You're listening to the Joe Gardner Show, the podcast all about gardening, where we cover

everything you need to know to grow like a pro, no experience required.

And now here's your guide, National Gardening Television Host, and the Joe Behind Joe Gardner,

Joe Lample.

Hi everybody, this is Joe Lample, the Joe Behind Joe Gardner, and welcome to the Joe

Gardner Show.

If you're into organic seeds or growing seeds, varieties that are out of the ordinary,

we've probably heard of this week's guest, Ira Wallace of Southern Exposure Seed Exchange,

is truly an icon and a really powerful force in the seed world.

And I'm fortunate to catch up with Ira, a various garden events along the east coast,

but never for long enough.

And this was the first time that she has joined me for a podcast.

To give you the background on Ira, she became involved with Southern Exposure Seed Exchange

25 years ago, after moving from Florida to Central Virginia, where she was part of a co-op

community that eventually purchased and began running the 70 acre co-op ACORN community

farm, which was the home of Southern Exposure Seed Exchange.

And it didn't take long for the SCSC founder, Jeff McCormick, to realize that Ira's co-op

was something special, so within two years, he asked them to take over management and stewardship

of the company.

And no surprise, under their watch through the past two decades, the Southern Exposure

Seed Exchange has continued preserving and selling seeds grown on the co-op and a number

of small farms nearby, which is one of the really unique things about SCSC that makes them

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