The Seed Savers’ Exchange, headquartered on a farm in Decorah, Iowa, was founded by Diane and Kent Whealy after Diane’s grandfather left her the seeds of a pink tomato that his parents brought from Bavaria in the 1870s. Seeds are living units, not museum pieces; in jars on a shelf their viability declines with age. Diane and Kent thought it seemed wise to move seed collections into real gardens.
