Seedy Saturday anyone ?

 Seeds!

Seedy Saturday

We’re hosting our annual community seed swap on 

Saturday 3rd Feb

starting from 11am-3pm

in the barn at 

Mount Pleasant Eco Park Porthtowan

Chapel Hill, Porthtowan TR4 8AS

Everyone is welcome

- We have a selection of seeds from various local growers and donations from the Heritage Seed Library.

 Bring seeds to swap if you have them - but most importantly come and choose some to grow. 

There’ll be experts on hand to answer questions, share wisdom and info on growing and everything seedy. 

This year the Gaia Foundation are joining us to talk about the unique seed sovereignty movement in West Cornwall, and how together we can shape the future as a network.

We’re also going to be joined by Wild Botanic Flower Farm https://www.facebook.com/NaturallyGrownFlowers , Grassroots Garden https://grassrootsgarden.co.uk/ ,  Resilient Orchards https://www.resilientorchards.org.uk/  and Community Roots https://www.communityroots.uk/ 

There’ll be a kids area with activities for our future growers - 

it’s never to early to start planting seeds.

Cake and refreshments in the Barn and the cafe is open selling delicious plant based food.

Free entry - see you there!

Seed Swap. Feb 3rd updates

 

SEEDSWAP2024 feb3rd

 

Save the date , we are happy to announce our date for this years community seedswap.

There will be locally adapted resilient healthy nutritious seeds available for all.

A range of heritage, heirloom , landrace and open pollinated seeds.

Come along and find out more about seed saving and sharing and why it is so important.

All are welcome.

Seed Saver Swap Seed Bank

 Are you passionate about preserving local biodiversity and building resilient, sustainable food systems in your community? 

Community RiseUp is starting a local seed bank!

A seed bank is a carefully curated collection of seeds that are preserved for future use. Local seed banks play a crucial role in preserving and protecting locally adapted plant varieties that are well-suited to the local environment and have evolved over generations to withstand local climate, soil, and pest conditions. By preserving these varieties, a local seed bank helps to maintain local biodiversity and promote food security.

I have organised a local community seed swap in Cornwall for several years, and I believe that establishing a seed bank would be a natural extension of this project. A seed bank would provide a permanent, centralized location for processing, storing, and exchanging seeds, and would help to build community networks and strengthen local food systems.

Here are some of the ways in which a local seed bank can benefit our community:

• Preserving Biodiversity: Local seed banks help to preserve and protect the genetic diversity of plant varieties that are adapted to local conditions. This helps to ensure that a wide range of plant species and varieties are available for future generations, and that biodiversity is maintained.
• Promoting Food Security: Local seed banks are important for maintaining local food security because they provide a source of seeds for farmers and gardeners in the event of crop failures or other disruptions to the food system. Locally adapted plant varieties are often more resilient and productive than non-local varieties, and can help to ensure a reliable food supply.
• Building Resilience: By preserving locally adapted plant varieties, local seed banks help to build resilience in local food systems. This is particularly important in the face of climate change, as locally adapted varieties are likely to be better able to withstand changing weather patterns and other environmental stresses.
• Sharing Knowledge and Expertise: A local seed bank can serve as a hub for sharing knowledge and expertise about seed saving, plant breeding, and sustainable agriculture practices. This can help to build community networks and strengthen local food systems.
• Preserving Cultural Heritage: Many local seed varieties have cultural and historical significance, and preserving them helps to maintain cultural heritage and identity. Local seed banks can play an important role in preserving and promoting this heritage.

Cornwall has a rich history of agriculture and horticulture, with numerous community food project initiatives and regenerative agriculture projects. In addition, there are many local plant varieties that are well-suited to the region's unique climate and soil conditions. By establishing a local seed bank, we can help preserve these varieties and promote sustainable, resilient food systems in our community.

 

If you share our passion for seed sovereignty and would like to get involved with the local seed bank project, we would love to hear from you. Join the conversation and sign up to our mailing list to stay informed as we work to build a network of supporters.

We are also actively seeking funding opportunities and partnerships with local organizations to help get the seed bank off the ground. We are reaching out to local farmers, allotment holders, homesteaders, gardeners, and seed savers to share the seeds they use that are thriving in our climate. Our collection will include a wide range of locally adapted seeds, as well as other useful varieties such as nutritive, herbal, and forest gardening species. Biodiversity is key, and we aim to preserve and share a diverse range of edible and useful plant varieties for everyone in our community.

Together, we can build resilient, sustainable food systems and protect our local biodiversity.

Whats next for seed savers and swappers then ?!

 I have been filling envelopes with seed for those of you that reached out through Facebook, email and text and will be chasing you up soon to arrange collection/delivery depending on whats appropriate, I'm updating the web side of things so I can keep people updated with the other projects you may have heard talk about at the seedswap.

Plans to make winnowing and seed cleaning tools, there will be a workshop session  to make a seed cleaner based on the open source plans at real seeds [ https://www.realseeds.co.uk/seedcleaner.html ], this device is excellent for cleaning the chaff, dirt, damaged seed and random unwanted particles seperate from your seed to increase the quality before storing and distributing. 

If anybody fancies coming to a workshop and maybe making one of these devices then get in touch through social media. the device will also be available for demonstration and use by the community so just drop me a message.

Plans to make seed storage and local seed bank for the the safe-guarding of locally adapted seeds, We need to build a reliable stock of seeds that will do well in our local climate and the plan is to make a seed bank and make this available to anybody that wants to grow and save seeds in the community. Forming a local seed bank is very important for access to seeds, particularly those adapted to our local climate and  that are resilient to the extremes of weather, this is fundamental to our continued food security going forward.

We are going to do fundraising to this end, get a seed bank up and running, with seed cleaning and storage facility, and continue to promote seed saving with some workshops, events and seedswaps to keep this moving forward.

Seedy Sunday success

Seedy Sunday went off perfectly, thanks to everybody that came along and chatted seeds, growing and community. A great day with many happy faces, lots of people satisfied with their seed collections, lots of seeds given out and lots of new varieties floating around. Really good turnout.

 

Downloadable guidelines for seed savers

 Our friends at Garden Organic have written extensive guides on how to save seeds from different crops and their guidelines can be downloaded by the following link.

https://www.gardenorganic.org.uk/expert-advice/garden-management/seed-saving/seed-saving-guidelines