The Seed Underground: A Growing Revolution to Save Food

by Janisse Ray

There is no despair in a seed. There's only life, waiting for the right conditions-sun and water, warmth and soil-to be set free. Everyday, millions upon millions of seeds lift their two green wings. At no time in our history have Americans been more obsessed with food. Options including those for local, sustainable, and organic food-seem limitless. And yet, our food supply is profoundly at risk. Farmers and gardeners a century ago had five times the possibilities of what to plant than farmers and gardeners do today; we are losing untold numbers of plant varieties to genetically modified industrial monocultures. In her latest work of literary nonfiction, award-winning author and activist Janisse Ray argues that if we are to secure the future of food, we first must understand where it all the seed. The Seed Underground is a journey to the frontier of seed-saving. It is driven by stories, both the author's own and those from people who are waging a lush and quiet revolution in thousands of gardens across America to preserve our traditional cornucopia of food by simply growing old varieties and eating them. The Seed Underground pays tribute to time-honored and threatened varieties, deconstructs the politics and genetics of seeds, and reveals the astonishing characters who grow, study, and save them.

Genres: Gardening, Nonfiction, Food, Ecology, Nature, Food Writing, Agriculture

240 pages, Paperback

First published July 6, 2012

About the author

is an award-winning and beloved American writer. Her work encourages wild, place-centric, sustainable lives and often calls attention to heart-breaking degradations of the natural world.

She writes the popular Substack TRACKLESS WILD, tracklesswild.substack.com.

Her newsletter for writers, SPIRAL-BOUND, janisseray.substack.com.

She is a sought-after and highly praised teacher of writing. She leads both in-person and online writing workshops, including a summer memoir course online, WRITE YOUR OWN STORY.

You can find more information about workshops and courses at her website.
https://janisseray.com/product-catego...

Check out her book CRAFT & CURRENT: A MANUAL FOR MAGICAL WRITING.

Janisse has won an American Book Award, Pushcart Prize, Southern Bookseller Award, Southern Environmental Law Center Writing Award, Nautilus Award, and Eisenberg Award, among many others.

Her collection of essays, WILD SPECTACLE, won the Donald L. Jordan Prize for Literary Excellence.

Her books have been translated into Turkish, French, and Italian.

Janisse's first book, ECOLOGY OF A CRACKER CHILDHOOD, recounts her experiences growing up in a junkyard, the daughter of a poor, white, fundamentalist Christian family. The book interweaves family history and memoir with natural history—specifically, descriptions of the ecology of the vanishing longleaf pine forests that once blanketed the Southern coastal plains.

ECOLOGY was followed by many other books, mostly creative nonfiction--often nature writing-- as well as poetry and fiction.

She earned an MFA from the University of Montana, has received two honorary doctorates, and was inducted into the Georgia Writers Hall of Fame. She has been awarded the Lifetime Achievement Award by the Georgia Writer's Association.

She lives on an organic farm inland from Savannah, Georgia, where she enjoys wildflowers, dark chocolate, and the blues.

Reviews

[Scot · Rating 4 out of 5]

Janisse Ray is likely the best nature writer of this generation! She combines a knowledge and passion for the environment with a down-home view of the culture and the people working in their own ways to protect it.

The Seed Underground is no exception - I laughed, I cried, I was inspired and enraged. I saw a passion for seeds and plants that was not cultivated through a microscope but through front porch conversations, walks in a garden, and in gatherings with others who shared that passion.

There is some valuable information in here on how to be a seed saver yourself, but more importantly, it is a call to be in touch with the world around us and to resist its commodification.

Highly recommended for gardeners or would be gardeners, plant lovers, nature-ophiles, and anyone who likes a good story and is open to a deeper dive into the world around them.

[Monica · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book was amazing. It totally cemented my determination to get involved in saving and growing seeds as part of ensuring the future of our food diversity and security.

[Amanda up North]

It's high summer, my gardens are flourishing, and I'm loving it. Hummingbirds and bumblebees are too. The blossoms and pollination going on are fabulous.
I'm growing an array of heirloom peppers and tomatoes this year that are a ton of green thumb fun. They've brought a whole new level of delight to my gardening game, and I'm thankful to those who've preserved these rare beauties.
After reading this book, I might give seed preservation a try.
If you haven't planted a seed lately, or grown your own vegetable of some sort (or all sorts!) - I fully endorse it.
Homegrown food variety for posterity!

