Back to October 2023 Newsletter
Another Season of Seedy Saturdays & Sundays is Coming!
The first Seedy Saturday event took place in Vancouver in 1990. Since then, these incredible locally-run, grassroots events have spread and evolved across communities. Nowadays, there are estimated to be 170 events each year, or at least that’s where the number lay prior to the pandemic. Some have sadly disappeared in recent times, as funds run dry or organizers retire with no one to take the reins. At the same time, new events sprout up every year - already, five brand new events have developed for 2024, and the season is truly just beginning!
Seeds of Diversity has gratefully supported Seedy Saturdays and Seedy Sundays for quite some time now, and ramped up that support through COVID-19. It’s been so much fun, we don’t intend to stop anytime soon. Here’s a bit about what we have planned for the next few months:
~ Idea sharing sessions ~
From November to January, we will host a series of virtual planning sessions open to any and all event organizers to gather and discuss common challenges, share ideas, and offer resources and support.
~ Seeds, seeds, seeds ~
As always, we’ll send along seed packets to any events looking to supplement their seed swap supply. We can’t say just yet what seeds we’ll have or how many we’ll have available, but we usually end up with plenty of lettuce and tomato seeds to share far and wide.
~ Promotions ~
Our Events page will soon be a thriving collection of event information, as organizers submit details about what they have planned on our platform that is used by folks from coast to coast to learn about events near them!
~ Speaker Series presentations ~
For the last three seasons, we have coordinated the creation of 18 presentations on a variety of food systems and sustainability topics. During the COVID-19 shutdowns, these were vital pieces of content for events to use in their virtual programming; nowadays, our goal is to continuing building this library of knowledge shared by community leaders for open and flexible use across Canada.
~ Seed company information ~
Our Canadian Seed Catalogue Index and Seed Map are great resources for learning about the dozens of seed companies that exist in Canada, including contact information and location. This can certainly come in handy for organizers when sourcing vendors, and that’s one of the important ways these resources are used! We keep them updated by reaching out to seed companies each fall inviting them to request edits to their listings.
What’s next?
~ Are you a Seedy Saturday/Sunday organizer and not on our email list?
~ Are you interested in volunteering as a Seeds of Diversity representative at your local event?
~ Are you someone living in a community without a Seedy Saturday event?
If you answered yes to any of the above, send us an email; we would love to connect! seedysaturdays@seeds.ca
Not yet a member?
An annual membership to Seeds of Diversity gives you access to our seed exchange, seed grow-out programs, and our online news.
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