April 6, 2009

eedy Saturdays. Someone asked how to get one of their own going, so when I could type this last bit, but when I did not have internet access, I wrote this up. 

Seedy Saturdays

It is getting a bit late to hold a Seedy Saturday anywhere the rest of this year, but these are the steps we took to hold our very successful event and perhaps you can start your own for next year. I highly suggest you holding a Seedy Saturday event if you think you would like to, no matter where you live in the world, as like I have stated before, each and every year, at least 10,000 varieties of heirloom seeds go extinct each and every year. Holding such an event helps slow that number down. Even saving one heirloom variety makes it worthwhile. 

I recently received some Hollyhocks at the last event I attended which had been in their family continuously since the 1800's. I wrote down the family's name and all the other important info which I thought was useful and documented it on the seed packet they gave me, so it would not get lost and no one would know how special this seed is. Even though I hate beans, I have many varieties of green and dried, as how can I not grow them and pass them on since I have them? I have to do my part in keeping them from going extinct.

This last Seedy Saturday I was at, I was given some "Ireland Creek Annie" beans which has been grown locally for many years, the Bird Family gave me some lovely Kale which they saved seed from this last year and it was the first seed that they had saved (and gave me alot so I could pass it around to others too). It is these seeds which are so important as they are acclimated to this area and many of the varieties or strains are grown no where else in the world. In essence they have/will become a landrace. "Landrace" refers to domesticated animals or plants adapted to the natural and cultural environment in which they live (or originated) and, in some cases, work.


1. Our event started as an idea with two of us over tea. Then when others heard about it, it grew to four of us who put it on. With more people it is always more fun, makes the workload less and makes it so you were not the only one standing as 'front man'.

2. Decide on what you want from your event. I have been to a few Seedy Saturdays and each one is very different from the other.

A.) The first Seedy Saturday I attended was a small seed exchange in the park on little tables we brought. (I was actually sick as a dog at it and had  severe anemia, otherwise I may have enjoyed it a bit more).

B.) The second was the event we put on and we chose to make gardening a good option for people in our more difficult economic times, those who are retired and those who have children. We wanted to promote locally grown foods, community gardens and sustainability. We only sold plants (that we donated between us four) that we seeded and grew, so the 100% proceeds from sale of the herbs and tomatoes will go into buying tools for the community gardens, making it a win-win situation all the way around. We educated the public, had nutritionists there, had local beekeepers there, showcased local food producers, the new community gardens, etc. And of course the seed exchange and teaching people how to save seeds.

C.) The last and third Seedy Saturday I went to was very different. I was invited to have a table at this one from someone who saw me at ours and wanted me to talk about saving seeds at their Seedy Saturday in a town a few hours away from mine. There were less seed exchanges at this one, more sales of organic open pollinated seeds, new/used book sales promoting how to garden, vendors for composting tea, raised bed hot houses, the community gardening club, all the way to demonstrations on how to make cuttings and propagate them. There were also baby chicks there and a flea market. And a local commune who sold seed potatoes (and I missed getting the local potato variety I wanted which originated here, but they are going to give me some since I gave them a WHOLE schwack of seed starts - about 50 kinds).

So decide what YOU want from it and what your COMMUNITY needs from it. It can be a big or small event, but in my opinion, the seed saving and trading should always be the main focus of it. I personally disagree with the sale of seeds. People kept trying to give me money for the seeds I gave away, but I was adamant that they give me no money and only promise to try to grow out the seed and save the seed to give to others and/or bring back to a Seedy Saturday the following year in 2010. I then give them my spiel WHY it is important to save seeds and what kinds to save and the easiest to start learning with.

3. Find a Saturday sometime in February, March or early April to hold the event. Make it tenative to step 4.

4. Talk to people in charge of places where you can hold the event, preferably the less expensive the better, as the objective of this event (for me anyway) is NOT to make money or SPEND any. Talk to a school, a community service like The Elks, Rotary, a church, a grange hall, the Legion ect. Most have not heard of a Seedy Saturday, so learn what one is and then educate them. Most are pretty excited about what you are going to hold once they find out what it is you want to do. I had a hall donated to us and the fees voided, but then we found a better location, better parking and easier found for the public wanting to come. We invited the other group to come anyway, as many in the other organization were avid gardeners or wanted to be.