[Stephie Jane Rexroth · Rating 5 out of 5]

"'The system is so broken,' she said. Not only broken, but destructive and self-destructive.' By 'system,' I figured she meant the agricultural or food system. Maybe she meant the entire political system. But I didn't ask. I just listened. 'I see in activism a kind of futility,' she said, brown eyes sincere. 'The real power is in doing. The real power is in making the system irrelevant. That means nonparticipation in the existing broken system.'... Sylvia wasn't protesting anything in her peaceful garden: 'What I am doing is making a broken system irrelevant.'"

[Mary Dansak · Rating 5 out of 5]

I'll be honest. I didn't know how I would like this book as I'm not much of a gardener, but because Janisse Ray wrote it I'd be remiss not to try. This book is about so much more than seeds. This is a five-star romp through the wild wild world of those who love seeds, who see fastidiously collect, label, and store these promises of a future with food, and it turns out, seeds are so much more interesting than I though. Another beautiful book by one of our great voices for the wild things.

[Jim Folger · Rating 4 out of 5]

Janisse Ray has written a passionate argument for retreating to an earlier era in American life when farming was the main occupation. Modern industry and “better living through chemistry,” has altered our economy and reduced biodiversity in the process.
The author describes the joys of simple living that encourages us to become a part of a growing movement to experience a greater variety of foods through the use of a diverse number of plant species and the seeds that produce them. In the process, she uncovers the shortcomings of a capitalist society’s approach to food production and genetically modified foods controlled by a few major corporations.

I was reminded of an earlier time near the end of the Vietnam War when the Whole Earth Catalog was paving the way for an alternative way of life, and more self-reliance.
I very much liked the description of Italian regions going back hundreds of years of “where we live and what we live is who we are.” The history of food in the U.S. only dates back to 1500, after we wiped out the history of the native people.

With a compendium of facts about seeds and their use combined with folksy anecdotes, Ms. Lee has written a compelling case for the importance of seeds and their relationship to modern day farming.

[Rebecca Gregory]

I purchased this book from the author when she spoke at a paddling and camping event near the Ohoopee river in Georgia near where she lives.

This was a very interesting book and a pleasure to read. It made me aware of the myriad of issues that surround our seeds.

I grew up on an Iowa farm in the 50s and 60s and still have a few acres of farmland in Iowa. I was particularly interested in Ray's comments involving Iowa. Farming practices have changed dramatically since I was raised. This book has provided me with some questions to ask the senior member of the farm corporation I rent my land to. I grew up with him and have known him almost all of his life. I know he is a contentious farmer and good steward of the land but he is not an organic farmer.

It was a pleasure to see Janisse and Raven. I treasure Janisse and the awareness she inspires in others.

[Megan · Rating 4 out of 5]

Great book to begin 2020 with to really plant the seed of food sovereignty in my brain! Fascinating topic and Ray is quite a skilled writer. After reading this book, I feel invigorated and inspired to save seed and create a beautiful garden in the near future. My critique and reasoning for 4 stars is this: while the book was quite encompassing and educational, Janisse comes at the info with the experience of being white in the deep South and owning land, so I am hoping to expand my horizons and read experiences from Robin Kimmerer and similar authors to get a well rounded understanding of food sovereignty as it relates to other experiences and histories different from the ones I am familiar with. Would recommend this book though!

[J.S. · Rating 2 out of 5]

Home gardeners are increasingly turning to "heirloom" varieties of plants. Whether it's to remember flowers their parents or grandparents kept or to find better tasting vegetables, it's a growing movement of sorts. And Ms. Ray recites (several times) statistics of how many varieties are no longer available - and the numbers are disconcerting. Seed companies have bred hybrids to the point where a gardener cannot save seeds from one year to the next and have them grow true. Even more distressing, companies have turned to genetically-modified (GM) crops that have genetic traits artificially inserted for resistance to pests or - alarmingly - chemical herbicides. Ray argues that we have lost control of our food supply risking imminent collapse and are in need of a revolution.

