Seeds and Songs: co-creating participatory contexts in seed-saving and old-time music.

Old tunes and seeds have much in common. Heirloom seeds, like old-time music, have been handed down and re-transmitted through generations within particular family circles. Some are localized, while others are universival. Some have been replaced by newer, more efficient, homogenized versions of the old––trademarked and packaged for large scale use and monetary gain. Still others are known only to the communities that created and sustained them. This roundtable will explore the connection between old-time music and heirloom seed-saving. Furthermore, we will consider how seed-savers, musicians, and practitioners of Appalachian folkways can co-create, and re-create, participatory contexts that maintain the face-to-face nature of seed-saving and traditional music in an era of increased access to material culture (through internet recordings, how-to’s, and seeds via catalogs). Participants are invited to contribute to the conversation by sharing relevant ruminations, poems, songs and (of course) seeds