5. Tables. What do you want to do? Educate people? Just hold a seed exchange? Invite local gardening/agricultural type groups that you think might be
interested in participating. I think we had 20-some tables at our event for educational purposes alone.

6. Have activities for kids as well. We came up with children planting a pumpkin seed there at the event and then taking it home to grow (with instructions) and then bring the pumpkin back to the Farmer's Market in the fall to have a pumpkin carving contest, toss all the seeds into a bucket from all the pumpkins (which are all the same variety, "Connecticut Field") to promote the Seed Exchange again next year.. at the same time, we promoted our local Farmer's Market and encouraged young gardeners. All the seeds, potting soil and plastic pots were donated by a local business.

7. Get the public involved, have activities for them to do. The bee keepers brought full bee suits and let people dress up in them and had pictures taken of the people. They also brought hives to show people what the supers, brood chambers, frames, foundation etc was like and why bees are important for
gardening and the rest of the world.

8. People like free stuff. I contacted every single seed company who has or specializes in open pollinated seeds and heirloom seeds in all of North America, the UK, France and Israel and they sent me lots and lots of seed catalogs. Seed Savers Exchange sent me a 27 pound box of catalogs.. no joke!! There were 600-some catalogs and we put them on a table and only a handful were left by the end of our event. There were many companies which were new to me as well. The few catalogs left, I donated to another group who was having a Seedy Saturday after ours.

9. It never hurts to ask for donations from local businesses. One business, gave us seed that they had and we divided that up into individual coin envelopes, then we gave people free seed to take home with directions how to grow it. We made sure all the varieties were open pollinated seed and many were even heirlooms (BONUS!!!). That way we had door prizes too. Later when some businesses heard what we were doing which has had NOT approached, they want to be in on it next year. And we certainly will be holding it next year as this year was very much a success.

10. Contact the media. We contacted the local paper, the radio station and the local cable company. I wrote the article for the paper and they were more than happy to accept it (I sent it to the rival paper of where I used to work hehe). If you write a good article and send in pictures, the editor is usually more than happy to print it. I had about a 670 word article, telling what we were doing, why, why it was important, as well as when and where. Get it in the issue JUST before your event. We also made posters and put them up all over town. The printing was donated by a local agriculture group.

11. Thus far we have spent no money out of our pockets other than the seed we donated from our own stashes and a few phone calls.

12. With our plant sale.. we sent home instruction sheets how to care for the tomatoes and a sheet on how to care for the (Rosemary, Sage and Thyme) herbs and recipes on how to use them. Again, the printing was donated.

13. A sign for in front of the place you are holding it is great so people can locate it as they are driving around looking for the door or building. We found a 'sandwich sign', (2 boards hinged at the top) and we just printed off "SEEDY SATURDAY HERE" and listed those who helped sponsor us.

14. Have a greeter type table. I did double duty as the greeter and the "How to Save Seed" table.

15. Food is rather a good idea. If not for the people coming to the event, for those who are there all day *L*. We invited a local 'green type' restraunt and they served organically minded, vegetarian type fare. They made pre-made wraps, soup in a pot, carrot/beet muffins and some other things. The 3rd Seedy Saturday I went to, showcased locally grown organic foods cooked in their community kitchen for their lunch meal and the price was by donation.

16. We chose to have our hours for the event from 9 am to 3 pm. The night before, E & R set up their displays. The day of the event we got there an hour early to finish setting things up (I made mine easy... 5 mins for setup or teardown). Make sure to have table cloths, a bit of decoration, educational displays if you like.... (make sure to have liquid if you are talking a lot as you will go hoarse). The last event I went to, the hours were from 11 am to 3 pm.

17. Relax and have FUN!!! I think the more you stress you make for yourself, the more can go wrong at the event. Our event flowed with ease. It was like the four of us had been working for years together, instead of knowing each other for merely 8-9 weeks. I can't think of anything which went 'off badly' at ours. I only wish we had thought of a Guest Book for people to write what they liked, but even a week later I was hearing rave reviews about it.

18. Have a 'follow up meeting' between the organizers after the event. Chances are you will be holding it again the next year since you had so much fun, so see what new ideas you all came up with and what you would change.

19. You may want to contact Seeds of Diversity Canada, Seed Savers Exchange or other people who have held Seedy Saturdays for ideas.

20. Make it your own. Put some twists on it, but do always keep it agriculturally minded and attempt to keep it local.