Our goal with the funds received from the Neighborhood Grant Program was to support local food security and community resilience buy hosting a local seed saving clinic. By partnering with Farm Folk City Folk we were able to provide a free community workshop were everyone had access to tools and shared generational knowledge about how to effectively gather and store seeds in our area.
In preparation for the event, we shared multiple posts created by local knowledge holders that provided seed saving tips and tricks. This information was shared through out the summer both online and in person at several community events. The timing was aligning with when local products would be expected to go to seed. The funding supported us to bring community together, it provided an opportunity for local experts to share their expertise with others in the community, and it enabled us to build community capacity by purchases a set of seed sieves. Farm Folk City Folk provided free hands-on training on how to use the sieves as well as other tools to successfully gather a variety of seed types. The seed sieves have now been added to the local ‘library of things’, providing capacity for all community members to borrow them at their convenience.
We gathered on the traditional lands of the Nak’azdli Whut’en people at the Pope Mountain Arts Council facilities. We came together as individuals with common interests, we left as friends with dreams of what spring will bring, tools to help us improve both our personal and communities ongoing food security, plans to build and expand on the knowledge and skills that were shared freely around the table and of course pockets full of seeds shared between new and old friends. This funding will grow into the future with us.
