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Before starting a PhD program I worked for a couple of years as a museum director at a site dedicated to river life, agriculture, and the socio-political world of the mid nineteenth century. A couple who worked at the museum had turned their farm into a historical lab: using tools and techniques from a century and a half ago, and raising only plant strains that they had methodically tracked down and verified as period-authentic.
Current research into heirloom and heritage plants helps experimental archaeologists and ethnobotanists better understand folkways and historical experience, and gives biologists, ecologists, and epidemiologists insights into species health. A project by Sarah Mason relies on traditional gathering and preparation of plants to identify the “charred crud” found at many pre-agricultural sites; similar experimental archaeology programs (and efforts by reenactors) have helped researchers and students understand the evolving relationship between technology and the environment. A program of the US Department of Agriculture has taken this another step, finding molecular markers that will help restore plant strains.
Moving beyond academia, the heirloom plants have become tools in the effort to maintain biodiversity. The Network of Conservation Educators and Practitioners, Grassroots International, and WorldChanging view the survival of folkways and traditional agriculture as part of an ecological safety net, one that also preserves both indigenous cultures and knowledge. In the US, hobbyists have adopted this approach, turning to heritage crops to promote sustainable gardening while developing a greater sense of connection to family and regional history.
