The Earth in Her Hands: Women in the World of Plants Growing a Better Tomorrow

In this inaugural HHF Virtual Series Event, Monticello welcomes top-selling author and Cultivating Place podcast host, Jennifer Jewell and her guests: Monticello’s Curator of Plants, Peggy Cornett, and Southern Exposure Seed Exchange lead team member, Ira Wallace.

Join Jewell and these two nationally recognized plantswomen in a conversation that explores their respective careers— the plants, seeds, and gardens they have cultivated, efforts to raise awareness about food security, and growing truly good food.

Jewell’s new book, The Earth in Her Hands, 75 Extraordinary Women Working in the World of Plants, charts the paths of groundbreaking women who, through their passion for plants and unflagging work to cultivate a better world, are creating change from the ground up.

Peggy Cornett, an award-winning historical gardener, has worked at Thomas Jefferson’s Monticello for more than thirty-five years. Cornett writes for garden magazines and plant journals and appears regularly as a headline presenter at horticultural conferences and on garden-related radio and television programs. Ira Wallace is a noted seed saver, author, and speaker who serves on the boards of the Organic Seed Alliance, the Organic Seed Growers and Trade Association and the Virginia Association for Biological Farming. Wallace is a co-founder of Monticello’s Heritage Harvest Festival, now in its 14th year.

Can’t make the live event date? No problem! Ticketholders will receive a post-event link to enjoy the recorded program for a limited period of time.