The Rural Voice, 2005-05, Page 30Building a future
by preserving the past
Kim Yuzwa's Circle Dance Seeds keeps heirloom vegetable seed varieties and
medicinal herb seeds alive through a mail order business
Photos and Story by Bonnie Gropp
Agriculture is about a love of
the land, about growing
things, caring for and about
them. But it is also about tradition
and history.
It is a combination of these
elements that inspired Circle Dance
Seeds, a mail order seed company
based in Cranbrook, near Brussels in
Huron County, that specializes in
organic heirloom vegetable seeds and
medicinal herbs.
Kim Yuzwa's interest in organic
gardening is rooted strongly in her
past. "I grew up in Toronto. My
parents were displaced farmers from
Manitoba, so I always wanted to live
in the country."
A fascination with organics began
to form in the free -thinking 1960s
and 1970s. Then 18 years ago when
Yuzwa moved to the area she learned
of the Organic Growers Association
and signed on.
It was through this organization
that Yuzwa learned of a heritage seed
program in existence. "I'd always
been interested in history so it
seemed a cool thing to do, to
combine that with my enjoyment of
gardening and grow old varieties."
The program eventually evolved
into Seeds of Diversity, a member
organization that trades seeds. "The
Tante Alice cucumber I have, for
example, comes from somebody's
grandmother in Dorchester."
While there is some debate
regarding what constitutes heirloom
seeds, Yuzwa said that it technically
means anything 50 years or older. "1
try to find older varieties and have
tried to get the dates for them as to
when they actually came to North
America."
The 50 -year mark is set, she
believes because that was when
hybrids were first introduced. "These
won't reproduce. People who buy my
26 THE RURAL VOICE
Kim Yuzwa holds one of the envelopes in which she markets her heritage
seed varieties. Generally seed varieties are at least 50 years old_