Special events with author Janisse Ray

     Writer, naturalist and activist Janisse Ray, author of “The Seed Underground: A Growing Revolution to Save Food,” will discuss her new book on Friday, August 10, at 6:30 p.m.  The event, which is hosted by the Moultrie-Colquitt County Library, 204 5^th Street, SE, Moultrie, will be held in the library’s reading area.  The talk and book signing is free to the public.
     From Janisse we hear:  "Across the country, a renaissance of local food, farming, and place-based culinary traditions is taking hold.  And yet something small, critically important, and profoundly at risk is being overlooked in this local food resurgence: seeds.  Of the thousands of seed varieties available at the turn of the 20th century, 94 percent have been lost - forever."
     It is Janisse Ray who brings us the inspiring stories of ordinary gardners whose aim is to save time-honored open-pollinated varieties like Old Time Tennessee muskmelon and Long County Longhorn okra - varieties that will be lost if people don't grow, save, and swap the seeds.
     It is in "The Seed Underground" that Janisse introduces us to dozens of seed savers like the eccentric sociology professor she dubs "Tomato Man" and Maine farmer Will Bonsall, the "Noah" of seed saving who juggles hundreds of seeds, many grown by him, and him alone.  And Janisse tells her own story about her grandmother saving squash seed, about her own tiny garden, and about the one seed, the Conch cowpea, that got away from her.
     So, it is in "The Seed Underground" that we are reminded our underlying health, food security, and sovereignty may be at stake as seeds disappear, as well as the stories, heritage, and history that passes between people as seeds are passed from hand to hand.        
     Then on Saturday, August 11, Janisse will present “Writing Your Own Story,” a workshop in creative nonfiction and memoir.  The event will be from 9 to 4 p.m.  Participants will have lunch on their own.  Pre-registration is required by August 7.  A $10 fee is payable at the library’s front counter.  Class size is limited to 24. 
     Ray is a seed-saver, seed-exchanger, and seed-banker, and has gardened for twenty-five years.  She is the author of several books, including “Pinhook” and “Ecology of a Cracker Childhood,” a New York Times Notable Book.  She has won numerous awards, is on the faculty of Chatham University’s low-residency MFA program, and is a Woodrow Wilson Visiting Fellow.  Ray lectures widely on nature, community, agriculture, wildness, sustainability and the politics of wholeness.  She lives on a farm in southern Georgia with her husband, Raven Waters.
     If you've never met Janisse Ray, now is your golden opportunity.  You certainly won't want to miss these special events.