I really looked forward to reading this book. I recently began planting vegetables again and was interested in growing some "heirloom" varieties mainly because so many modern hybrids have been bred for output or shelf-life instead of taste. (I've even ordered seed catalogs from Seed Savers and other small heirloom companies.) Unfortunately, my results have so far been poor (no one in the family liked the taste of the varieties I tried) and I hoped this book might provide some guidance. However, as Ms. Ray writes in the Introduction "This is not a textbook on seed saving. I am looking to inspire you with my own life." (pg. xv)

And she tells us about her farm and visits to others to acquire old varieties. Some of these episodes are interesting, and she offers a few bits of advice, like pollinating squash flowers or saving tomato seeds or growing sweet potatoes. This is when the book really shines. But, "You won't get many of those details from me here," she writes. "My goal is simply to plant a seed." (pg 151) Much of the book is a paranoid screed against "big ag" and "big chemical" companies and how evil they and our government and justice system are (and some of her stories are indeed troublesome). "Science is worrisome when it only serves the interests of mercenaries and their employees... infecting our food supply with greed." (pg. 12) And in spite of her claim in the Preface that "I do not feel hopeless" (pg. ix) she later says "Who needs hope? ...It's not hope or love that keep me going. It's fight." (pg. 193)

Ms. Ray describes herself as a "granola" (a "back-to-the-earth" hippie who grew up post-60s) and comes off as a Luddite when it comes to technology. We get an earful of her philosophy of not flying and avoiding fossil-fuels ("Plastic is bad stuff." pg. 129) and basically living apart from modern society. Her attitude is militant and she calls anyone saving seeds a "revolutionary" and seems to find meaning in fighting modernity. But even she admits by the end that not all technology or corporations are evil. Sometimes hybrids combine beneficial traits and are useful, and public and private companies can do "good" (see pg. 174). (Incidentally, this is why many gardeners choose hybrids over heirlooms - they often grow better and are more reliable even if the taste is often inferior. And buying a packet of seeds for a dollar or two is more convenient than the effort to save your own, as even she admits.) Still... I completely relate to her desires for older varieties and will continue to look for ones that grow well for me and that the family likes. I'll just have to look elsewhere for information on them.

[Todd Wheeler · Rating 4 out of 5]

Part memoir, part exploration of the seed saving community, Ray's book spans a century where seed variety for our foods has shrunk dramatically. The main cause is the bottom line greed of multi-national corporations that want to control seed stock and their genes, not for better food but for more profit.

There is hope. Like the explosion of interest in CSA's and locavores, interest in regional seed saving and swapping is reviving. For example several towns in Maine have passed ordinances described as "food sovereignty" to take local control of the sale of local goods "like fresh milk or locally slaughtered meat." p. 168

One chapter describes how to save seeds from a tomato, a deceptively easy process of leaving the 'goop' in a mason jar to ferment for some days. The fermentation and mold remove chemicals that can prohibit the seeds from growing. Best tried with local heirloom varieties; the hybrid/GMO tomatoes from the supermarket won't grow from those seeds. They are designed not to.

My favorite quote from the book:
"Like seed, each of us has traits hidden deep inside that under the right conditions can emerge. ... We can become something even stronger and more useful than we were before." p.67

[Jenny · Rating 2 out of 5]

This book contains some interesting stories and some good information about collecting, preserving and saving seeds. It has been criticized for being inadequately fact checked and I was disappointed in the amount of technical information that was provided without specific references or footnotes. Some of the people put forward as scientific experts are well respected experts, others do work that is questionable but all are treated the same way by the author as long as their information fits the argument that she is making at the moment.

Her experiences on her own farm are interesting and her enthusiasm for collecting and preserving seeds to grow heirloom varieties of different food plants is evident in her writing. Some of her history is suspect -- writers and social commentators have been bemoaning the death of the American small town and migration from town to city since the 19th century, and the agrarian economy that Thomas Jefferson touted was supported by slave labor. The author's efforts to grow her own food and reduce her personal carbon footprint are noble but ignores the larger challenge involved in feeding all of the people in the world today a nutritious diet as climate change is making that task even more challenging.

[Christopher · Rating 3 out of 5]

'Putting the culture back into agriculture', is mentioned somewhere in the book, which is an apt summary for The Seed Underground. The basic idea is that every seed and seed variety carries the story of the people who bred and planted it. As seeds are lost or become homogenized, those stories are lost, and the authors main goal is as much culture saving as it is seed saving. While I liked this book and it is sprinkled with great little insights, the 3-star rating reflects that it reads like a string of rambling blog posts and could have used more thought about the overall structure of the book and it's message, and less repetitive flowery prose.

