Boasting 2,400 attendees last year, the Qualicum Beach Seedy Saturday has become a major community event since its inauguration 10 years ago. Founding organizer Joy Smith has been involved every year as the event has grown. In fact, she has been such a force that the Qualicum Beach Seedy Saturday Committee decided this year to adopt the bean variety Everbearing Joy into our Canadian Seed Library in her honour.
Joy lived for years on a 5 acre homestead outside of Brandon, Manitoba where she tended a half acre garden of mixed vegetables and fruit bushes. It was there that her interest in seed saving developed after hearing about the Heritage Seed Program on Peter Gzowski’s radio show and reading one of Heather Apple’s articles in Country Guide. She started with beans because they were so beautiful and grew so well: snap beans, soup beans – Joy grew them both to eat and save. In fact, she was eventually producing so many dried beans that she started a small soup packaging business, pairing her beans with dried herbs from her garden and selling her Gwenmar Garden Bean mixes at craft fairs and trade shows.
It was as a soup mix vendor that Joy attended her first Seedy Saturday. When she moved to Qualicum Beach - a small town of ~7000 located north of Nanaimo on the east coast of Vancouver Island – she decided she’d like to start a Seedy Saturday event there and joined forces with a few other local gardeners to make it happen. Pooling their own money with a couple small loans from the Master Gardeners and B.C. Horticultural Association, they rented the large Qualicum Beach Civic Centre and started advertising.
The event has continued to grow each year and is now organized by an 8-10 member volunteer committee and supported by up to 100 volunteers. It plays host to vendors such as seed companies, nurseries, garden supply stores and non-profit organizations; as well as offering a fresh Farmers Market, a café, and 3-4 different speakers on a variety of annual themes. Joy tells with pleasure how the Seed Swap element has grown. “Over the years we’ve certainly lured people more into this interest – both saving and planting seeds. And we’ve generated much more interest in growing vegetables in what has traditionally been more of a flower-growing community.” The committee always meets the 1st week of January for a potluck to package their own collected seeds, which acts as a healthy start for the seed exchange. Attendees at the event can either exchange seeds (they are given 1 ticket for every packet contributed) or can buy packets for $.50 each. Any leftover seeds are passed along to the next Seedy Saturday on Salt Spring Island.
Although it is a free event, money collected through vendor fees and donations collected at the door are used to cover costs and generate donations to Seeds of Diversity and various community programs.
Since moving to Qualicum Beach, where she has trouble getting her beans to mature fully, Joy has focused her seed-saving efforts on tomatoes and lettuces. These including ~20 new varieties each year in addition to some regulars that she’s adopted into our Seed Library. When asked to name her favourites she replied, “Favourite? Well, I have 4 children and I do not have a favourite.” Fair enough.