Seed saving might seem like a simple, old-fashioned custom, but seeds offer a radical pathway to resilient relationships between people, plants, and place.

Symbols of renewal, seeds hold the promise of a greener future. But despite the powerful potential of seeds to adapt, modern seed saving often attempts to maintain varieties as they have always been—despite the challenges of ecological devastation and severe climate change. Seeking to explore agricultural diversity and promote resilience in food and farming, James Beard Award–winning author Chris Smith founded the Utopian Seed Project in 2018. In Saved by Seeds, Smith presents a passionate argument for seed diversity while presenting practical advice for everyone, from new gardeners to experienced farmers, to embrace the abundance of seeds.


“This is a book to be devoured. Gorgeous writing makes accessible the pleasures and pains of seed saving and plant breeding, as well as the sheer delight of growing food and exploring all the opportunities a curious grower can embrace. . . . With every page turn I learned something new and inspiring.”
—Adam Alexander, author of The Seed Detective and Accidental Seed Heroes

“Saved by Seeds will transform the reader into a gardener, the gardener into a seed saver, the seed saver into a plant breeder, and everyone into an advocate of radical botanical diversity.”
—Helen Anne Curry, author of Endangered Maize

“A deeply thoughtful exploration of what it means to be a seed steward. . . . We’re offered practical guidance on the processes of seed keeping, but most importantly a glimpse into the joy and creativity that can be found in the process. This book is an eloquent reminder that fundamentally it is that joy—and that relationship between seeds and people—that needs to be nourished if we are to journey toward an abundant and resilient future.”
—Holly Silvester, future resilience seed coordinator, The Gaia Foundation

About The Author

Chris Smith is executive director of The Utopian Seed Project, a crop-trialing nonprofit working to celebrate food and farming. Within this work, Chris collaborates on the Heirloom Collard Project, hosts a seasonal Trial to Table event series, and publishes Crop Stories, a crop-specific multimedia project. His first book with Chelsea Green, The Whole Okra, won a James Beard Foundation Award in 2020, and he is the co-host of The Okra Pod Cast. In 2023 Chris received the Organic Educator Award from The Organic Growers School and was named a Champion of Conservation by Garden & Gun.