Native Seeds/SEARCH - Tucson, Arizona

    Native Seeds/SEARCH is one of the really great conservation organizations found in Arizona.  When we originally wrote this article, their retail store was on famous Fourth Avenue near the University of Arizona.  But their new store is located on Campbell, just south of Fort Lowell Road.  If you have any interest in gardening or in the culture of ancient seeds, you will love Native Seeds/SEARCH!

Here is their website link - http://nativeseeds.org/



    Fourth Avenue in Tucson, Arizona is one of those charming and unique streets found near many a major American University.  But the University of Arizona’s Fourth Avenue is made even more special as the location of the retail store for the non-profit organization, Native Seeds/SEARCH.
    Native Seeds/SEARCH seeks to preserve the crops seeds that connect Native American cultures of the American Southwest and northwest Mexico to their lands. Through seed conservation and community interaction Native Seeds/SEARCH works to protect crop biodiversity and to celebrate cultural diversity.
    Native Seeds/SEARCH began in 1983 with a request from the elders of the Tohono O’odham Nation near Tucson.  The desert people wanted to grow traditional crops for both health and religious reasons, but could not locate many of their traditional seeds.
    Today, through the efforts of the people of Native Seeds/SEARCH, a seed bank of over 1800 traditional seeds, many of them rare and endangered, now exists for the Native American people.  For anyone interested in gardening and the growing of historic plants, 350 different varieties of native seeds are offered for sale.
    Seed packets can be obtained so that Hopi blue corn, Anasazi beans, Apache dipper gourds, and even the ancient corn, teosinte, can be grown, used and enjoyed once again in the fields or backyard gardens of Arizona.
    The Native Seeds/SEARCH store also offers Native American arts and crafts, traditional foods, cookbooks and so much more.  All proceeds from their sales go to support the efforts of Native Seeds/SEARCH.
    So in this season of giving in thanks for our many gifts, a trip to Native Seeds/SEARCH in Tucson would be fun, educational and a reminder of the importance that seeds have always played in our American culture.


     The Native Seeds/SEARCH store is now located at 3061 N. Campbell Avenue, Tucson, Arizona, 85719.  502-622-5561


These pictures are from the Fourth Avenue Native Seeds/SEARCH store but will still give you an idea of this unique and and wonderful Arizona store and organization.