Seed Savers

My next venture in life, and toward graduating from Utah State University will be to create a small farm store. Landscaping my home to be more ecological and inviting bees and hummngbirds will be a part of that process. The holding post is in essence, an online expression of parts of my vision already, as the name of my store will be el Palenquito, which translated is The Holding Post. I've been considering a long while how I would go about branding my store based on my experiences with marketing and networking combined with what I hope to bring to my community, wanting to make it an experience others would take a risk on.  This is a great place to start because I am a customer of this catalog and I hope to emulate them in some forms.

I Love Heirloom seeds. I've been sourcing my seeds online through small growers and through mail order catalogs almost since I started gardening about 14 years ago. My garden was all in containers on the back patio of my little basement apartment, in Logan. I'm pretty sure my upstairs neighbors thought I had a few screws loose, but where else was I going to garden?

I've grown more and more aware of people reactions to my different projects over the years. Not so much because I care what they think... there will always be haters... But to gauge their perceptions by their reactions for future purposes. In writing, there is always an unseen audience with varying degrees of known and unknown factors. Since I know that my future audience is the unknown public who will drive by my house, I am more aware of the piles of nicely cut wood (or uncut branches strewn across my would-be lawn) because I know that messiness doesn't invite.

Today I'm analyzing The Seed Savers Exchange catalog to better consider how I can present myself to my intended audience. I see myself and my audience. I see people that are looking for more connection to the land. People who want more connection to their food. People who want to work together for something they will all grow with and love.

www.seedsavers.org

Everything about this magazine calls to the common man, the base, the earthly, and especially the covered in dirt. The text is not made ambiguous by using strange or creative characters. It's written in white, with a simple symbol of seeds changing hands next to it.  The imagery is simple and accessible, a hand holding a small bouquet of radishes. The colors are bright and clean. A green background with bright white and red; on the side are a pare of blue jeans on an unspecific wearer. This communicates what is confirmed on the next page. There is something of community in the image and something of patriotism. The red, white and blue held strong by the land and the people who till it.

www.seedsavers.org

On the next page is confirmation of the real audience of this publication. Two dozen gardeners with an iconic red barn in the background, it shows a splash of blue shirted Americans standing among the garden beds communicating too the audience, they are blue collar common-folk. Hard workers. The green and idyllic scenary are not the scenary of mere uncultured farmers. They decorate their gardens with paintings of oversized cows and flowers to attract bees.


Seed Savers is saying something to their costumer base about themselves. They are smart and creative. They are intelligent enough not to accept the norm, but seek an elevated existence. Seed Savers seeds are organic, heirloom, non-gmo and they have a mission: to see seeds change hands. And you are part of that.