A Decorah-area couple’s decades of gardening, conservation and involvement with Seed Savers Exchange have led to a long-term commitment: Kelly and Angie Tagtow have updated their wills to name the nonprofit as a beneficiary.
The couple shared the decision with Cindy Goodner, Seed Savers Exchange’s director of development, during a spring picnic at the organization’s Heritage Farm headquarters. Kelly, a former Seed Savers marketing director, was explaining how he and Angie were shaping their “second act” around intentional living, cooking, growing some of their own food and spending time with close friends when he revealed the estate-planning decision.
“We’ve updated our wills to make Seed Savers Exchange a beneficiary.”
Goodner described the decision as the result of more than a single conversation. She pointed to the Tagtows’ long-term financial support, introductions to people in their network and concern for the organization’s future.
A relationship built through gardening and conservation
Kelly and Angie began developing their property in northeast Polk County in 1994, starting with small garden beds and eventually expanding to larger growing areas. Both grew up in rural families that actively gardened. By 2002, they were pursuing new additions to the property while restoring native prairie and wetland habitat, work Kelly continued after completing Iowa State Extension’s Master Conservationist program.
The couple’s connection to Seed Savers began through the organization’s annual catalog, but it deepened through personal relationships and repeated participation in its activities. Kelly first returned to the nonprofit’s website in 2011 to buy seed garlic. He noticed a marketing-manager opening and, drawing on his previous experience as a database marketing analyst for Meredith Corporation, joined the organization to apply data-driven outreach to its work.
During Kelly’s time with Seed Savers, the organization expanded its focus beyond marketing unique organic seeds to include seed-heritage preservation and food-system biodiversity.
Kelly and Angie’s work and family life also took them across the region and beyond. Kelly lived during the week in the Decorah area and returned to the couple’s property on weekends. Angie drew on her background in nutrition, public health and food systems while working with Luther College and the Northeast Iowa Food and Fitness Initiative before later becoming executive director of the USDA’s Center for Nutrition Policy and Promotion in Washington, D.C.
A lasting connection to Seed Savers’ founders
Their demanding commutes helped build a friendship with Diane Ott Whealy, a co-founder of Seed Savers Exchange. The Tagtows recall one episode involving an orange tag placed on a conifer at their property, a former Christmas tree farm. They removed the tag without knowing its origin, then learned that Whealy had marked the tree during an earlier visit because she believed she had found an ideal Christmas tree slightly beyond the property line.
The story remains an ongoing joke between them, but the relationship had a deeper effect. Angie said the couple’s firsthand exposure to Whealy’s dedication to Seed Savers’ mission helped prompt them to consider including the organization in their estate planning.
The Tagtows regularly attend Seed Savers conferences and fundraising events and frequently visit Diane’s Garden at Heritage Farm.
Planning for the organization’s next chapter
Seed Savers Exchange’s endowed fund, created to commemorate the nonprofit’s 50th anniversary in 2025, helped give the couple confidence that a legacy gift could support the organization over time. Angie said they saw Seed Savers as an organization that had grown beyond its founding generations of leadership while remaining positioned to endure.
“We’re planners by nature, and we could see as the organization matured that it had not only evolved from its founding generations of leadership but was also thriving and positioned to endure.”
Kelly said estate planning took time to feel emotionally natural. The couple had created wills in their 40s based on relationships formed earlier in life, but later chose to simplify those documents for their executors and use beneficiary designations for other financial assets. They also decided together which local organizations to include.
Their approach to their gardens has changed as well. They have simplified their growing spaces and shifted toward perennials and long-season crops, including raspberries, blackberries and apples, alongside hazelnut, native plum and elderberry plantings. They continue maintaining prairie habitat, trying heirloom seeds and preserving their harvest—with garlic still among the crops they grow.
