In October 2021 we hosted some high quality training on Seed Saving with Richie Walsh of Gaia Foundation through Scotland Seed Sovereignty Project. This was the start of raising awareness amongst the community about seed saving, ahead of the launch of our Seed Library.
What Richie told us was that there are currently no commercial growers of seed in Scotland, and that for organic seeds we can only access two suppliers in the UK, with restrictions on buying seed from Europe directly. Yet, the seeds available in
the supermarkets and online, are all F1 hybrids and not only are they not ideal for saving seed from, they're all cultivated in Europe, in much drier, warmer climes than we have here in Scotland. Therefore, we're poorly protected from extreme weather events here with the seed availability we have.
Our Seed Library is going to help not only those of us in Lochwinnoch grow and save seed which will save us money, it will also allow crops to evolve to suit our local climate. We will also be able to work with the community and local land owners to bring on seed crops which could be shared with other Seed Libraries across Scotland. Here, we have access to the kind of space required for some crops, which is not available in the cites and towns. These are long terms goals and will require further training and study, but we hope that as a community we can help the Seed Sovereignty project start a food revolution!
If you're interested in seeing our notes from this initial taster session, they can be accessed here:
Some us attended further seed saving training with Richie in January 2022. If you would be interested in knowing more, please get in touch with us and follow Scotland Seed Sovereignty Project for more courses: An introductory Seed Saving course should be availability again later this year. If you let us know you're interested, Richie has said he will add you to a priority list for booking. https://www.seedsovereignty.info/events/
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