seed cathedral

29 degrees, partly cloudy, light snow

wind, 12 mph

72% humidity

In February, I pored over the 2013 catalog of heirloom and open-pollinated seeds from Seed Savers Exchange. This publication is seductive, tantalizing me with its vivid descriptions and gorgeous photos. 

An example:

36-Cherokee Trail of Tears Bean

(aka Cherokee Black) Given to SSE in 1977 by the late Dr. John Wyche, SSE member from Hugo, Oklahoma. Dr. Wyche's Cherokee ancestors carried this bean over the Trail of Tears, the infamous winter death march from the Smoky Mountains to Oklahoma (1838-1839), leaving a trail of 4,000 graves. Green 6" pods with purple overlay, shiny jet black seeds. Good for snap beans and dry beans. Pole habit, snap or dry, 85 days. +/- 1,600 seeds/lb. Packet (50 seeds) $2.75. 

"Graves" and "Green" next to each other. That's it, isn't it? Life and death side by side. 

If I ordered everything that I wanted, we'd need several acres to grow it all. I pared it back to this, which I will add to my cache of seeds from last year:

Is there anything more powerful than a seed? It is life held in stasis, waiting for the right conditions. It starts out a dry little speck, and produces leaf, flower, fruit and root. In these 21 packets lies more potential than I have room for; I will not be able to plant them all. 

Todd (my husband, for those of you who don't know) just introduced me to Thomas Heatherwick of Heatherwick Studio. He and his team designed the UK pavilion for the 2010 Shanghai Expo, titled the "Seed Cathedral." Here's a great TED talk about the piece as well.

"There are 250,000 seeds cast into the glassy tips of all the hairs. By day, the pavilion’s interior is lit by the sunlight that comes in along the length of each rod and lights up the seed ends. You can track the daily movement of the sun and pick out the shadows of passing clouds and birds and, when you move around, the light moves with you, glowing most strongly from the hairs that point directly towards you. By night, light sources inside each rod illuminate not only the seed ends inside the structure, but the tips of the hairs outside it, covering the pavilion in tiny points of light that dance and tingle in the breeze." (from project description)

I am sort of speechless at the brillance, elegance, and audacity of this piece.