Learn how to save your own seeds, and locally adapt crops. + Seed Giveaway

Join 2 local seed growers at Grassroots Garden CIC, to learn all about growing and saving your own seeds. We are growing many crops here as part of a "Crowd Breeding" project with the Gaia Foundation and want to share our lessons with you and help you get started with the joy of saving your own seed! This hands-on evening covers the real basics for you to start saving your own seed — which plants to start with, the dos and don'ts, and a demo of processing seed — plus an introduction to "landrace growing": deliberately growing diverse populations of a crop together so they cross and adapt to our own soil and climate, year on year. Bring your own seed and its story if you've got one — seed swapping and a seed giveaway is part of the evening, and it's one of the pilot sessions for our new Civil Food Resilience programme, and a proper chance to meet other people who care about where their seed comes from. What we'll do ● Why seed saving matters — genetic diversity, food sovereignty, and locally-adapted varieties ● Hands-on and demo: processing seed properly (wet and dry methods) ● Landrace growing — building your own locally-adapted population, and how deliberate crosses increase diversity ● Which plants are easiest to start with, and the basic dos and don'ts ● Seed swap — bring your own seed and story if you have one ● A seed giveaway at the end — choose some to take home Who it's for Complete beginners welcome, and equally worthwhile if you've saved seed before and want to go further into "Adaptive Agriculture" or "Landrace growing". If you're interested in joining a longer-term local seed-breeding project — not just tonight's swap — say so on the night or get in touch afterwards.