Recently I had the opportunity to sit around the table with some of the worlds top chefs, scientists, foragers and farmers where we brought food production under the microscope.

Alarmingly Hans Herren from ‘Millennium Institute’ shared how in 11 short years his studies show that we’ve gone from having over 100+ soy bean varieties to a paltry 6 across the 7 major seed catalogues in the USA! Yes, 6!

There are many reasons for this, the largest being that today over 70% of commercial agri-business seed is in the hands of 3 large corporations. Understandably it makes fiscal sense in their eyes to simplify by using genetically altered drought and pest resistant crops rather than to diversify. Truthfully many consumers prefer being presented with fewer choices and uniformity across them.

It’s not all doom and gloom though as that is where Urban Farming allows one the opportunity and creativity to keep these beautiful heirloom varieties alive, in fact the responsibly falls on us to do so through seed saving, which I’ll cover in another article.

You might be wondering what an heirloom seed/variety is? Traditionally it’s a seed that has been handed down from generation to generation, farmer to farmer, some are centuries old, having naturally evolved to suit a specific location and climate and offer amazing shapes, colours, sizes and tastes that commercial variants don’t.

One of my favourite varieties to grow are ‘Purple Dragon’ carrots, which have a beautiful purple skin, which when peeled exposes a rich orange root.

Purple carrots? Indeed! Carrots were traditionally purple, are thousands of years old and indigenous to Afghanistan, though through cultivation in the 14th century they were altered to be white and yellow to be more aesthetically pleasing, eventually ending up with ubiquitous orange colour that we know and love around the 16th century.

There are literally thousands of these amazing seeds available and I’ve been known to spend hours paging through seed catalogues looking at pictures and reading descriptions.

So how does one go about finding such varieties? Several are sold commercially through the Kirchhoffs range of seeds, available at most garden nurseries, though a much larger selection can be found on-line.

A few of my favourite local, South African based heirloom providers include:

http://www.livingseeds.co.za
http://www.thegravelgarden.com
https://sites.google.com/site/mahlathiniorganics/seed-catalog

So as you contemplate planting your Spring garden give a thought to leaving a living legacy through choosing heirloom vegetables.

Matt Allison is a Cape Town based eco-advocate and urban farmer who's rethinking food one meal at a time. Find out more from him at www.imnojamieoliver.com