Jim Carras from Native Flora Seeds with a greed background and seeds being planted.

Volunteer Spotlight: Jim Carras

From Garage to Grassroots

It started in a garage. Not with machines or blueprints, but with bags of native seed, hand-printed labels, and a simple belief: If people had better access to native plant seeds, they’d plant them.

Jim Carras, a board member of Homegrown National ParkĀ®, wasn’t setting out to start a nonprofit. He was trying to fix a problem that kept popping up in conversations: ā€œI can’t find native plants in local nurseries.ā€ ā€œPlugs are too expensive.ā€ ā€œI want to plant native, but I don’t know where to begin.ā€

That gap between good intentions and real access was something Jim couldn’t ignore. So he rolled up his sleeves and got to work.

A DIY Effort That’s Making a National Impact

Out of his own garage, Jim launched Native Flora Seeds, Inc., a nonprofit dedicated to making only native seeds affordable, accessible, and easy to plant. He volunteers his time to manage every part of the operation—from sourcing and packing to shipping and strategic planning—with the help of a small but mighty team of volunteers.

Native Flora Seeds doesn’t just avoid non-native species, it actively educates. Each packet comes with clear guidance, and each purchase fuels a much larger mission.

Because here’s the remarkable part: 100% of proceeds from seed sales go directly to Homegrown National ParkĀ®. Every garden started with Native Flora Seeds supports a broader, national effort to regenerate biodiversity.

Scaling Up, One Seed at a Time

What started as a personal effort to close a gap has evolved into a scalable tool for ecological change. Native Flora Seeds supports individuals and communities looking to do real restoration work—whether on a balcony, a back 40, or a city park. It’s designed to make participation easy and meaningful.

What started out in Texas, now serves all of the lower 48 states plus Alaska (well, there is only one truly native plant for Alaska, but it’s a start!).

Idle farmland. Public parks. Front yards. School gardens. The vision is clear: 1 million acres of new native plant habitat across the country.

A Mission That Mirrors Homegrown

Jim’s work through Native Flora Seeds is a natural extension of his leadership at HNP. Both efforts are built on the same foundational belief: Change starts small, but spreads fast when people feel empowered to act.

By removing barriers—cost, confusion, access—Jim and his volunteer team are making it easier for everyone to participate in bringing nature back to their yards and community spaces.

Three Native Flora Seeds packets for Black-Eyed Susan, Annual Phlox Red, and Blue Flax.

How You Can Help

Want to make a difference from your own yard?

  • Visit Native Flora Seeds to browse and buy native seeds
  • Share the site with friends, neighbors, and local schools
  • Know that every purchase directly supports the mission of Homegrown National ParkĀ®

Because sometimes the most powerful things start in garages, carried by people who simply refuse to wait for someone else to fix what’s broken.

We’re so grateful for Jim’s work, and excited to see how Native Flora Seeds continues to grow!

If you’d like to volunteer on Jim’s team, email jimc@nativefloraseeds.org. The biggest needs right now are social media support and website management. All volunteer roles are virtual.

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