Bring seeds to share, Learn about seeds and seed saving, get seeds for your garden, talk to other people interested in growing things!
$10 suggested donation, at the door. No one turned away for lack of funds Early entrance (11:30 am) for members of the Salish Seed Guild and people bringing seeds to share.
Several venders of local plant, speciality seeds and plant related products will be Selling their unique offerings.
Please Bring your own Envelops to package bulk seeds being offered.
If you are interested in vending your garden related products to hundreds of people at the Annual Seed Swap, we have a few spaces available first come first served. This will augment our free and barter related seed swap event.
The cost to have a booth space to sell at the seed swap is $30 paid in advance. To secure one of 6 vending tables make your payment using the donate button. You can also send a check using the information on the Donation Page. Let us a know that it is for vending at the 2023 Seed Swap event. If you would like to talk more about it you can call Brian at 360-319-2029
After a two-year pause the annual Salish Seed Swap has returned!
This year‘s event was a resounding success with over 150 people attending in three hours. We had a lot of good help from volunteers setting up the table and organizing the seeds. The three hour event went by fast with lots of good discussions and connections made. Thanks goes out to the Bellingham Unitarian Fellowship for sharing their space for this amazing community event.
There were several presentations to the group offered to the group. Michael Pilarski gave a talk on efforts of the Global Earth Repair Foundations work. Brian Kerkvliet and Virginia Malmquist gave an overview of the history of the Salish Seed Guild and its seed garden project. Resulting in packaging and distributing over 10,000 packs of seeds back into the community.
They outlined a couple of new initiatives of the Seed Guild’s being launched this year. The first is a membership program with incentives for members. The second is an Adopt a Seed program where members can plant and grow out seeds which will be processed and distributed by the Salish Seed Guild the following year. Workshops and other volunteer work parties will be planned throughout the season so there’s lots of ways for people to get involved at all different levels. One of the main goals of the seed guild is to teach people how to save their own seed from crops in a safe, productive and responsible way.
There were several vendors at the swap offering garden related products and value added herbs and tinctures from Wayside Botanicals, Flower plants, garlic bulbs sets, cuttings from Inspiration Farm, books, herbal remedies and rare and unusual seeds from Friends of the Trees Botanicals, adding a nice mix of diversity to find. There was ample time for networking and connections between diverse groups of people aiming to strengthen our food resilience and independence. Groups from school gardens, community gardens, personal gardens, to small farms and indigenous organizations. All had something to share and gain by attending.
The seed tables that were organized into categories such as root crops, greens, brassicas, cabbage, kale, cauliflower, herbs and flowers, peas and beans, corn and grains, squash and cucumbers and many others adorned the seed tables. Much of the seed was already packaged up but large quantities of bulk seed was also available for people to package in recycled envelopes available around the room. Knowledgeable people were available to help field questions behind the table, helping people choose varieties and package seeds.
Celt had this to add, “The 2023 Seed Swap had wonderful energy. After a break of two years, previous participants and new faces were so excited to attend. Our Seed Ambassadors fielded questions for the entire time. Some were experienced gardeners and some were college students doing an enthusiastic job of looking up the answers on their phones. I was at the tomato and lettuce table, right at the entrance. I was impressed by the number of new gardeners. I had many questions about growing lettuce, tomatoes and peppers in containers (absolutely works.) Look for container gardening information coming to the Salish Seed Guild website.”
We had only a few hot pepper varieties, mostly donated seed. If anyone would like to adopt a pepper and grow it out for seed, contact us. Peppers out cross more than tomatoes, so it works best to grow several plants of a single variety.
$10 suggested donation, at the door. No one turned away for lack of funds Early entrance (11:30 am) for members of the Salish Seed Guild and people bringing seeds to share.
New! To Become a Salish Seed Member now, Click here
Free Presentations and Workshops
12pm – Global Earth Repair. An overview of the worldwide eco-restoration movement and what we can do in Whatcom County. Presented by Michael Pilarski. Friends of the Trees Society
1pm – Learn About the Salish Seed Guild & Preserving local seed heritage!
Here is the link to the FB Event share away on social media!
Join us as a Vendor!
If you are interested in vending your garden related products to hundreds of people at the Annual Seed Swap. This will augment our free and barter related seed swap event. To secure one of 6 vending tables click here.
“Intro to seed saving” Presentations at local Libraries.
Planning, selecting, tending, harvesting and saving vegetable seeds.
Join one of our long-time seed-savers and amateur seed breeders, Celt Schira for workshops on the essentials of backyard seed-saving. Celt will present background information on seed saving and plant breeding, discuss dry seed and wet seed processing, and share some musings on the deeper reasons for growing heirloom vegetables and saving seed.
When and where
Wed 3/1 2:00-3:30 North Fork
Sat 4/1 Sat 1:00-2:30 Lynden
Wed 4/5 6:00-7:30 – Everson
Sat 4/8 1:30pm – 3:00pm South Whatcom Library.
Sat 4/22 10:30-12:00 Deming
Wed 5/3 6:00-7:30 – Blaine
Adopt a Seed Program
This year we are launching an Adopt a Seedprogram. This Program will bring the community together, allowing you to help the Salish Seed Guild grow out a wider variety of organic seeds for the community. You will be able to choose from a variety of crops we are looking to grow out for seed production. Most of these varieties will be the easier crops to save seed from. Not needing any special skills like hand pollinating or isolation. Learn More!
