Community Organizer Group

We work better as a team. Join us at our Seed Community Organizer Group on Friday, November 19th from 3-6 pm to learn from each other, make connections, and strengthen BC’s Seed Security. This session is geared towards those running Seedy Saturdays and/or Seed Libraries. The session will start with a typical Seedy Saturday Capacity Call involving roundtable discussions of engaging kids at Seedy Saturdays, attracting vendors, and finding funding. Following this, we will have a discussion on building an inter-seed library exchange network. This is an exciting new project and we would love your ideas and input on how we can make an inter seed library exchange network a reality.

View the project schedule on our shared drive here.

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Keynote with Indigenous Food System Groups

This year for our keynote session, we are honoured to be joined by three Indigenous groups leading projects that contribute to food security. They are the real experts and have been managing their foodsheds for time immemorial. We are excited to listen and learn from them.

Jacob Beaton from Tea Creek Farm

The recipient of the BCAF Indigenous Business Award, Jacob was founder & president of Copper Moon Communications, and VP communications for The Castlemain Group. He has consulted with over 60 First Nations on strategy, community engagement and economic development. He is Tsimshian and has the name “Dzapł Gygyaawn Sgyiik” (an eagle who gets it done right now) from the Gispaxloats tribe.

“Tea Creek catalyzes new land-based projects and livelihoods—restoring the ability of Indigenous nations to grow fresh, healthy food and medicine in an interdependent economy. Historically, Indigenous peoples were self-sufficient. In Northwest BC, prior to the introduction of the Reserve system that dispossessed us of our ancestral lands—we produced an abundance of food on our farms, ranches, and aquaculture systems. Our communities also included successful businesses and tradespeople. Our mission is to revitalize the culture of food sovereignty that was a central part of life for Indigenous peoples throughout North America. Tea Creek’s Indigenous-led program works in partnership with First Nations proponents to build a sustainable economy and long-term food sovereignty. We focus on introductory trades training and agriculture training within our Tea Creek Model.” www.teacreek.ca

Janna Jazen and Mojave Kaplan from Kanaka Bar Band

Kanaka Bar believes that what we do to the land (or allow others to do to the land) we do to ourselves. In 2015 Kanaka Bar established a goal to return to full food self-sufficiency. Since then we have been working to establish resilient food systems that will tolerate extreme weather, changing weather patterns, and seasonal temperature deviations generated by climate change. Our approach to food self-sufficiency is built on agricultural approaches that create biodiversity, manage pests naturally, increase land fertility and build soil health long-term. Kanaka is dedicated to demonstrating and sharing our successes (and failures!) so that others can follow our model and adopt resilient food practices that suit their own communities. www.kanakabarband.ca

Janna Janzen, Food Self-Sufficiency Lead

Janna is a Certified Community Energy Manager with a background in community resilience, energy management and climate adaptation. As Kanaka’s Food Self-Sufficiency Lead Janna looks after the design, planning, funding and implementation of projects that further the Nation’s goal to return to full food self-sufficiency. She runs her own small-scale permaculture farm and is currently completing her Masters degree in Disaster and Emergency Management.

 

Splitrock Environmental
Splitrock Environmental is an award-winning, St’at’imc owned, business specializing in environmental services, ecological restoration, native plant propagation and production of ethnobotanical products. We will hear about the work they do from Nursery Manager Courtney Andrews and Senior Biologist Odin Scholtz. www.splitrockenvironmental.ca

Courtney Andrews from Splitrock Environmental

Courtney Andrews is the Nursery Manager at Splitrock and has been with the company since 2019. She obtained a Chartered Herbalist Certification, Supervisor Training and her Level 1 First Aid designation. Her responsibilities at Splitrock involve the management and oversight of all planting, seeding, collecting and other duties associated with running the nursery. Prior to Splitrock, Courtney worked with and helped manage 2 other companies in the same industry . Courtney is passionate about nursery management and is most proud of her restoration projects in the Lillooet area and the community garden project for Sekw’el’was.

 

Odin Scholtz from Splitrock Environmental

Odin is a Restoration Ecologist at Splitrock Environmental with over 20 years of experience in the field. He has a Bachelor of Science degree in Environmental Science and is currently a certified environmental professional with a specialization in site assessment and reclamation. He has developed, implemented, and monitored complex ecological restoration and monitoring projects for a variety of ecosystems including forests, woodland, grassland, riparian, aquatic and wetland habitats. Odin has worked to restore drastically disturbed sites including reservoir drawdown zones, and mine sites. Odin has a passion for native plants and understanding the natural patterns in landscapes. He strives to bring a landscape level perspective to each project.

