Author Jennifer Jewell: "What We Sow"

Darien Library is thrilled to welcome author, educator and advocate, Jennifer Jewell, in a discussion about her newest book, What We Sow: On the Personal, Ecological, and Cultural Significance of Seeds.

Register for What We Sow

As our growing season comes to a close, now is the time to reflect on the very essence of how it all begins: with the seed. In her book, Jennifer Jewell reveals the power of seeds in our world.  She shares personal observations over the course of a year that begin at the autumn equinox, and includes interviews with prominent scientists and seed-savers. Learn about the natural history of seeds, how to care for them, how we can be proactive in rebuilding human food systems, and most importantly, how we must all preserve our future by protecting now, the great natural diversity of seeds.

Jennifer will be joined by Dina Brewster, owner of The Hickories, an organic working farm and CSA in Ridgefield, Connecticut, and a member of the Eco59 farmer led seed collective. Ecotypic seeds are native plants specific to a region used for habitat restoration at home or at large.

About the Author

Jennifer Jewell is a gardener, garden writer, and gardening educator and advocate. Since 2016, she has written and hosted the national award-winning, weekly public radio program and podcast, Cultivating Place. She is particularly interested in the intersections between gardens, the native plant environments around them, and human culture.

She is the author of the book, Under Western Skies: Visionary Gardens From The Rockies to the Pacific Coast, released in May of 2021, and The Earth in Her Hands: 75 Extraordinary Women Working in the World of Plants, released March of 2020. What We Sow is her third book.

About Dina Brewster

Dina Brewster has been a full-time farmer since 2005. She founded The Hickories as a 1 acre vegetable garden and has overseen the development of new products and new acreage as the farm has grown to a 45-acre certified organic fruit, vegetable, cut flower, livestock, and restoration seed company. Committed to connecting people with working land, Dina chose to return to her family’s farm in Ridgefield and start the Community Supported Agriculture (CSA) Program, one that still exists as the backbone of the farm’s business plan. She served as the Executive Director of the Northeast Organic Farming Association of Connecticut (CT NOFA) from 2019-2022. Dina believes we have a responsibility to increase the economic vitality of our regional agrarian economy, improve the long-range ecological stewardship of our land, and enliven our cultural commitment to farming.

Her most recent work, founding The Ecotype Project and becoming a seed farmer for the native plants from this region, has helped to catalyze the formation of the Northeast Seed Network of the Native Plant Trust, a collaborative effort for the development of a native seed supply chain in the Northeast.