Urban Seeds Program Comes Full Cycle

Over the last few months, EYA volunteers have been busy packaging up seeds that have been saved as part of EYA’s Urban Seeds program. With increasing concerns surrounding the continued amalgamation of seed companies, growing insecurities in our global food system and the relentless encroachment of genetic modification into commercial seeds, the importance of preserving locally adapted heirloom seeds is at an all-time high. Heirloom seeds are seeds harvested from plant varieties that have been nurtured, selected and handed down though many generations, and many are well suited to the intensive small-scale home gardener. The Urban Seeds program aims to preserve these heirloom seed varieties and make them available to the local community; ultimately reducing our reliance on outside seed sources whilst improving and adapting plant varieties to urban conditions in the City of Vancouver. Each year we grow and harvest heirloom varieties with the help of our interns and volunteers in EYA’s Youth Garden in the Cottonwood Community Garden located in the Strathcona neighbourhood of Vancouver.

As part of our Urban Seeds program, we also recruit a number of “Urban Seedkeepers” every year, either individuals or families with growing space, who plant, grow and save a couple varieties of heritage, organic seeds. EYA provides training and support for our Urban Seedkeepers so they may learn how to grow crops for seed, and properly collect and store these seeds. The Seedkeepers then donate a portion of their saved seed back to EYA so that they may be used in our urban greening projects and free education programs around the city. In exchange the Seedkeepers get to harvest half the bounty for their eating pleasure.

Packaging up all of this saved seed kept our volunteers busy throughout the winter months. Every Saturday our volunteers would form little assembly lines in the Eco-Pavilion to put together the seed packages. Each envelope (kindly donated by Premier Envelopes) is first stamped by hand with our Urban Seeds logo before a measured quantity of seeds is poured into the envelope. We then slip a small fortune cookie-like insert into each package that thanks the buyer for supporting EYA and explains a little about the Urban Seeds program. Finally a sticky label that contains plant care information is used to seal each envelope and the plant variety is then written on the front of each package. Our volunteers quickly became amazingly efficient at the process, with a record of 510 packages being assembled in one 2-hour session!

Our seed packages have been available for purchase at several “seedy Saturday” events and are currently available for purchase at several stores across Vancouver (see list below). EYA is also holding a Seed Exchange on Saturday April 16th from 10 am to 1 pm in the Eco-Pavilion in Strathcona Community Garden. The emphasis is on exchange, so no money will be trading hands, only seeds. We welcome all to attend, even those who have no seeds to trade as you’ll still be able to get your hands on some free seeds!

With all our saved seeds packaged up, we’re now turning our attention to this year’s round of seed saving efforts. We’re hoping to bring together fellow seed savers, as well as those just starting out, this Sunday April 3rd to share thoughts and engage in a discussion around seed saving. This will be the first of several SEED SAVERS GARDEN FORUMS that EYA will host in collaboration with Village Vancouver. We will be meeting in the EYA Youth Garden (far eastern end of Cottonwood Community Garden, right at the corner of Raymur and Malkin Ave) from 1-3 pm, and encourage anyone with an interest in seed saving to join us. The theme of our first forum is "planning the garden for seed saving" (i.e. soil building, space requirements, isolation and cross-pollination, garden design strategies, collective-multi garden seed saving etc.). For more information, and to RSVP, please send an email to volunteer@eya.ca.

Our Urban Seeds are currently available for $2 at the following locations: Whole Foods/Capers Market on Robson, Drive Organics, East End Food Coop, Van Dusen Garden Gift Shop, and Home Hardware on Commercial Drive.

- Claire W
Photo credit: Chris McLaughlin
Thank you to Premier Envelope for donating all the envelopes!