“Thinking Like a Seed” with Casey O’Leary
Thursday March 12th, 2026 | 6:00PM MST
The Idea of Nature public lecture series presents: “Thinking Like a Seed” with Casey O’Leary, Co-Founder of the Snake River Seed Cooperative and Director of Taproots Farm Hub.
What can seeds teach us about adapting to change and uncertainty? What does a forest show us about cooperation and belonging? Turning to the natural world as a rigorous field of study not only offers us an endless well of intrigue but also solutions to some of the biggest challenges we face. We are living in a time ripe with division, but even something as simple as planting and tending a seed brings us immediately into interconnection with a whole host of other fascinating beings. And when we join together with folks who also recognize these “others” as the wise teachers they are, our collective imaginations unlock, and we are able to envision – and enact – a multitude of plausible, breathtaking alternatives to business-as-usual.
What can seeds teach us about adapting to change and uncertainty? What does a forest show us about cooperation and belonging? Turning to the natural world as a rigorous field of study not only offers us an endless well of intrigue, but also solutions to some of the biggest challenges we face. We are living in a time ripe with division, but even something as simple as planting and tending a seed brings us immediately into interconnection with a whole host of other fascinating beings. And when we join together with folks who also recognize these “others” as the wise teachers they are, our collective imaginations unlock and we are able to envision – and enact – a multitude of plausible, breathtaking alternatives to business-as-usual.
Casey O’Leary helps individuals and organizations rekindle their sense of wonder and enliven their ideas about what is possible by reconnecting them with the reality that they are natural creatures who belong here on planet earth. As an urban farmer, seed saver, and provocateur, her lifework is to ideate and enact projects that mimic the ecosystems where we live.She co-founded and runs the Snake River Seed Cooperative, and is the Executive Director for Taproots Farm Hub, which is working to build a farm incubator in the Treasure Valley.
The goal of the The Idea of Nature lecture series is to promote interdisciplinary inquiry about the environment and to foster dialogue across the campus and community. Dr. Samantha Harvey founded The Idea of Nature in 2012. She joined the faculty of the Department of English Literature at Boise State University in 2010. She received her Ph.D. from Cambridge University in English Literature and her B.A. in English and the Study of Religion from Harvard University. Dr. Harvey’s teaching and research interests include nineteenth-century British poetry and prose, transatlantic Romanticism, and literature and the environment.
This lecture is sponsored in part by: The Nature Conservancy, Southern Idaho Mushroom Club, Ada County Soil and Water Conservation District, Osher Lifelong Learning Institute, Idaho Humanities Council, Boise Co-op Market and Boise State University’s College of Business, College of Education, College of Health Sciences, School of the Environment, College of Arts and Sciences, Department of English Literature and The Humanities and Social Sciences Initiative.