Satellite Seed Savers

A research project and talk at the Seymour Center created by The Center for Genomic Gastronomy for OpenLab and the Greenhouse project as one of the project's "satellite gardens" and site for seed saver exchange linking planetary imaginaries with localised environmental activities and action to ask: who will assemble, maintain, and propagate plant varieties that have been grown in, or cultivated for, outer space?

The Satellite Seed Saver garden project aims to direct the visitors’ gaze up towards the heavens and down towards the soil – connecting plants in the garden to multi-species activities in the sky and reflecting on environmental stewardship in outer space and here on Earth. As part of the project, we exchanged seeds at the Greenhouse Seed Exchange and grew plants at UC Santa Cruz, cultivating living examples of the connections between local biodiversity and cosmic imagination. The project marks the beginning of a broader research initiative,  Space Permaculture, which examines the motivations and ideologies that drive collective action in Space Exploration & Terrestrial Agroecology.