Growing Seeds, Sharing Knowledge: 2025 Seed Mentorships

Posted on Wednesday, 7 January 2026 under Stories

We wanted to celebrate and give a shout-out to all those who participated in our 2025 BC Seed Mentorship Program. We consistently receive wonderful feedback about what mentees learn from their mentors, and how mentors enjoy sharing their knowledge while gaining fresh perspectives from their mentees. This program was offered in partnership with the Bauta Family Initiative on Canadian Seed Security, a program of SeedChange.

Erica Letchford and Rebecca Jehn (Saanich mentorship), Blake Hunter and Fiona Hamersley Chambers (Metchosin/Saanich mentorship), Grace Wampold and Marsha Goldberg (Salt Spring Island mentorship)

This season, mentees strongly appreciated the time mentors spent with them and drew inspiration from observing their mentors’ operations.

In the words of a few mentees, “I have learned so much about efficiencies on the farm, from cultivation to harvest.”

“Being able to spend time together in the fields was very valuable. You have different kinds of conversations when you’re looking at plantings together.”

“It is very motivating to see a farm operating successfully and knowing that you, too, could make something like this happen.”

Mentors were grateful for the new energy and vision from their mentees and uplifted by their mentees taking on roles in community food security.

“It is always wonderful to learn things from newer, younger farmers with vision. Their perspectives and ideas are so refreshing and give me great hope for the future of farming.”

“I think it is edifying to be able to share what we know and see the enthusiasm it sparks in other people… the new directions that they take the knowledge and grow with it.”

“We wish when we started 20 years ago, we had access to some training and hands-on experience like this from another seed grower, as our operation would have developed much faster as a result.”

A special thank you to our funders: the Victoria Foundation, BC Gaming, the Public Health Association of BC, and the New Horizons Program.

With final thoughts from a mentee, “In the garden, one plus one can equal a thousand seeds, a thousand pounds of food … — that is hope, the most valuable currency.”