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Movie Screening + Q&A: HA NII TOKXW: Our Food Table + Q&A

The story of the indigenous Gitanyow people and their struggle to protect their traditional lands and “food table” in the face of climate change, industrialization and colonization in Northern British Columbia.

Beyond its majestic beauty and nature hidden threats are pushing the delicate ecosystem of the Meziadin Lake watershed to the brink. Ha Nii Tokxw, takes audiences on a visually stunning adventure through Wilp Wii Litsxw territory to uncover its ecological significance both regionally and globally. The film also delves deeper into the dark history of colonization and exploitation which has placed this ecosystem in peril. It’s time we start connecting the dots between climate change, colonization and industrialization. Land acknowledgements in public gatherings and email signatures are not enough; we need to take action by supporting those who are the rightful owners and keepers of the land and water. Join the battle to support the indigenous Gitanyow in ensuring this sacred place has a fighting chance.

Watch the trailer here

Tara Marsden from the Gitanyow Hereditary Chiefs Office will join us for a Q&A session at the end of the film screening.

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Movie Screening: Walking With Plants + Q&A

Styawat/Leigh Joseph is a Sḵwxw̱ú7mesh Nation ethnobotanist. She grew up away from her traditional territory of Squamish, B.C. but in coming to a deeper understanding of her identity as a Sḵwxw̱ú7mesh woman, felt called to move her family home.

As she navigates walking between academic and cultural worlds, she contemplates her relationship with plants and their role as teachers. On the land where her ancestors have harvested since time beyond memory, her life purpose is awakened.

Watch the trailer here

Leigh Joseph and Trevor Bennett will join us for a Q&A session after the film screening.

Seed Saving in BC Schools

Schools are a wonderful place to grow food (and seeds). Students can plant seeds in the Spring, water and care for the plants over the Summer, and harvest the crops and seeds in the Fall. Learning about seeds in schools provides many opportunities for engaging, hands-on activities, and works well over the school year. Students can grow and easily save seeds for crops like lettuce, kale, cilantro, peppers, and more!

Farm to School BC has developed a lesson plan for teachers to save a wide variety of seeds with their classes, which will be highlighted in this presentation. Learn about how Farm Folk City Folk (FFCF) and Farm to School BC are partnering to reach more schools across BC, connecting schools and seed libraries, and the workshops that FFCF can provide to schools. Workshop topics will include garden planning, seed crop maintenance, selection and harvesting, and cleaning and storage.

Addie de Candole

Addie de Candole is the Food Literacy Advisor for Farm to School BC, and is a K-12 teacher. She is an avid market gardener, and has been growing food for the last 15 years in Prince George and Kamloops. She is passionate about teaching children how to grow and cook their own food, and seed-saving is a really big part of that learning. She has been saving more of her own flowers seeds lately too, and is excited to be a part of this learning community!

David Catzel

David started his farming career in Vancouver, working with the Environmental Youth Alliance, running gardening programs for youth out of the Cottonwood and Strathcona Community gardens. He had the opportunity to experiment with seed growing, breeding, low till annual production, intercropping, and companion planting while working with Glorious Organics Co-op in Aldergrove, BC. He has taught workshops in gardening, composting, permaculture, and seed saving to adults and children all over the lower mainland.

David enjoys learning directly from the soil, seeds, plants, and children who are part of his farmscape, and looks forward to bringing his enthusiasm for the perpetuation and promotion of sustainable seed growing to producers and consumers across BC.

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Citizen Seed Trial Panel

Citizen Science has the dual benefit of providing data to researchers while increasing public engagement in science. Join this session to learn about Citizen Science opportunities across the nation. Learn about local examples of Citizen Science in Metro Vancouver from Alex Wong, as well as initiatives underway at UBC Botanical Garden from Dr. Tara Moreau. In addition, hear first-hand experiences from FarmFolk CityFolks Citizen Seed Trial participants and learn about the public variety evaluation platform Seedlinked from CEO Nico Enjalbert

Alex Wong

Alex Wong is a senior biology student at the University of British Columbia. He works at UBC Botanical Gardens on citizen science initiatives and is involved in the David Suzuki Foundation’s Butterflyway Project.

