About Seed & Soil
The founding purpose of
Seed & Soil…
Prior to meeting, Betsy’s longtime passion was seed saving, and Ben’s was compost. We both were struggling to puzzle out how we, from non-farming backgrounds, could live and work a piece of land for a lifetime. The return on investment is pitiful for almost any farming business, especially when the purchase of land is is part of the startup! Cannabis changed that. Our families supported us and believed in the vision and business plan. Now we’re grateful to be part of the generation that gets to normalize cannabis as a career path for aspiring or existing farmers. When a vibrant seed meets happy soil, life blossoms.
About Betsy
Growing plants from seed to seed is my greatest passion because I see it as a link to honor those who dedicated lifetimes to improving our crops, to protect future generations, and to connect to the earth that nurtures us. To inspire others to save seeds, I helped launch Common Soil Seed Library, the Community Seed Network, and draft policy then lobbied amending the Nebraska Seed Law and the Recommended Uniform State Seed Law allowing for noncommercial seed sharing. I also co-authored chapter 5 of Audio Recorders to Zucchini Seeds: Building a Library of Things.
Professionally, I’ve been a Assistant Wine Chemist, Organic Farm & Nursery Production Manager, Farmer’s Market Manager, Apothocary Manager, Youth Director, Soil Researcher, Waste Diversion Systems Sales Director, Community Development Specialist, and Grant Writer. Interning with Humboldt Seed Company allowed me to use the nose that I developed in the wine industry to catch nuance in terpene profiles. Our seed integrity standards are built upon my seed keeping experience, and I enjoy learning the particulars of producing true-to-type cannabis seed.
In my space time, I am chipping away at a master’s in public administration because I am fascinated by structures of accountability for public officials, participatory governance, and community engagement. And perhaps most importantly, I strive to be a loving mother and wife.
About Ben
I am a lover of food, plants, and dirt. I studied biology, and then got an amazing opportunity to discover heritage foodways in Italy, Ireland, Nicaragua, and Ireland with the support of the Walker Fellowship for independent study. This was powerful validation to fully dive into whatever I’m most passionate about without too much concern for expected outcomes. I allowed myself to enjoy two internship/apprentice-style programs (Adamah and The Allegheny Mountain School) without an end-game in mind, it was here that I fell hopelessly in love with vegetable farming. I took the next step, looking to keep learning and growing vegetables, and worked with Dr. Elaine Ingham to research compost and soil microbes and their application in farming. This was a niche view on some topics that I had never fully appreciated, but I wanted to go deeper. I also met Betsy during this chapter and she convinced me to try living in her exotic homeland of Nebraska… she was very persuasive. After a transition period where I operated machinery for a commercial composting operation, I found an assistantship to study soil microbial ecology, earning my M.S. in Horticulture at the University of Nebraska, Lincoln. I made the most of the university setting by doing some plant breeding on the side, learning PCR techniques for marker assisted selection in my own squash breeding project which is ongoing.
Cannabis was a not-so-secret interest of mine through high school, but it took a backseat until it became clear that I could bring my honest passion and full attention to the plant, and that the plant could give our family the access to a farm and land-based livelihood that we so deeply desire.
After a season at the Humboldt Seed Company farm, and the following season launching their new joint venture project based at Nymera Farm in Canada, I still support this venture remotely helping to bring these amazing genetics to the international regulated market. Through my hands-on and continued consulting role with these projects, I have gained rare expertise in the brand new arena of fully legal transfer of THC cannabis seed across international borders. I’m grateful and humbled to steward the generations of breeding work represented by our seed.
Collaborators
Publications & PR
“Humboldt Seed Company Goes to Canada”
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“Humboldt Brings Organic Seeds To Canada”
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“‘Bob Steffen’s Hardneck’ Garlic: Try This Drought- and Flood-Tolerant Giant Variety for Changing Climates”
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“Seed libraries struggle with state laws limiting exchanges”
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“A law that saves us all”
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Passing on the Gift
Core ethics of ours are environmental sustainability and sharing. All of the domesticated organisms that support us humans have passed through generations and horizontally across ethnicities, traditions, and geographies. As we co-create our agricultural system with the land and discover synergies, we are committed to support the generative will of all the organisms at play by providing offspring to anyone inspired to steward them. For cannabis and beyond, we favor plants and animals that delight us and don’t require too much pampering and instead thrive by instinct in our environment. We believe this will help others grow organically with success.