The London Grows Seed Buddy Scheme is open for applications.
The London Freedom Seed Bank is teaming up with Capital Growth, London’s leading food growing network, to offer free training and support to a group of Seed Buddies.
The Seed Buddies will form an important part of the Seed Bank’s network and will pass on their seed saving skills to community groups across London, helping to raise awareness about the lost art of seed saving, and to increase the supply of locally-grown seeds across the capital. Seed saving skills have been largely lost amongst modern-day growers and we think it’s essential to bring these skills back to order to build a robust and sustainable food system.
We are looking for skilled growers and gardeners who are interested in learning to save their own seeds and to support other community and/or school gardens to start saving their own seeds too. As part of the scheme, the Seed Buddies will be required to attend a one-day training programme on Saturday 22nd October at the Regent’s Park Allotment Garden (10:30-16:00). The training day will be lead by expert seed savers from the Heritage Seed Library and will include:
– Seed saving techniques: theory and ‘how to’ with different plants
– Planning your space for seed saving
– Small-scale storage techniques
The Seed Buddies will also be required to support/mentor two community gardens in saving their own seeds. This will involve visiting each garden at least twice, once in autumn 2016 and then again in 2017. You can nominate to work with a community garden with which you are already involved or we can match you with a garden that would like to learn more about seed saving.
The scheme is a great opportunity to receive FREE training, to learn about the lost art of seed saving, to gain access to rare and unusual varieties from the Seed Bank’s collection, and to help preserve these varieties for future generations.
If you have any questions or are interested in taking part, then we would love to hear from you! To download a copy of the application form go to www.capitalgrowth.org/buddy_scheme/ or to ask any questions email freedomseedbank@gmail.com.
The deadline for applications is Monday 3rd October at 12pm.