The Garden of the Coastal Plain to Host Author Janisse Ray

September 6, 2013

The Lunch and Learn series returns to the Garden of the Coastal Plain at Georgia Southern University on Thursday, Sept. 26 from noon until 1 p.m. at the Garden’s Heritage Pavilion, 1505 Bland Avenue, with a presentation on seeds, food and farming from award-winning author Janisse Ray.

Seeds are the source of the world’s food staples including wheat, corn and rice. Experts believe that of the thousands of seed varieties available at the turn of  20th century, 94 percent have been lost forever.  Ray will  discuss seed saving, healthy food and farming and the inspiring efforts to address one of the  planet’s most crucial challenges in her presentation titled “The Future of Food:  Heirlooms of the Past and the Art of Seed Saving.”

The Garden of the Coastal Plain welcomes author Janisse Ray on Sept. 26.

Ray’s talk will be the first of the Garden of the Coastal Plain’s four-lecture Lunch and Learn series. The event  includes a lunch especially paired with the topic by food advocate and Chef Kevin Case of Georgia Southern Catering. Lunch and Learn is a fundraiser for the Garden, which must raise much of its operating support.

The cost is $20, and reservations are required. Call (912) 871-1149 for reservations. The talk without lunch is free for Georgia Southern students with ID.   Ray’s books will be available for purchase.

Ray, born in Baxley, Ga., is a writer, naturalist and activist as well as a seed saver, seed exchanger and seed-banker.  She is the author of several books, including Ecology of a Cracker Childhood, a New York Times Notable book.  She won a Southeastern Booksellers Award for Nonfiction, an American Book Award, the Southern Environmental Law Center Award for Outstanding Writing and a Southern Book Critics Circle Award.  She attempts to live a simple, sustainable life on a farm in south Georgia.

Georgia Southern University, a Carnegie Doctoral/Research University founded in 1906, offers 125 degree programs serving more than 20,000 students. Through eight colleges, the University offers bachelor’s, master’s and doctoral degree programs built on more than a century of academic achievement.  Georgia Southern is recognized for its student-centered approach to education. Visit: www.georgiasouthern.edu.

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