 |
 |
|
|
Not a Seeds of Diversity Member yet? Join now!In this Issue: LAUNCH! The Bauta Family Initiative On Canadian Seed Security Food Security Network of Newfoundland and Labrador ROCKS! (Or How to Host a Seed Saving Workshop) In the Fields - Marie Fiers: Making Scents of Plants The Bauta Initiative is Hiring!See the Regional Coordinator job postings for Quebec and the Prairies here. MembersWatch for your 2013 Member Seed Directory login - arriving in your inbox in January. Harvest magazine also arriving early in the new year.
Canadian Seed Library now open for public access - rare seeds available for purchase, and adoptions are always welcome!
We depend on donations to do our work: Donate Now
Stay in Touch!  Find us on facebook |
||
 |
 |
December 2012
With tremendous pride and excitement we officially announce our partnership with USC Canada and the W. Garfield Weston Foundation in the forthcoming Bauta Family Initiative on Canadian Seed Security, a four-year program that will invest unprecedented resources into the Canadian seed conservation and biodiversity community. Many of you will already know of the Initiative from its 2012 pilot year. Congratulations to everyone involved: the full program has been funded from 2013 through 2016!
Wishing you a wonderful holiday season.
LAUNCH! The Bauta Family Initiative On Canadian Seed Security
From Newfoundland to British Columbia, Canadians coast-to-coast will soon benefit from a program to build a more secure and diverse ‘made-in-Canada’ seed supply. Thanks to a generous grant from The W. Garfield Weston Foundation, The Bauta Family Initiative on Canadian Seed Security will consolidate and expand the work of seed and food actors working to create a local and diverse seed supply.
Food Security Network of Newfoundland and Labrador ROCKS! (Or How to Host a Seed Saving Workshop)
Root Cellars Rock –Food Skills Workshops, which features 8 learning modules on Planting, Picking, Preparing and Preserving your harvest, including a 44-page section on Seed Saving. The Seed Saving component contains information on how to host a basic seed saving workshop. From planning and promotion, to hands-on activities, and evaluation, it covers everything you need to know (and then some!) about facilitating a local seed event. “It's a great train-the-trainer tool and very user-friendly” according to Sarah Ferber, Education and Outreach Coordinator with the FSN. Ferber explains that “several local community champions, including local seed savers had input in writing, reviewing and editing the resource”, so it is a very thorough, grassroots initiative.
In the Fields - Marie Fiers: Making Scents of Plants
To lean over a bouquet of flowers to smell its sweet perfume is something that comes naturally to us. However, the scent of flowers was not created for the unique pleasure of our olfactory senses - in fact, plants use scents to communicate. Research has recently demonstrated that the fragrant molecules they give off - volatile organic compounds (VOC) that are easily carried in the air - can have several functions. These VOCs are the subject of the studies of Marie Fiers: a Belgian of French origin who recently attended the UQAM École d’agriculture urbaine conference in Montreal, where we met and had the chance to discuss the topic.
Pollinator Patch - Wasps
As you were enjoying a picnic late last summer, or perhaps at an orchard picking fall apples, you may remember your idyllic day dissolving as you spotted a wasp or two, circulating around you. Will those wasps sting me, you nervously wondered? The answer is: No, not intentionally, and certainly not just for fun, out of the blue.