Overview
Headquarters
North San Juan, California
The Felix Gillet Institute, (FGI) is a 501(c)3 non profit educational organization, founded in 2003 to identify, preserve and propagate the best of the varieties still thriving in the mining camps, farms, homesteads and towns of the Sierra, and elsewhere. True permaculture plants, these 125+ year survivors show great resistance to harsh weather, drought, insect and disease attack, and often produce remarkable, extremely flavorful crops with little or no human assistance. The mission statement of the Felix Gillet Institute is to discover, preserve and disseminate these heirloom perennial food plants from California’s Gold Rush Era and the Historic Pacific West. Our goals are to research and publish the historic work of Felix Gillet who introduced a vast array of edible and ornamental plants from all over the world and helped establish many agricultural industries of the West Coast, beginning in the 1860s. The FGI evaluates these plants for their origins, quality, flavor, and resistance to drought, disease and pests through field observation and documentation. The FGI intends to honor the work of generations of ancestors who developed and saved the best of our botanical heritages and to educate, inspire and empower individuals and organizations to replicate our efforts in their regions, contributing to widespread food security and genetic diversity.