Tara Moreau

Dr. Tara Moreau is the Associate Director of Sustainability and Community Programs at UBC Botanical Garden. She oversees public education, community partnerships and sustainability initiatives through programs like the Sustainable Communities Field School, Grow Green Guide, and CBIRD. Tara has spent much of the last 20 years researching, organizing, writing and teaching about the importance of biodiversity in cities and in our food and agricultural systems.

Jen deHaan

Jen deHaan is a seed saver on central Vancouver Island. She enjoys growing rare heirloom, landrace, open source varieties using no-dig stockfree practices. Jen supports the effort to add genetic diversity to local seed stock for food security, and hopes to contribute to the growing catalog of open source seed varieties some day. Jen’s background is in tech, and she enjoys learning about and performing improv. You can find her at seedsaving.ca and plantbasedrecipe.com

Winson Leung

Winson started to grow his own tomatoes in the backyard 5 years ago, and gradually expanded to other crops like carrot, beet, radish, garlic, pepper, pumpkin, corn, beans, kale, lettuce and various green veggies. He has also saved some seeds every year to re-plant and improve the genetics of the plant. He’s been participating in the Citizen Seed Trial since 2019.

Nico Enjalbert

Nicolas Enjalbert (PhD), CEO and Co-Founder of SeedLinked, an emerging open innovation platform that connects growers and seed innovators/Stewarts to redefine the “Who” and “How” to characterize, breed, and find seed, together. Originated from France, Nicolas brings a broad vision and passion of the current and emerging seed systems pushing the status quo to build a more decentralized, diverse (crop, varieties, place, management & culture), connected, and resilient seed industry. He finds his creativity and recharges on his mountain bike, rock climbing and fly fishing with his son. He currently lives in Madison WI, USA

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Farm Tour Intermission + Q&A: KPU Seed Lab & KPU Teaching and Research Farm

Kwantlen Polytechnic University’s Department of Sustainable Agriculture and Food Systems is committed to providing post-secondary education and research to support the organic sector in BC. In order to foster this growth, KPU has built a Seed Testing Lab and Research Farm at our Richmond campus, with support from regional partners, the Canada Foundation for Innovation and the BC Knowledge Development Fund. The KPU Seed Lab is equipped with seed cleaning and sorting equipment, and germination testing facilities. This lab will assist in increasing the quality of organic seeds produced in BC by enabling growers to ensure seeds are clean and high quality for both regional and national/international markets. The KPU Teaching and Research Farm, on the Garden City Lands in Richmond, is certified organic farm with the capacity to support variety trials, crop development research, seed production systems research, and seed grow outs. The combination of research and outreach from the KPU Farm, along with the services available in the Seed Lab, will assist in the development of research-based best management practices for seed production in BC. Using these facilities, faculty members Alexandra Lyon and Rebecca Harbut will work to support regional seed growers in the BC Lower Mainland as well as farther away. We are excited to partner with local organizations, retailers and growers in building a vibrant resilient organic seed sector in BC.

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Biodynamics and growing seed

This session will be an introduction to biodynamics and how it affects seed production for backyard gardeners and small farms. We will look at the emerging science behind biodynamics, including carbon sequestering, plant resiliency in the face of climate change, and enhancing nutrition by creating and crossing landrace seed varieties.

Marjory House

Marjory House has been gardening and farming in the Willamette valley of Oregon for over twenty years. She studied ethnobotany for four years at the University of Idaho, recieved a certificate in herbology and nutrition from the Center for Herbal studies, and a permaculture certificate from Cascadia Permaculture institute, she went on to get a permaculture teaching certificate in 2018 from Jude Hobbs.

She currently owns and operates a seven acre farm with over 450 apple trees, and over an acre of vegetables grown for restaurants, farmers markets and Sero biodynamic seed company( currently Territorial biodynamic seeds) She has maintained a fruit tree pruning business since 2001 and a biodynamic consulting business since 2015.

She has been practicing biodynamics since 1999 and has been a member of the Oregon biodynamic group since 2006, she is the current board president. She holds the preparation makers seat on the Demeter board, a certification agency for biodynamics. Marjory is also an active member of the Agrarian sharing network, a group that teaches grafting and seed saving, empowering communities by nurturing food security and cultivating plant diversity. She can be reached by her email gobiodynamic@yahoo.com

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Running a seed library and teaching seed saving basics to beginners

Matthew will share the origin story and some lessons learned through eight years of operating the Victoria Seed Library, a growing partnership between LifeCycles and Greater Victoria Public Library. He will also share the presentation given to all new seed library members, and talk about the key pieces of information the Victoria Seed Library feels all participating members should know to be successful as community seed savers. Participants in this workshop will also be directed to resources for starting a community seed library and teaching people about seed saving.

