This year, Seedy Saturday raised more than $800 for Yellowhead Community Centre’s food security program, farmers market manager Joanna Hurst said.
On April 1, Hurst estimates more than 400 people attended Seedy Saturday at the Dutch Lake Community Centre, but she quickly lost count because of how busy it was. The event aimed to educate community members while bringing them together to support important causes.
“Promoting seed diversity is important and saving seeds is important for food security,” Hurst told The Clearwater Times.
Hurst first helped organize Seedy Saturday roughly three years ago, but it is a longstanding way for community members to trade seeds and fundraise. In addition to the food security program, a portion of the proceeds will also go towards Seeds of Diversity, a non-profit that protects seed variety.
“According to Seeds of Diversity, we’ve lost more than 75 per cent of our diversity of seeds. The remaining 10 to 15 per cent is carried by a few major seed houses. Having home growers and farmers savings seeds and trading them year-after-year is super important.”
A variety of feature seeders spoke about this topic from their unique standpoint, including Mojave Kaplan from the Planting Seeds Project in Lytton. Kaplan is a long-time advocate of saving seeds who has been re-building her seed library ever since the 2021 Lytton fire wiped out her collection, Hurst said.
Eleanor Deckert is a local homesteader who also spoke at the event about preserving summer gardening for winter eating. Haskap Canada Association’s B.C. director Axel Hvidberg spoke about growing haskap berries, which are also known as honeyberries. Other guests included Amanda Drescher, Beth Northcott, Kristal Brooks, Margot Venema, Denica Lynn, Mason and Mayor Merlin Blackwell.
There are still some seeds available for community members at Hurst’s Yellowhead office at the Dutch Lake community centre, Hurst added.