Saving Seeds, Saving Cultures

ONE SMALL SEED COMPANY is ready to make a big name for itself by helping growers reclaim and cultivate seeds that reflect their heritage. Launched in December 2017, Truelove Seeds is the creation of Owen Taylor, a seed collector who runs the Philadelphia Seed Exchange and grows open-pollinated seeds, medicinal herbs, and flowers at Mill Hollow Farm in Edgemont, Pennsylvania. The idea for Truelove came during his four years working with world-renowned heirloom seedsman William Woys Weaver at the Roughwood Seed Collection. “I wanted to find a way to share my new knowledge and skills with the food justice communities I’d worked with for the last 15 years,” Taylor says. “I’m committed to supporting community-based solutions to the inadequacies and injustices of the globalized food system.” And he’s fulfilling this commitment through his work with Truelove Seeds.

While a focus on community-based solutions has certainly influenced