BELLOWS FALLS-Heartfelt Seeds and Wild Goose Players will host a book signing and Mother's Day tea party to celebrate Lorna McMaster's Zoe and the Seed Garden on Sunday, May 12, from 2 to 4 p.m. at Wild Goose Players, 7 Westminster St.
Illustrated by the author with 16 needle felted wool panels, this 14-chapter book for children follows Zoe on her visits to Auntie's seed farm, where she embarks on a journey of learning to find hope for the future through the art of seed saving.
McMaster was "unexpectedly awoken to the global seed crisis" while listening to a keynote address by India's eco-activist, Vandana Shiva.
"Even though I had been a full-time organic farmer for decades," she says, "I was ignorant of the fact that from 1970 to 1980, the corporate consolidation of the global seed industry resulted in a 93% extinction of the varieties of open-pollinated food plants that still existed when I was a child."
The original 24-by-36-inch panels comprise the exhibit "Stewarding a Seed Collection," on display at Shelburne Museum for the 2024 season.
McMaster is a fiber artist and seed grower. She is a retired organic farmer, shepherd, and teacher. While she currently lives in Maritime Canada, for years she bred sheep, dyed fleeces, and needle felted in Spofford, New Hampshire, where she and her husband also raised organic vegetables and flowers for sale at the Keene and Bellows Falls farmers markets.
This book release and signing is a free, family-friendly tea party, featuring herb teas and treats from the pages of Zoe's story. Participants can meet the author, listen to McMaster reading at 3 p.m., and take home free seeds from Auntie's seed garden.
Learn more about McMaster's seed advocacy work at heartfeltseed.com.
This Arts item was submitted to The Commons.