 , inspiring a generation of seed companies to specialize in rare , regionally adapted , delicious , and unreplaceable open - pollinated varieties . Many of these companies were set up by our own Seed Savers Exchange members . Rather than appropriate heirloom and historic variety to vanish or go unnoticed , these members launched an uncoordinated , constitutional , and persistent resistance to the disappearance of heirloom seeds . This first wafture of heirloom seed companies did not bid source catalogs in response to consumer demand . alternatively , they created it .
This is the story of one of nine small come company and a few of the variety they have preserved . While each and every one of their scope is as alone and bold as the varieties they share , they all have one thing in common : the warmth for share seeds .
Suzanne first started collecting Hmong varieties in the late 60s while working with a small refugee community at the Pacific Elementary School. These ‘Sweet Red’ eggplants first came to her from a 6th-grade girl named Cue Vang.
Bios written , interview , and correspondence by Kelly Loud with assistant from Sara Straate .
particular thanks to the following multitude : Alan and Linda Kapuler , Suzanne Ashworth , Craig Dremann , Steve Sando , Mike and Denise Dunton , Tom Wagner , Joanne Ranck - Dirks , Sue Ellen Majer , Bill McDorman , andGlenn Drowns .
Updated August 2023
3094 North Winn RoadDecorah , Iowa 52101(563 ) 382 - 5990
right of first publication © 2025 Seed Savers Exchange . Images on this website are protect by copyright — unauthorised enjoyment is not allow .
Seed Savers Exchange is a tax - nontaxable 501(c)3 nonprofit organization dedicate to the preservation of heirloom seeds .