[Teresa McCarthy · Rating 4 out of 5]

A good primer on the issues around seed diversity, but what I especially love are the stories she tells of the farmers she meets and the seed varieties she's come across. I'll be using her method to save some seeds from the heritage pink tomato I've got growing in my garden this year. And she's inspired me to share more of my great-aunt Vivienne's bean seeds, which her family brought from Belgium generations ago and have been growing in Manitoba and British Columbia ever since.

[Harriet]

Janisse is so passionate about this topic! I love her descriptions of meeting such interesting figures in the seed-saving world. I got a little bogged down in the details at times but the importance of saving seeds and preserving heirloom varieties. Terrific book for those of us concerned with the chemical attacks on all our food sources and the non sustainable methods that most farms are using! Very inspiring!

[Patti Borneman · Rating 5 out of 5]

I loved this book and highly recommend it. Janisse Ray will be in Helena, at the invitation of Cultivate Helena, to read from it. She's currently in Missoula as the William Kittredge Visiting Writer and will give a reading at the Lewis and Clark Library on March 11 at 7 pm. More info at http://www.cultivatehelena.com.

[Deanna · Rating 4 out of 5]

Beautifully written book about the importance of seed saving. Includes some very basic information on how to do it. Ended up jealous of Ray's Georgia gardening season and determined to try saving some seed this year.

[Beth Young · Rating 5 out of 5]

One of her best. I dare you to read this book and not want to be involved in gardening and Seed Saving!

[Renea Winchester · Rating 4 out of 5]

Another beautiful book by Janisse Ray. Her passion makes me want to be a better steward of the earth.

[David Kobe]

YES 🙌🏼🌱

[Pam Dawling · Rating 5 out of 5]

I found this book inspiring, validating, enthusiastic, thoughtful and entertaining. A few years ago, I read and enjoyed Janisse Ray’s Ecology of a Cracker Childhood, so I was already primed for excitement when I heard of The Seed Underground. That, plus also being a believer in keeping the genetic diversity of vegetable varieties alive and in the hands of growers.

The Seed Underground has the power to pull us out of any inclination to wallow in hopelessness about our food supply, by providing many ideas, many examples of what we can do to improve the state of agriculture by acting locally to help and support people developing and preserving regionally adapted vegetable varieties.

Janisse exudes a sense of wonder, of fun and of appreciation for those who have been leading the way. And she recognizes that it is her turn to step forward and teach and encourage others. Her central message is to save seeds and not let the big acquisitive corporations control our food supply and therefore the length and quality of our lives.

The book contains stories from her life and stories of farmers, gardeners and organizations who have saved certain seeds: the conch cowpea, preacher beans, keener corn, various sweet potato and tomato varieties, mustaprovince pumpkins, Stanley corn.

Our seed supply is in crisis – when we do not control our own seed supply, we do not control food supply. There is a corporate robbery of the commons (publicly owned, publicly used resources). As the first verse 17th century English protest poem against common land enclosure, The Goose and the Common, goes:
The law locks up the man or woman
Who steals the goose from off the common
But leaves the greater villain loose
Who steals the common from the goose.
The last verse is:
The law locks up the man or woman
Who steals the goose from off the common
And geese will still a common lack
Till they go and steal it back.
In other words, we need to cultivate a working system for propagating, preserving and distributing seeds, so that corporately “owned” seed varieties become irrelevant.

The rate of loss of vegetable and grain varieties is very worrying – 43% of all food eaten everywhere across the world consists of just three grains, wheat, maize and rice. A dearth of crops leads to vulnerability, both in the fields and in the body. A crop disease can wipe out an entire variety – think of the Lumper potato in Ireland, the Cavendish banana. Modern wheat is associated with a sharp rise in gluten intolerance and obesity – it isn’t well suited to our needs. My favorite chapter title is “A rind is a terrible thing to waste.” Janisse points out that if we have to peel our apples to reduce the pesticide level before we eat them, it’s bad news.

This book tells tales of the author’s travels to meet various seed growers, breeders and savers as well as seed swap groups. The cast of characters is variously passionate, inspiring, quirky, nerdy and eccentric. New varieties are being breed to grow under organic conditions in particular regions. What are the ethics of profits in this situation? There are stories of seed banks and vaults, with discussion of public access and ownership.

