John Caccia says “Greetings good sisters and brothermen of Peliti!” It is an honor to be included in the company of the traditional seed savers from the various regions and countries that form the Peliti Seed Community. I am living in a converted school bus on a 40 acre farm located along the Snake River near Banbury Hot Springs in south-central Idaho, USA. This fertile area has a long and relatively hot growing season and is the ancestral homelands of the Shoshone, Bannock and Paiute First Nation’s People.
In 2021 Peliti Idaho harvested and will be sharing over 15 varieties of fruit and vegetable seeds, including water melons, spaghetti squash, tomatoes, honey dew melons, cantaloupes, giant sunflower, land race carrot, tatsoi, arugula, glass gem popping corn (see photo), German dwarf-kale (an annual kale!), spinach, mint, potatoes and garlic. I am also learning to grow oak trees, walnut trees, pine and blight-resistant chestnut trees from seed as well as a dozen or so native perennial shrubs and fruit trees, flowers and grasses.
I am co-founder of Rocky Mountain Seed Alliance and the Wood River Seed Library and have a history of environmental and anti-nuclear activism. I had the best time of my life during my first visit to Greece! I meet so many amazing friends and thank you all for the opportunity to attend and present at the Olympic Seed Festival at Peliti in 2018. I have been touched by Gaia and inspired by the magical power of bees, trees and seeds. They have taken me on such a beautiful journey…