 

Matthew Kemshaw

Matthew is an educator working to inspire folks to see plants as teachers.

Matthew has almost two decades of experience supporting school and community “garden” projects. As an educator, he’s gathered an unusual mix of experiences, from: starting the Victoria Seed Library, to growing vegetable seedlings with youth in East Vancouver, to supporting community/university research on healthy school food systems, to leading the LifeCycles Project Society.

Matthew is a settler of English and 1/8 Irish ancestry. His great grandfathers immigrated to southern Vancouver Island when they were young men, in the 1910’s, and brought their families a few years later. Matthew grew up in Shawnigan Lake and has lived most of his adult life in Victoria (with 5 years spent in Vancouver).

Matthew holds a BA with double majors in Environmental Studies and Political Science and an MA in Environmental Education and Communication. Though most of his practical knowledge has been learned from mentors outside the walls of these institutions.

Matthew is currently employed part time by the Edward Milne Community School Society, where he works as a Garden Coordinator, supporting garden learning at four high schools in the Sooke School District #62. He is also a board member with Seeds of Diversity Canada and continues to actively support the coordination of the Victoria Seed Library. What Matthew cherishes most are his two young sons and family.

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Farm Tour Intermission + Q&A: FarmFolk CityFolk Seed Farm

 

Our Research and Education Seed Farm has become a nucleus for local seed development where we conduct our public breeding trials. Our team also facilitates citizen learning opportunities in an effort to further engage with city and farm folks on the potential of seed production in BC.

With this, a first-of-its-kind model in BC, we plan to demonstrate that seed production can be economically viable. Our team records the amount of weeding, planting, and irrigation required to grow our crops in a journal which acts as a helpful farm planning tool. We then harvest, count, and record data for particular vegetable varieties like watermelon radish and lemon cucumber as part of our many trials and public seed breeding collaborations. Tools, such as our Seed Enterprise Budgets, helps us monetize inputs, costs, and additional steps required to grow certain crops in order to determine the agro-economics of each variety best suited for BC’s growing conditions

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Growing Herbs For Medicine And Seed Production

A look at combining the growing of medicinal herbs for both seed and medicine production, and the array of medicinals that can be grown successfully in the PNW.

Rupert Adams

Rupert Adams is an award-winning Brew-master; a social and environmental activist; retired music events promoter, booking agent, and DJ; yoga teacher; and medicinal herb, food, and seed grower. He has worked for nearly 2 decades with Dan Jason, currently growing a wide variety of vegetable, grain, and herb seeds for Salt Spring Seeds. He specializes in growing medicinal herbs, running his own medicinal herb and tincture business Kairos Botanicals. Rupert worked for 3 years as a coordinator and advisor to the Bauta Family Initiative on Canadian Seed Security. He currently resides and grows at Abundance Community Farm in Agassiz, BC., and is a member of the BC Eco Seed Coop.

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Increasing Community Seed Engagement

Join us for a discussion on how to increase your reach using social media. We will chat about different platforms, creating content, and tips on how to be successful.

Julia Zado

Julia Zado is the Engagement Manager for FarmFolk CityFolk. She holds a Bachelor of Commerce from Ryerson University and a Certificate in Multimedia and Web Development from the University of British Columbia. She has worked in the not-for-profit sector for over 15 years in marketing, communications and event planning. She currently sits on the Board of Directors for Grow Local Society – Tricities. She is passionate about supporting farmers and local artisans. She loves to spend time with her children in their backyard garden and going on mini family adventures.

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Seed crop integration to vegetable production

Mixed vegetable farms are quite common and many resources are available to those wanting to launch towards this type of business. Seed crops can be looked at as “just another crop” but in reality they are often a thing of their own. Many resources about seed production are available to farmers but there are a few aspects to take in consideration to balance vegetable and seed crops within one business.

This workshop will be geared toward people with mixed vegetable experience interested in starting to integrate a few seed crops and will cover the basic aspects to keep in mind as well as some tips leading to smooth seed crop integration to a working farm.

 

Mel Sylvestre

Mel Sylvestre has been integrating seed production to vegetable production for over a decade. She is a founding member of the BC Eco Seed Co-op and has been working with various seed crops on three different farms over the years. She has recently relocated to the Sunshine Coast with her partner and her twin toddlers. Together they started Grounded Acres Organic Farm where they are going to be growing a variety of food and seed crops.

