Crabtree Farms Community Book Club – “The Seed Keeper: A Novel”
5:30 pm - 7:30 pm
Overview
The Crabtree Farms Community Book Club is a monthly gathering designed to foster thoughtful conversation around food, land, sustainability, health, and community. This program will expand Crabtree’s educational offerings by creating a reflective and relational space that complements hands-on workshops and farm-based growing and learning.
The book club will provide an accessible, welcoming environment for participants to engage with meaningful literature while connecting more deeply to the mission and work of the farm.
December 02: The Seed Keeper: A Novel
A haunting novel spanning several generations, The Seed Keeper follows a Dakota family’s struggle to preserve their way of life, and their sacrifices to protect what matters most. Rosalie Iron Wing has grown up in the woods with her father, Ray, a former science teacher who tells her stories of plants, of the stars, of the origins of the Dakota people. Until, one morning, Ray doesn’t return from checking his traps. Told she has no family, Rosalie is sent to live with a foster family in nearby Mankato, where the reserved, bookish teenager meets rebellious Gaby Makespeace, in a friendship that transcends the damaged legacies they’ve inherited.
On a winter’s day many years later, Rosalie returns to her childhood home. A widow and mother, she has spent the previous two decades on her white husband’s farm, finding solace in her garden even as the farm is threatened first by drought and then by a predatory chemical company. Now, grieving, Rosalie begins to confront the past, on a search for family, identity, and a community where she can finally belong. In the process, she learns what it means to be descended from women with souls of iron, women who have protected their families, their traditions, and a precious cache of seeds through generations of hardship and loss, through war and the insidious trauma of boarding schools.
Weaving together the voices of four women, The Seed Keeper is a beautifully told story of reawakening, of remembering our original relationship to the seeds and, through them, to our ancestors.
**NO BOOK CLUB IN JANUARY**
Schedule
Frequency: Once per month
Start Date: May 2026
Meeting Time: First Wednesday of each month, 5:30-7:30 PM
Format (2 Hours)
• 5 minutes – Arrival & light refreshments (optional tea or seasonal farm sampling)
• 90 minutes – Guided discussion
• 15 minutes – Reflection activity or connection to the farm
• 10 minutes – Closing and preview of next month’s book
Participants must register monthly up to a week before the start date of the book club. For example, if the first book club is on Wednesday, May 6, the registration deadline is Wednesday, April 29.
Themes & Reading Plan:
The club will rotate themes to maintain variety and seasonal relevance.
Books available via the Chattanooga Public Library: https://catalog.chattlibrary.org/GroupedWork/24596cdb-7756-013f-7cb5-4b3574fde7e5-eng/HomesearchId=8304868&recordIndex=1&page=1&searchSource=local&referred=resultIndex.
For book purchases, we refer you to local bookstore Book & Cover: thebookandcover.com
Crabtree Farms Community Book Club members receive 15% off their order at Book & Cover by using the discount code CURIOUSCRB on their website: https://thebookandcover.com/. Books purchased are for in-store pickup.
About the Facilitator
Rogelio Cerezo serves as Director of Development and Administration at Crabtree Farms, where he supports the organization’s growth, partnerships, and community engagement. Rogelio has a passion for bringing people together through conversation and shared learning. An avid reader, he enjoys books that explore food, nature, culture, and community. Some of his happiest memories involve time spent in his family’s farm and in the gardens of different relatives, these experiences continue to shape his appreciation for the land and the stories that connect us to it. He’s excited to create a welcoming space for thoughtful discussion and connection through the Crabtree Farms Community Book Club.