Rough milled this is a nutritious feed for your flock, or the corn can be ground into a meal with rich flavor and unusual color. Pretty enough to grow just for looks, this corn is delicious baked into muffins or cornbread.

The inspiration for Southern Exposure Seed Exchange can be traced back to the 1970s. Jeff McCormack and his wife, Patty Wallens, were in New England, where Jeff was a graduate student and later a biology professor. The 1983 catalog was small, but the positive response encouraged them to keep at it. (One customer wrote, saying “These seeds aren’t going to be around in a couple decades,” and donated $500 to help out.) The 1984 catalog increased to 140 varieties. Still, it took three years for SESE to turn a profit, what with investing in the business and learning to make it all work. With his academic thoroughness, Jeff would go around with a stopwatch trying to figure out how much time it took to grow and clean seeds, pack the seeds, and process orders.