Seedy Saturday is a day for people to share, sell and swap their heritage seeds and stories. Sault Ste. Marie’s 2nd Annual Seedy Saturday will be held in the Native Centre—G Wing—of Sault College from 10 am to 3 pm.
Last year’s event was organized by Clean North with the help of the Sault Ste. Marie Horticultural Society and Seeds of Diversity Canada and was a great success. People came to swap their open pollinated seeds, attend gardening talks and visit the numerous vendors who offered local and area food and craft items.
“We were excited that there was so much interest in our first Seedy Saturday last year,” says Suzanne Hanna, co-organizer. “We received so many favourable comments that we decided to do it again. By bringing together gardeners, farmers, and citizens passionate about the environment and access to safe, healthy food, we hope to encourage individuals to become involved in growing veggies, sharing seeds with their neighbours and friends and helping to protect agricultural diversity in their own backyards.”
This year Clean North is pleased to announce that Sault College has come on board as one of Seedy Saturday’s sponsors and is offering their site as the new location for this year’s expanded event. USC Canada, another sponsor, is providing a guest speaker. Kate Green from USC’s Seeds of Survival program will be traveling from Ottawa to the Sault to show the documentary, ‘Hijacked Future’ and speak about food sovereignty and international seed saving efforts.
Little did Sharon Rempel know when she designed and organized the first Seedy Saturday in Vancouver in February 1989 that her “seedy” idea would germinate into over 50 separate annual events across Canada. With the help of Seeds of Diversity, formerly known as Canada’s Heritage Seed Program, volunteer gardeners and farmers work together to grow, propagate and distribute over 1900 varieties of vegetables, fruit, grains, flowers and herbs, many of them treasured family favourites that are not widely offered by commercial seed companies.
The highlight of each and every Seedy Saturday is the community seed exchange that will take place between 12:00-3 pm. If you would like to swap your saved seeds, be sure to bring your labelled envelopes containing open pollinated varieties of seed to the registration desk between 10 and 11 am. There will be seed for sale as well.
Guest speakers will provide information from 11 am to 3 pm on a variety of topics such as seed saving, composting with worms, invasive species, and guerrilla gardening. There will be local and area environmental, food security and gardening displays with plenty of free handouts. The Farmer’s Market and other vendors will have products for sale, Katimavik will be on hand to provide children’s activities and there will even be healthy refreshments for sale at our Seedy Saturday Cafe.
As an added bonus, Cinema Politica will be hosting the viewing of ‘King Corn’, a feature documentary about two friends, one acre of corn, and the subsidized crop that drives our fast-food nation at 7 pm in the Multimedia Centre located in the B Wing of Sault College. Refreshments and a panel discussion will follow.
Our venue is wheelchair accessible and parking is free.
For more information, contact Suzanne Hanna at (705) 759-2893 wildgardener@shaw.ca
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