Groundwork Blog

I was first exposed to the world of seed saving through a film, Seed: The Untold Story. The film is so inspiring, and there was a character in the film who shone brightly with so much passion for seeds, talking about returning to winnowing seeds by hand, the way people have done for countless millennia. Later, I met and was mentored by this hero: Bill McDorman. Bill McDorman was a key part of developing our Food Systems Fellowship program. Jeff and Keshet brought a group […]

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As a community of corn lovers, every year presents a challenging decision of which corn variety to grow. Due to corn’s tendency to cross-pollinate over distances up to 2 miles through wind-blown pollen grains, we can only grow one or two varieties each season. Desert Dent corn has become one of our favorite maize varieties to grow at Groundwork. Desert Dent is a descendent of the “Earth Tones” variety and has been selected by our farm to have a multitude of matte colors, 8″ to 12″ […]

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To go with the seed story about Desert Dent Corn this month, we wanted to share guide for cooking corn. Nixtamalization is a process of cooking corn in an alkaline solution of water and  hardwood ash or calcium hydroxide/lime. The process breaks down the outer wall of the kernels. The alkaline solution makes some of the nutrients in corn more bioavailable (most notably the amino acid tryptophan, and vitamin B3 (niacin) which is formed as tryptophan is metabolized. The process also makes the corn softer, larger, […]

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One of our mentors, Bill McDorman (interviewed in this month’s recommended podcast), always tells people that to really be in touch with life, you need to grow at last one food plant every year and save its seeds. When you begin to listen to another form of life, meet its needs, and tend to its seeds from generation to generation, you will begin to understand everything that the flourishing of human life requires on such a fragile world. And so, as summer begins here in North […]

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Dear friends, After serving as Groundwork’s executive director since 2018, I’m stepping out of that role in order to create space in my life for other pursuits. I am looking forward to having time for some small sabbaticals, retreats at Buddhist monasteries, and time to devote to writing, media production, curriculum design, and weaving. You’ll continue to see my name on Groundwork’s emails—I’m moving into a part-time role with Groundwork as Communications & Publications Manager. Seeing Groundwork through the first seven years of growth and experimentation has been a dream […]

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Forrest Gillies and Keshet Miller are Groundwork’s new Co-Executive Directors.  A note from Keshet: Hello Groundwork community! I am so excited to be returning to Groundwork and stepping into the new Co-Executive Director role. Back in 2021, amidst a global pandemic, I took a leap of faith and moved to Paonia to help start the Food Systems Fellowship program. The Groundwork team learned so much that first year, and it is incredible to see the growth and change that this organization has undergone in just a […]

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To go with the seed story about Green Luobo Radish this month, we wanted to share this recipe for Kkakdugi, a Korean cubed radish kimchi. This recipe is modified from Korean food educator Mangchii, and most of the credit goes to her. Ingredients 4 pounds Green Luobo or other daikon radish 2 Tbsp kosher salt (iodized salt can slow fermentation) 2 Tbsp sugar ¼ cup fish sauce (substitute soy sauce for a vegetarian version) ⅔ cup Korean hot pepper flakes (gochugaru) 4 green onions, chopped […]

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In uncertain times, people turn to gardening. This year, we see similar trends as during the pandemic: boreal springtime coincides with major uncertainties in the world, and seed sales are skyrocketing. As gardeners and soon-to-be-gardeners welcome the spring, we often dream of the future harvest in terms of food. Long-term resilience, local food systems, and connection with place is about more than harvesting just vegetables and fruits. During the garden planning, we also need to consider and plan for seed saving as a key practice. Rowen White, is […]

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The Groundwork farm just planted our first biennial seed crops into the fields, including Green Luobo radish and Colorado Sweet #6 storage onion. Biennial crops are seed crops that require two years to complete their life cycle. This is compared to annuals that reproduce in one year and perennials that live and reproduce for many years. The first year of growth is mainly vegetative (leaves, roots and stems) while the second year of growth is mainly reproductive (flowers and seeds). Biennials require a process called vernalization, which […]

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Ally Pecego (she/her) grew up in Long Beach, CA, one of the most polluted cities in the United States, a byproduct of our fossil fuel-reliant society. Concerned about humans’ impacts on the world, she earned her B.A. in Environmental Studies and Legal Studies at UC Santa Cruz among the redwoods and sandy Pacific beaches. Determined to engage in transformational climate action, she became a California Climate Action Corps Fellow where she led a food recovery program in Watsonville, CA, collecting businesses’ excess food and donating […]

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