Local Seed Initiative workshop in Inverary

Nov 26, 2014

Many local growers from the area attended the Kingston Area Seed System Initiative (KASSI) workshop titled “Planting for the Future: Building Capacity for a Regional Seed System”, which took place at the United Church in Inverary on November 15. The event was organized by KASSI board members Dianne Dowling, Cate Henderson and Kathy Rothermel.

The day began with an introduction to KASSI by Cate Henderson, who highlighted the various ways the organization hopes to reach its goal of “ensuring sustainable local food grown from local seed” and by doing so, “increasing local seed and food security in the Kingston and surrounding area by generating a robust regional seed system; growing and distributing heirloom and locally adapted seed; and creating a vibrant network of regional growers.”

To meet these goals KASSI plans to establish a local seed bank, host a seed library to facilitate seed sharing and exchange, and encourage local farmers to increase seed production by growing quantities large enough for large farm scale production.

The day-long event also included a panel discussion by a number of speakers, including Kathy Rothermel of Wolfe Island, who spoke of the different models of the regional seed businesses she discovered while traveling in England, the United States and in Canada. She spoke of three seed businesses in particular: Stormy Hall Seeds, Hawthorne Farm Organic Seeds and Fruition Seed. She also spoke about recent updates from the Eastern Canada Organic Seed Growers Network (ECOSGN) conference.

Aabir Dey of the Ontario Bauta Family Initiative on Canadian Seed Security, a national and regional initiative involving a network of partners working together to preserve seed diversity by promoting ecological seed production and improving the public’s access, while focusing on crops important for nutrition and food security, spoke about Bauta, the organization that funded the workshop and its various initiatives.

Last to speak was Mary Britain of Newtonville, who operates her own seed business called the Cottage Gardener. She spoke about her over 20 years in the business and of the “current trends, gaps and opportunities for regional seed producers”. Following the panel discussion there was a question and answer period, after which attendees split into groups and answered three specific questions: 1) How do they see themselves fitting into the regional seed system? 2) What assistance or supports might they need? and 3) What models do they envision to fairly compensate all participants?

Following lunch, attendees watched a presentation by local Verona farmers Pat and Kate Joslin of Bear Root Gardens in Verona, who produce over 50 varieties of seeds, which they sell along with their market garden produce at the Frontenac Farmers Market in Verona. The couple, who have been contracted to grow seeds for both Bauta and KASSI, demonstrated two different kinds of home-made seed cleaning devices, which save them hundreds of hours of time. The first was an air column seed separator that was built by students at LaSalle High School in Kingston under the direction of their manufacturing instructor Bob Chambers. The separator runs on a Shop Vac and is best used for separating smaller seeds like lettuce and broccoli. The second was a winnower seed cleaner that the Joslins built themselves, which uses a regular blow dryer to separate larger seeds. Plans for both devices are available on-line.

Following the demonstrations, attendees were encouraged to fill in a survey to give feedback to the facilitators.

Dowling said that the event's goal was to bring together “people interested in growing, producing or purchasing more locally grown adapted and available seed.” She laid bare her long term hopes for KASSI. “KASSI's dream is that in a few years there might be one or two small seed businesses in the Kingston area.” Her advice to local farmers wanting to produce their own seeds: “While it’s not impossible to integrate seed production with a market garden, it definitely takes a certain amount of planning and organization.” For more information about KASSI visit www.SeedsGrowFood.org