Plant Inventory 216
Plant Inventory 216 is named for the USDA document “Plant Inventory No. 216” — the official listing of plant materials accepted into the U.S. National Plant Germplasm System (NPGS) between January 1 and December 31, 2007. Sehsapsing, the Lenape corn variety, appears on page 119.
This project literally grew out of my 2010 garden project Maize Field. Plant Inventory 216 an ongoing effort to distribute the Sehsaping seeds from successive gardens planted after Maize Field gardens in Canarsie, Brooklyn.
Sehsapsing is a blue flour corn associated with the Lenape people who lived in the NY-NJ-PA-DE area. I give away seed packets to people in the area interested in planting their own patch of Sehsapsing. The packet contains a return envelope so that participants can return a donation of some of the corn kernels they’ve grown in order to keep the project going. Since 2010 we planted Sehsapsing gardens in Flatlands, East New York, Prospect Park and Short Hills, NJ.
