McDonalds Corners seed swappers look ahead to spring

Mar 02, 2016

On February 27, the MERA schoolhouse was abuzz with local growers looking ahead to spring as they swapped seeds at the annual McDonalds Corners Farmers’ Market Seed Swap.

The event, now in its fifth year, was organized by Kristine Swaren of Blue Chicory Garden farm and local grower Linda Harvey. It attracted a plethora of local growers looking for something new to plant while offering up their own seeds for others to try out. On hand were a wide variety of heritage tomato, bean and squash seeds.

New this year were cuttings taken from the former MERA willow labyrinth. The labyrinth was removed from the grounds last year, but cuttings were saved and grown out by Linda Harvey and others. The willow, salix purpurea, is particularly suitable for basket making. As the MERA legend goes, it was initially brought to the area from Ireland in the form of a basket that was then taken apart and planted. The species, which has become naturalized around the Great Lakes, is not invasive and is easy to grow. Harvey said that MERA often offers basket-making workshops.

Swaren and Harvey were also promoting Seeds of Diversity, a not-for-profit Canadian seed organization that is always aiming to renew and expand their Canadian Seed Library. The library houses a collection of seeds to back up the work of the organization’s members and Canadian heritage seed companies by storing samples of Canadian seeds and prioritizing rare and locally adapted varieties. These seeds are made available to future gardeners and farmers.

Every year, Seeds of Diversity chooses one vegetable crop or family to focus on for their seed library grow-outs, and they have named 2016 “The Year of the Tomato”. Through a generous donation from the Dan McMurray collection of the Creston Seed Bank in British Columbia, which included 839 varieties of tomato seeds, Seeds of Diversity is offering heritage tomato seeds through their Great Tomato Project. They are asking that half of the seeds that are grown be collected and sent back to the organization to be frozen in storage in their library. (Anyone interested can visit growers@seeds.ca or contact Kristine Swaren at 613-278-1226).

Harvey and Swaren are hoping to start a cooperative seed-saving initiative in McDonalds Corners. “I see it not necessarily as a seed bank but more as a list of people who are growing different things so we can know who has what seeds, and perhaps also create an online database to let growers in the area know what is available and where”, Harvey said.

The seeds up for grabs on Saturday were constantly changing as growers arrived. There was one packet of particular interest, which contained seeds from the Hopi Indian pale grey squash. Swaren was given them two years ago from Seeds of Diversity. She said that it was the last packet of such seed that existed in the country. “It is a great storage winter squash that makes awesome soups”.

There were also a number of crossed varieties of pole beans. One variety, which was named after the local farm where it grew, was the “Abundare” pole bean from Catherine Smith's farm on McNaughton Road near Maberly. “These beans were one of the first plants that we grew when we bought the farm and no matter the weather, they are prolific, delicious and abundant beans that come up year after year”, said Catherine.

Also on hand were a number of flower seeds including hollyhocks, poppies, dahlias, calla lilies and more.

Summing up the importance of saving heritage seed, Swaren said, “It's really important for independent growers to keep the heritage varieties alive to promote genetic diversity, since a lot of the commercial seed catalogues are offering fewer heritage seed varieties”.

Judging by the buzz at the Seed Swap, it looks as though many growers can hardly wait to get their hands in the dirt, and local gardens should prove diverse and prolific this growing season.