There’s also basic information on how to select good plants, isolate from other varieties, hand pollinate and save seeds. And examples of farmers who banded together to get legislation passed to protect their property rights over their land, plants and seeds. Of course Monsanto should be responsible for their genetic drift when GMO pollen pollutes other plants! The book includes a list of “What you can do” and an eight-page small-print collection of resources.

Hope is valuable, but not essential before action is taken – no-one feeds a child because of what kind of future they hope that child will have. Love leads to determination to strive for what we value, and gives us courage. Don’t use lack of hope as an excuse for lack of action.

Her closing words are “Look around, so many people have put their shoulders into the load. You. Find a place to push. Pick up a tool.” Become a local hero, increase your circle of influence. Claim food sovereignty, preserve local seeds. “Have the courage to live the life you dream. There is nothing greater than this.”

[Mike Cross · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is not a science book, nor a history book, and I think the author wants to make it a call to action, but she does not convey that either. There is a little science, a little history, and a little call to action, but none are complete nor organized. In addition, it doesn’t appear the author did much research to write this book; it is simply a collection of her anecdotal stories around seeds, seed saving, and gardening, with jabs at industrial agriculture thrown in. The author is an excellent writer and storyteller and the book reads well if that’s what you are looking for.

Most of the observations and criticisms of industrial agriculture and industrial food production are accurate (and well known), but the author offers no alternatives other than growing your food (something entirely out of reach for 98% of Americans). Some of the criticisms, such as we have lost many varieties of vegetables and nine varieties of wheat make up 50% of production may be true (even the author admits that there are just as many vegetable varieties today as there were 100 years ago, just different ones; that many varieties may actually be the same; and that some varieties just aren’t worth keeping), but never answers the question “so what?”. If you can’t demonstrate the potential harm in the loss of a variety, don’t harp on it so much. Remember, today’s “heirloom” tomatoes were the latest new hybrid 50 years ago. And is it bad that half of the wheat production is nine varieties, how many should there be? Answering these questions, and dozens more would have taken work and research the author was not willing or able to do.

Overall, a well written, easy read that you will gain almost nothing from.

[Julie · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is not really a technical book about the process of growing seeds. So I can honestly say I selected it by accident and when I opened the book and started the preface, I wasn’t sure I was going to continue. But with every page, Janisse Ray’s well-written anecdotes and shared wisdom from seed savers across the world, hooked me a little more. This is a collection of musings, ideas and stories about the need to grow and evolve heirloom seeds - to join the ‘revolution’. Though written more than a decade ago, the book holds up and is actually pretty good at telling the history of GM seeds.

The book is divided into chapters but I consider them more as small essays on a particular theme. The essay “What is Broken” outlines the ways in which the American (and Canadian by extension) food system is broken (from corporate interest to killing pollinators); another chapter focuses on the basics of seed saving. But it is the essays about individuals who are saving seeds for future generations that make a lasting impact. Chapter 16 is called “The Pollinator”, and refers not to a winged creature or animal but a man named Dave Cavagnaro. Ray tells his story as he takes the reader through a very detailed experience of hand-pollinating squash, complete with masking tape!

This is a great book to read in small sections in the dark of winter as you begin to plan your garden for the coming year.

[Sue · Rating 5 out of 5]

Ray's book was written ten years ago, and I am sure there are pertinent updates that I should know, but her alarming critique of big ag, its development and ownership of gm seeds is eye opening. She explains the great loss of diversity that has taken place as a few companies have taken control of seeds. She takes readers into the gardens of those who are trying to propagate heirloom seeds, seeds developed by small farmers and gardeners through generations in specific micro-climates. She explains how they hand-germinate, save the seed, and share with others. Reading this book made me want to start searching for small seed companies, seed saver groups, etc. - all in a time when I was thinking about giving up gardening and letting someone else do it. LOL. It also made me think of the many times my dad said today's squash just doesn't taste as good as the ones his mom grew. Could her acorn squash have been a heritage seed, long gone? Who knows.

Big ag with its bio-tech says they are preparing to feed the world, but their critics caution that they are endangering the food supply, taking control of all sale of seed, and really making impossible for small farmers to survive. Meanwhile we have lost hundreds of varieties of plants that nourished previous generations.

