Elevate Your Own Gardening Guru by Learning to Save Seeds
On Saturday, May 22nd from 9 am to 12 noon PST, Urban Farm U presents Seed Up Saturday, an online educational platform to help community members understand the importance, techniques and value of seed saving. Seed Up Saturday is produced in partnership with Rocky Mountain Seed Alliance, Great American Seed Up and The Micro Farm Project.
PHOENIX, May 5, 2021 /PRNewswire-PRWeb/ -- In these uncertain times, Seed Up Saturday inspires and empowers growers to increase their food security and gardening success by learning to save seeds. From novice to experienced seed savers, we invite everyone to rub shoulders online for three hours with other seed people, to learn something new and to get seed questions answered by knowledgeable instructors. Spots can be reserved at SeedUpSaturday.com.
Featured speakers include Jillian Bishop from Ontario, Canada. Jillian created the Urban Tomato seed company in her metropolitan backyard where she grows and sells a carefully curated collection of hardy heirloom seeds specifically for gardeners in her province. Jillian will talk about how to inspire and motivate urban dwellers to participate in seed cooperatives as a way of creating more food security bio regionally.
Rich Murphy, Executive Director of Veterans to Farmers, will share his journey of supporting those in transition from the front lines of conflict to the front lines of becoming food providers for their families and communities. The unique Veterans to Farmers organization is a collaborative that helps vets deal with trauma by getting their hands in the earth and inspiring them to feed their souls and the bellies of those they love with healing local food. In 2016, Rich attended a Seed School comprehensive seed saving course. The training he received in the ancient tradition of seed saving inspired him to pass the knowledge on to veterans in his farm education programs.
Author and seed expert Joseph Lofthouse will discuss what he has learned about doing less work and playing more by paying attention to what the seeds can teach us. He recently released an exciting new book called: Landrace Gardening; Food Security Through Biodiversity and Promiscuous Pollination. Landrace is a term for some of the best and most long-standing garden varieties that perform well in a number of circumstances and in many different climate zones. Joseph's new book unpacks some of the myths about seed saving including that you must do it perfectly to achieve success.
Other presentations will cover breeding your own vegetables, harvesting wild seed, planting wildflower gardens, and what you need to know about seed patenting. All told, the presenters represent more than 150 years saving seeds and growing gardens.
Seed Up Saturday is an offshoot of Seed Up in a Box, a project of the Great American Seed Up. The Great American Seed Up began as an annual event in Phoenix, Arizona where customers could scoop up bulk seed from buckets and participate in educational presentations all day. Due to Covid-19, the founders took the program online to GreatAmericanSeedUp.org. Now in its 7th year, the Great American Seed Up is committed to helping all gardeners and growers make the connection between developing great gardens and growing great seeds as the foundation. Get more information about Seed Up Saturday at SeedUpSaturday.com.
Media Contact
Kari Spencer, Great American Seed Up, +1 6024180435, [email protected]
SOURCE Great American Seed Up
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