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A history of seed production in BC

BC is well known for its abundance of small-scale vegetable seed companies and annual circuit of Seedy Saturdays and Sundays in over 50 communities across the province. But commercial vegetable seed production in BC dates back to 1915, originally triggered by vegetable seed shortages due to the onset of WWI. In this presentation, Chris Thoreau will document the growth and subsequent decline of BC’s commercial vegetable seed sector between 1915 and 1958 and how it might help inform modern day seed production in BC.

Chris Thoreau

Chris Thoreau is a BC registered agrologist and holds a BSc (Hons) in Agroecology from the University of British Columbia. Chris specializes in vegetable seed production and microgreens and is currently growing multiple vegetable seed crops in South Burnaby. He is completing his Masters in Integrated Studies in Land and Food Systems at UBC, researching constraints to increasing local seed production in BC. Chris is a producer member and board member of the BC Eco Seed Co-op.

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Farm Tour Intermission + Q&A: Sea Bluff Farm and Saanich Organics

Sea Bluff Farm is a 10-acre fruit, vegetable, and seed producing farm. We’re really passionate about feeding our community, and about growing beautiful food using our own seed. We grow 40 varieties of Certified Organic veggies, all year round, which we sell mostly from our farm stand. We also work with Saanich Organics, and we market our seed through their Seeds of the Revolution seed company. We grow about 20 different varieties of seed each year, using the knowledge we’ve learned from the Organic Seed Alliance. We’ve been proud members of the BC EcoSeed Coop since its inception.

Join Robin from Sea Bluff for a Q&A session and a pre-recorded farm tour.

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Ask A Seed Saver Panel

Connect with professional seed growers and get answers to all your questions about effectively saving seeds in this interactive session. No question is too basic or too advanced! This will be a Q & A session, please bring questions to the session and ask them in the chat box.

 

Dan Brisebois from Tourne-Sol

Dan is one of the farmers at Tourne-Sol co-operative farm in Les Cèdres, Quebec. Tourne-Sol produces certified organic seeds for an online seed store and a wholesale rack program; and grows vegetables for 500 weekly veggie baskets. Dan also runs the Farmer Spreadsheet Academy to help farmers learn tools and tricks to be better farm managers. And in his spare time, Dan blogs about seeds at goingtoseed.net

Mary Alice Johnson

Mary established Full Circle Seeds on ALM Organic Farm in Sooke in 1993. She has enjoyed growing organically and saving seeds as well as teaching classes at Camonsun College, giving workshops at her farm, and traveling in Asia to meet other farmers and talk with them about the importance of small growers growing out and saving open-pollinated varieties on our farms. Many apprentices and volunteers have learned seed saving working on ALM Farm over the years and some have gone on to establish seed collections of their own.

Brian Campbell

Brian Campbell is a seed farmer and plant breeder based out of Bellingham, WA. Together with his partner Crystine Goldberg, he founded Uprising Seeds in 2007, a retail seed company that grew out of their fresh-market farm business to focus on supplying certified organic, regionally adapted varieties for the cool climate of the maritime northwest. Guided by a belief in the power of food and farming traditions to be a vehicle for cultural exchange they strive to use their platform to share seed stories, foster connectivity, and work for social justice in food systems. They currently grow on approximately 8 leased acres of sandy Whatcom County farmland, where they produce the majority of the seed they sell through their online catalog.

Mel Sylvestre from Grounded Acres Organic Farm

Mel Sylvestre has been integrating seed production to vegetable production for over a decade. She is a founding member of the BC Eco Seed Co-op and has been working with various seed crops on three different farms over the years. She has recently relocated to the Sunshine Coast with her partner and her twin toddlers. Together they started Grounded Acres Organic Farm where they are going to be growing a variety of food and seed crops.

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CANOVI: On-farm vegetable variety trials and carrot breeding

Canadian Organic Vegetable Improvement (CANOVI) is a five-year collaborative project engages farmers in breeding and identifying vegetable varieties that suit their needs and are well-adapted to Canadian organic farms. 2021 trial crops are radicchio and rutabaga, while past trials have focused on carrot and sweet red pepper. Come hear about: -The setup and software used in variety trials – Trial results! Great (and less great) carrot, radicchio, and rutabaga varieties – What variety trial results do & don’t tell us – How variety trials can help us cope with climate change – Carrot breeding. We’d love to hear how future variety trials or participatory breeding efforts could serve your farm and community.

