Garden Season Kickoff: Seed Swap, Knowledge Sharing and Community Gathering
When: Saturday, March 18th, 10—3pm.
Where: 3rd Floor Program Room, North Vancouver City Library
This ain’t just a seed swap! We are gathering to share inspiration and learning about growing resilient gardens.
New and experienced gardeners are invited to join us at the Garden Season Kickoff, for the full day or drop in for a bit, to: share seeds, questions, growing experience and learn together. Become a member of the North Vancouver seed library, housed in a card catalogue at the North Vancouver City Library, and learn about saving your own seed. In addition to our annual seed swap (12pm-2pm), we will have seedling sales, local seed vendors, talks and mini-workshops led by community members. Or grab a knowledgable person from the community, drink tea and talk shop in the Open space area on the balcony.
Schedule of Events
Join us for a full day or just stop by to check it out!
10AM: Featured Workshop – Indigenous Seed Gathering and Saving with the Indigenous Plant Diva: Cease Wyss
This workshop will focus on local indigenous food and medicine plants and how to gather seeds for saving and sharing. There will be a power point presentation that will include images to support the information shared in this workshop. Each participant will take a small indigenous garden of saved seeds to take away with them, encouraging more indigenous planting in our community. Space is limited. Registration required.
Register for this workshop now!11:30am-12pm: Welcome
12pm-2pm: Seed Swap & Shop
- bring your extra seeds (in labeled packages) to trade.
- buy seeds from Salt Spring Seeds and talk to Dan Jason for tips on saving seed (and pulses)!
- make your own seedling pots with Evergreen and chat about native plants for your garden!
- talk to Farm Folk City Folk and pick up free seeds to be part of the citizen seed trial.
- pre-order fruiting trees, shrubs or vines from Tree Eater Nursery and chat with Peter about permaculture orchards* (more info about purchasing below.)
12pm-3pm: Concurrent mini-workshops
Share your questions and experiences—we’ll learn together
- 12:00-12:30pm: Why permaculture? With by Genevieve Dupont
- 12:40-1:20pm: Bountiful Small Spaces. A team of EGP sharing gardeners share tips to grow more food.
- 1:30-2:00pm: Make space for pollinators!
- 12:00-2:00pm: Open space for tea and chatting on the balcony– grab a knowledgable person from the community and talk shop.
- 2:15-3pm: A community conversation with Mikale Fenton: what does this community mean to us?
Links to folks who will be there:
Cease Wyss, Indigenous Plant Diva the movie: https://vimeo.com/115933550
Dan Jason of Salt Spring Seeds: www.saltspringseeds.com/pages/how-to-save-seeds
BC Eco-Seed Coop: www.bcecoseedcoop.com/
North Vancouver City library: the seed library: www.nvcl.ca/using-the-library/seed-library
Evergreen: www.evergreen.ca/
Farm Folk City Folk: www.farmfolkcityfolk.ca/
BC Seed Trial: www.bcseeds.org/citizen-seed/
Genevieve Dupont of Little Knapsack Club: littleknapsackclub.org
Peter of Tree Eater Nursery is coming from Vancouver Island with fruiting trees, shrubs and vines. He has hard to find stock that is excellent for permaculture gardens! Ideally folks will pre-order to get the best choice. Check out the nursery section of the website and email treeeaternursery@gmail.com to place the order.
Get Involved: start saving seed and add to our seed security:
The Canadian Diversity Garden Project from USC Canada
Amy Millan’s Amazing Seed Adventure
Bring your seeds. You can check whether they are still viable here: High Mowing Seed Viability Chart