Visit our website • Forward to a friend • Join us • Donate • View this newsletter in your browser

From our youth blog: Giving the Gifts of Seeds

Over the last 3.5 years, Youth in Food Systems has facilitated online content creation projects, now called the Peer Led Food Media Creation. Each project offers a unique opportunity for youth participants to research and write about food topics of interest to them, and to publish what they’ve learned and created on public platforms for their peers to engage with.

The youth blog is one of these projects. It has produced, on average, two food- and sustainability-related articles each and every week since April 2021. As the project quickly approaches the 400 post milestone this year, we thought we’d celebrate this incredible journey by handpicking several posts from the last 3.5 years to feature here over the next few months. And if it works well, we’ll continue so long as there are high quality, interesting posts to share!

The entire blog can be found at www.seeds.ca/schoolfoodgardens/blog

Below is the second post selected to feature, from December 2023

Written By: Declan Murphy

Edited By: Jiya Mehta

Published By: Rayna

Do you know a gardener who is hard to shop for? How about someone who is interested in starting a garden, but who is hesitant about what to plant? Today, I want to encourage you to forgo another pair of socks or some gadget for the kitchen, and consider giving the gift of seeds!

Food makes an excellent gift. Because it’s consumable, it doesn’t clutter up the receiver’s home, and, if you select your gift carefully, it can be a sustainable, low-waste option during a season that can be decidedly unfriendly towards the environment. Seeds have these same benefits! Think of them as food gifts with a bit of assembly required!

Seeds are, as Karen Lanier (n.d.) so eloquently said, “little packages of potential that can make lasting and meaningful gifts,” and, with a bit of care, they can be the highlight of anyone’s holiday season!

First, carefully consider what the person may need or want in terms of seeds.

Are they seasoned gardeners who save their own seeds? If so, they may not need anything, and it may take some serious sleuthing to discover what seeds they might like. If you also save your own seeds, think about what they have room for, and what their garden lacks, and be sure to choose something that works with their location, available space, and preferences. Pay close attention to anything in your own garden that they have expressed admiration or envy over. (Or you could ask them, but some people might see that as spoiling the surprise!)

If you are looking to give seeds to someone who is new to gardening, you have a relatively easy task! They will probably cherish almost any heirloom seed you can part with, to tide them over until they can start saving their own.

Don’t be discouraged if the person you want to treat doesn’t have a garden! Maybe some easy, beginner level seeds (like green beans or lettuce) might be the spark they need to get started! Even folks without gardening space can grow a surprising number of things on their windowsill, including a wide variety of herbs and greens. Dill is a great place to start, indoors or outdoors, and is a remarkably unfussy plant!

The point is to make sure the seeds you choose are appropriate for the receiver, and will grow well in their location, given their resources and available space. Give particular care to the likes and dislikes of the potential receiver – in other words, don’t give zucchini seeds to someone who can’t stand the stuff!

Of course, it also goes without saying that you should make sure your seeds are mould and insect free, and that they came from healthy plants, without any communicable diseases. You should also be sure the seeds are safe and legal for transport to your friend’s location, especially if you are planning on mailing them!

If you take necessary care and choose the seeds correctly, your gift will be received with pleasure.

As to how to give the gift of seeds, there are any number of ways to package and present your gift. You can make or buy paper envelopes, and you should feel free to decorate and personalise the packets! Arranged in a basket, tucked in a stocking, carefully placed in a greeting card, attached to a potted plant, or even strung up on a Christmas tree, the possibilities are endless!

The one thing you need to make sure you do is include necessary information with the seeds. Obviously, they will need to know what the species is and what its required growing conditions are, including when/if they should be started indoors, etc. You are also encouraged to include some more background for the seeds, such as how long you have been harvesting these seeds, where they are happiest in your garden, and what you love about the plant (as well as any negatives you can honestly admit to). If your friend is a new gardener, they will appreciate the tips, and if they are an experienced gardener, they will love to know the story of your seeds, which are now their seeds.

These days, with wild inflation and so much waste heading to landfills, it’s good to “think outside the box(store)” for gift ideas, and I hope you will consider giving the gift of seeds to someone you love this season.

What’s on your wishlist this year?

Sources:

Anon. (n.d.) Image: Squash harvest. (CC0 Public Domain)

Barnett, T. (n.d.) Tips For Starting A Windowsill Garden.

Boeckman, C. (2023.) 10 Easiest Vegetables to Grow in the Home Garden | The Old Farmer’s Almanac.

Boeckman, C. (2023.) Planting, Growing, and Harvesting Dill Weed in the Garden | The Old Farmer’s Almanac.

Dyer, M.H. (n.d.) Gifting Seeds – Ways To Give Seeds As Presents.

Keating, M. (2022.) 10 Ways A Gift Of Seeds Will Solve Your Christmas Gift Giving Dilemmas.

Lanier, K. (n.d.) 3 Tips for Giving Seeds as Gifts – Hobby Farms.

Murphy, D. (2023.) Seed Harvesting.

Pinecone Cottage. (n.d.) 5 Gift-Giving Ideas For Seeds From The Garden – Pinecone Cottage Retreat.

Seeds of Diversity. (2023.) Seeds of Diversity.