Solveig Hanson

As a postdoctoral fellow at the University of British Columbia, Dr. Solveig Hanson supports the Canadian Organic Vegetable Improvement Project (CANOVI) by leading a participatory carrot breeding project and co-facilitating decentralized Canada-wide vegetable variety trials in partnership with the Bauta Family Initiative on Canadian Seed Security. Solveig’s doctoral work in table beet breeding at the University of Wisconsin-Madison centered around geosmin, the compound that imbues table beet with its distinctive earthy flavor, and she enjoyed carrying out a participatory beet breeding project with Wisconsin farmers, chefs, and consumers. Solveig discovered plant breeding after co-owning a direct market vegetable farm and working in organic seed marketing; her interests include the practice, science, social dynamics, and seed sovereignty potentials of participatory plant breeding.

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Taste & Tell: A chef-guided and crowdsourced exploration of radicchio and rutabaga!

From 4pm-6pm on Saturday, November 20, we’ll explore radicchio and rutabaga with a community of tasters! We’ll start with a cooking demonstration from chef Rob Cleland and his culinary team at Legacy Senior Living in Vancouver, and then Rob will be available for questions and discussion. Then we’ll look to YOUR memories, experiences, and palates for more flavour insights. If you’re in the Vancouver area, you can choose to pick up a *free* radicchio and rutabaga tasting kit and contribute flavour feedback via an online survey. Wherever you’re located, we’ll trade recipe ideas, memories of radicchio and rutabaga, and tips for making these uncommon vegetables a friendly part of your home cooking. So come with favorite recipes, tips, questions, and curiosity! After the session, you’ll receive a list of the recipes and preparation ideas mentioned in our discussion!

Solveig Hanson

As a postdoctoral fellow at the University of British Columbia, Dr. Solveig Hanson supports the Canadian Organic Vegetable Improvement Project (CANOVI) by leading a participatory carrot breeding project and co-facilitating decentralized Canada-wide vegetable variety trials in partnership with the Bauta Family Initiative on Canadian Seed Security.

Solveig’s doctoral work in table beet breeding at the University of Wisconsin-Madison centered around geosmin, the compound that imbues table beet with its distinctive earthy flavor, and she enjoyed carrying out a participatory beet breeding project with Wisconsin farmers, chefs, and consumers.

Solveig discovered plant breeding after co-owning a direct market vegetable farm and working in organic seed marketing; her interests include the practice, science, social dynamics, and seed sovereignty potentials of participatory plant breeding.

Chef Rob Cleland and Sous Chef Audy Oreiro

Chef Rob Cleland and Sous Chef Audy Oreiro from Legacy Senior Living and Ash Street Bistro.

We are a hard-working duo that loves to try and bring happiness through food.
We love a good challenge and boy did you provide!

We each have a varied culinary past working in Hotels, Restaurants, and retirement communities – you can find us with the rest of the Legacy F&B team scouring the city for the best local produce we can find.

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Seed freedoms and the OSSI model

The Open Source Seed Initiative (OSSI) offers an alternative to restrictive intellectual property protection of seeds. The OSSI model proactively preserves the rights of farmers, gardeners, and breeders to freely use, save, replant, exchange and improve seed of OSSI-Pledged material. In this presentation Tom Michaels, a professor at the University of Minnesota, will describe the erosion of seed sovereignty he has witnessed during his 40-year career as a public sector plant breeder, how OSSI works and how growing OSSI-pledged seed can support seed freedoms. The presentation will include ample opportunity for audience questions, input and discussion.

Tom Michaels

Tom Michaels is a Professor of Horticultural Science at the University of Minnesota – Twin Cities. He studies classical plant breeding and genetics as it applies to food plants. His primary focus is on improvement of dry edible bean, industrial hemp and sweet sorghum for production by local and organic growers. He is a founding director of the Open Source Seed Initiative. Tom is also passionate about undergraduate teaching and curriculum development pertaining to food plants and food systems. He has received teaching awards from the University of Guelph, University of Minnesota and the American Society for Horticultural Science.

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Farm Tour Intermission + Q&A: Heavenly Roots

Heavenly Roots Vegetable Farm is a 5 acre mixed vegetable and fruit farm located in the Fulford Valley, on Salt Spring Island. Ben Corno and Kaleigh Barton attend two weekly markets, serve a small CSA, and grow and sell vegetable seeds in packets, and through the BC Eco Seed Co-op.

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