$10 suggested donation, at the door. No one turned away for lack of funds Early entrance (11:30 am) for members of the Salish Seed Guild and people bringing seeds to share.
Please Bring your own Envelops to package bulk seeds being offered.
12pm – Global Earth Repair. An overview of the worldwide eco-restoration movement and what we can do in Whatcom County. Presented by Michael Pilarski. Friends of the Trees Society
1pm – Learn About the Salish Seed Guild & Preserving local seed heritage!
If you are interested in vending your garden related products to hundreds of people at the Annual Seed Swap, we have a few spaces available first come first served. This will augment our free and barter related seed swap event.
The cost to have a booth space to sell at the seed swap is $30 paid in advance. To secure one of 6 vending tables make your payment using the donate button. You can also send a check using the information on the Donation Page. Let us a know that it is for vending at the 2023 Seed Swap event. If you would like to talk more about it you can call Brian at 360-319-2029
Join us for a 2 hour on-farm workshop on the essentials of backyard seed-saving. We will present background information on seed saving and plant breeding, discuss dry seed processing, and share some musings on the deeper reasons for growing heirloom vegetables and saving seed. Included in the workshop will be some hands-on seed processing of the Community Salish Seed Garden seeds that will later be distributed free to the community.
The workshop is free and open to the public with an RSVP. We encourage attendees to stay for the seed processing portion of the workshop to clean seeds for the Salish Seed Guild. Donations to the seed garden to help with operating costs are welcome.
Hi Garden Friends, this year’s seed harvest is starting. We harvested snap peas and parsnips. The parsnip seed crop is amazing. Parsnips are delicious steamed, baked or in soup. Parsnip seed has a short shelf life, so we plan on giving it all away next spring.
There is still time to save seeds this summer. The herbs and flowers are flowering and forming seed heads. If you have peas or beans left on the plants, leave a few to dry down. Remember to save seed only from open pollinated varieties; hybrids don’t come true or may be infertile. You may have lettuce or kale that bolted in the heat. That is a great opportunity to save your own seed for next year.
We will be offering two workshops on seed saving again this summer. One will be on processing dry seeds, Follow the link for more information. The other will be on processing wet seeds such as tomatoes, stay tuned date yet to be set.
When you are out shopping, check for seeds on sale. You might want to buy favorites for next spring and store them somewhere dark, cool and dry over the winter. The seed industry is being challenged by erratic weather and convulsions in global trade.
Join us for a 2 hour on-farm workshop on the essentials of backyard seed-saving. We will present background information on seed saving and plant breeding, discuss dry seed processing, and share some musings on the deeper reasons for growing heirloom vegetables and saving seed. Included in the workshop will be some hands-on seed processing of the Community Salish Seed Garden seeds that will later be distributed free to the community.
The workshop is free and open to the public with an RSVP. We encourage attendees to stay for the seed processing portion of the workshop to clean seeds for the Salish Seed Guild. Donations to the seed garden to help with operating costs are welcome.
Join us for Inspiration Farm’s annual Spring vegetable and permaculture plant sale! Coming up this Saturday and Sunday. 11am to 4 pm. Hope to see you to help find the perfect plants for your garden.
We will also have a place to trade or gift plants and seeds to other attendants. To sell or trade you can show up a little early say 1-1:30 and set up. You can bring a table or display on the ground or the back of your car or truck.
If you are planning on attending the tour please consider carpooling with others. Folks with plants to sell or swap can arrive at 1:30 Guided tour will be from 2-3. Self guided tour and plant sale/swap will be from 3-5. Look forward to seeing you all!
Canopy Trees
Over Story Productive Trees are the most important element to consider in a Plant Guild. Long lived productive verities of Nuts, Fruits, Fuel, Forage, Fodder and Timber. Lovely long lived multi functional Trees.
Bushes & Shrubs
Supper Food Berries compose the understory, A large number of shrubs offer many Functions and Flavors of Berries, Herbs, Forage, Nitrogen Fixers, Fiber and Habitat for birds and insects.
Vines & Canes
Find a Devine Vine, Vertical plants add an interesting dimension to your plant assembly tying it all together with an array of grapes, kiwis, hops, honeysuckle and cane fruit to suit your needs and tastes.
Ground Covers
Herbs to Heal and feed bees and butterflies. Low growing ground covers holds space and builds soil while producing a wide array of Forage, insectaries Medicine, Herbs and Teas.
Join Celt and others as we prepare garden beds, fill greenhouse flats with seed and plant cool season crops, starting off Salish Seed’s second year of local seed growing. Dress for the weather and bring gloves and snacks if you want.
This is a reminder that we will be distributing seeds at the Bellingham Farmer’s Market on Saturday, April 10th from 10am-2pm! Anybody in need of some seed for their garden is welcome to stop by and we will set you up with a selection. Masks and social distancing are required to enter the market. Donations are gratefully accepted to support our seed distribution efforts and new Community Seed Farm. Hope to see you there!