Both master and novice gardeners, as well as anyone interested in learning more about environmental sustainability and food security, should head down to Seedy Saturday this weekend, a community seed swap and garden fair organized by Powell River Farmers’ Institute.
The show is a chance to buy or swap seeds—flower, herb and vegetable—direct from growers or fellow gardeners. And it is Powell River’s premier event for the gumboot-clad set.
Organizers have stressed the importance of education over commerce at the swap since its inception and this year will be no different with many opportunities for people with greener thumbs to share their secrets, said event coordinator and Powell River seed swap founder Wendy Devlin.
“We’re a gardening town,” said Devlin who explained that she was intrigued by a Seedy Saturday event in Courtenay/Comox and helped clone the event for Powell River. “Gardening is really big here and always has been because of the wonderful climate.”
Over the first five years, Seedy Saturday kept outgrowing its locations, first at Vancouver Island University back when it was Malaspina College and then at Cranberry’s Community Living Place. Although the fire marshall did not show up to police the number of people attending each year, Devlin said organizers were acutely aware of a location’s maximum capacity and wanted to make the experience as comfortable as possible for people to spend the day there.
Once the swap reached 350 attendees, Devlin said it was transplanted to Powell River Recreation Complex.
Over the years the farmers group has worked to keep the show primarily about seeds and a source of community gardening education, noting that many other seed swaps have evolved into gardening trade shows, Devlin said.
“You could say that we’ve created something of a mandate that we’ve stuck to over the years,” she added.
This year eight workshops are being held with four of them on soil building to commemorate the United Nations naming 2015 as International Year of Soil. Other workshops will teach on a variety of topics, including: how to save tomato seed, growing herbs for medicine, urban homesteading and genetically-modified food’s nutritional content and its health implications. Admission to the workshops is free with the $2 general admission to the swap.
A common question Devlin is asked about the event is can people come if they do not have seeds to trade.
“Of course they can,” she said, explaining that there are over 700 packages of seeds ready for sale when the doors open Saturday morning with each pack containing enough seeds to get several plants started. Late in January organizers host a seed-packing party and volunteers prepare several hundred envelopes of seeds for the event. Then during the rest of the day, people will bring in other seeds that can be swapped, she added.
Devlin is happy to note that the price of the seed packages has not changed. “It’s still 10 packages of seed for 50 cents a package,” she said. “We keep the price low because our mandate is seeds for everyone.”
Devlin explained that the Powell River event, not to mention the movement of seed swapping itself, is part of a larger community resistance project that is growing across the country.
“It’s a bit of a philosophical thing, but many of us are not too fond of Monsanto or any other big companies that try to monopolize food in the world,” she said.
Readers interested in finding out more about the community seed swap can visit Powell River Famers’ Institute’s website.
Seedy Saturday takes place from 9:30 am to 2:30 pm Saturday, March 14, upstairs at the recreation complex.
