Part 5. Alan (Mushroom) Kapuler traces the broad contours of his adult journey in the garden, from his early beginnings living on a commune in the 1970’s, to a career as a molecular biologist and later to research director for Seeds of Change before founding Peace Seeds, developing public domain, open-pollinated organic seeds.

Filmed in October of 2010, this is the final video in the Alan Kapuler series. Kapuler shares how he first became attracted to growing food, and why he finds gardening to be such a rich and rewarding intellectual and spiritual pursuit.

With the help from his youngest daughter, Dylana, he became particularly interested in the Andean root crops— Yacon, Oca, and Mashua, that also extend the growing season of their garden. Yacon, is a perennial plant that is planted April and May, and harvested October and November. It tastes like a sweet potato and also produces a delicious juice that is not bitter (unlike the root of the sugar beet plant), and from which Kapuler uses to make molasses. The leaves of the plant are used in Japan as a tea for diabetics to help modulate blood sugar levels.

Since this video was originally filmed, Alan Kapuler has passed down his seed catalog company to Dylana and her partner Mario, and is now called Peace Seedlings.