[Lizzie J · Rating 4 out of 5]

4.5 stars

This is an excellent book on an issue that I didn't even realize had existed before a few days ago. It's honestly scary how much we have lost when it comes to seeds and the fruits and vegetables that used to grow from them. The book is well-written and mixed statistics and science with her own personal story. It was entertaining, and I enjoyed getting to see peeks into the lives of other farmers and seed-savers. Not to mention getting to hear all about the different crops. I think most interesting was about the woman who grew sweet potatoes. Who knew there were other types other than the standard orange ones you find at Walmart?

My only critique of the book is that sometimes the author seems to be very opinionated when it comes to this topic, and sometimes her bias shows through. Obviously, it's her book, and I have no issue with reading her opinion, but in some sections (like when she's discussing science and statistics and the more cut and dry aspects of what's happening) it can be very obvious. But, again, this is only a small critique, and I can only think of a few instances of it happening in the entire book.

[Rebecca · Rating 5 out of 5]

“I want one more time to remind you of the most powerful thing in the world. It is a seed. “ ~ Janisse Ray

Janisse takes us on an inspiring journey around the country sharing stories of ordinary people saving seeds and making history.

Our seeds and all the diversity that come with them are rapidly disappearing. Of the thousands of seeds available at the turn of the 20th century, 94% have been lost forever!

Saving seeds isn’t just about the seeds it’s also about the stories and heritage that comes along with being connected to the land. Seeds saved from your garden or area are better adapted to that unique climate. Seed saving is also about the sharing of those seeds with our community both locally and the community that is humankind.

This was an excellent book and inspiring read. Even if you have no intention of gardening or seed saving. We all eat, isn’t it important to make it the best it can be?

“We have no place to start but where we are” ~ Wendell Berry

[Dallas Duncan · Rating 4 out of 5]

Equal parts gardening handbook and anthological memoir, Ray takes readers on a walk down memory lane scattered with heirloom crops and burgeoning with life lesson. Though we do not share the same views on genetically modified plants (I believe there’s a place for them in agriculture, though by no means do I think we should be as reliant on them as have become and as capitalism continues to push us), I appreciated so much that her thoughts are presented in a way that felt genuine. Down to earth. I’ve read Michael Pollan and heard Joel Salatin speak, and both had a tendency to sound pretentious and holier than thou. Ray does not. Instead, she provides a sense of ~how we can do this differently moving forward~ rather than preaching at us to decry agricultural sins of our forebears, who were perhaps misled into a new way of growing food that ultimately benefits corporations far more than farmers and eaters.

[Stephanie · Rating 3 out of 5]

3.5/5 - closer to 4
For someone with a black thumb and an unhealthy diet, this novel changed my views about organics and independent agriculture. I had no idea of how quick and swift seeds are becoming extinct due to the mass production of GMO seeds and corporations clobbering local farmers with legal action. The personal accounts of locals working to preserve food has influenced me to purchase organics or visit farmer’s markets more frequently.

My only gripe was the author’s inability to make the language accessible for someone who’s not a farmer/gardener. I found myself floundering trying to understand some of the specifics of selective breeding, germination, cross-pollination vs. heirloom, etc. Google helped but it did make some bio/botany heavy essays harder to get through.

[Kristen Webster · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book will be placed on the top shelf, to sit alongside the other books that I will most certainly return to many times. Each chapter was like a love story to a vegetable. If you eat food, if you love earth, if you care about biological diversity, if you feel the interconnectedness of food sovereignty and cultural preservation- you will love this book. If you don’t, I REALLY hope that you will read this book! Adding Janisse Ray to the role model list.



“For Wendell Berry
No monument would be tall enough”

[Mark · Rating 3 out of 5]

Ms. Ray enthralls with her storytelling. When waxing about dirt, tomato varieties or white trash, she is unparalleled. When preaching however...she just sounds like everybody else. Which means she comes across as "everything sucks except the things that I say don't suck". If I wanted to hear that I would just turn on CNN. But there was just enough down to earth storytelling to keep me enthralled.

[Emjay · Rating 4 out of 5]

The Seed Underground forever changed how I see seeds... and a lot more than seeds, too.

The frequent switching from journalistic to lyrical/mystical writing styles didn't always work for me, but I appreciated both sides of Underground: this is half ode and half exposé, and both sides work (although they don't always harmonize).

I'll be returning to Ray's work. And I'm going to save my marigold seeds, and I'll ask my neighbors if they have any old ones to share.