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@ Northants Seedy Saturday
2024-12-24 17:49:34
Welcome to Seedy Saturday, an annual, volunteer-run community seed swap event in Northampton, UK. We aim to encourage the saving and sharing of garden seeds, to bring together local growers and to encourage more people to grow a portion of their own food. Own-growing helps create a healthier, fairer and more resilient food system.
### Why save and exchange seeds?
It's easy! If you can squeeze a tomato, de-seed a pepper or shell peas, you can save your own seeds!
It's free! You won't have to buy new seeds each year so you'll save money. You can gift, share and trade your spare own-grown seeds with others.
It's powerful! Take control of what you grow. If seed companies drop your favourites, you can still grow them. You can help preserve rare and old varieties, adapt seeds to suit your garden, and even breed your own new varieties! There are loads more reasons to become a seed-saver; if we've got your interest, read on ...
### How to save seeds
Saving seeds is easy but there's no "one size fits all"; each type of seed needs a different technique. Take a look at our free online 'zine (pdf, 6.6 Mb) or the websites in our Links section where you'll find concise, easy-to-follow instructions to get yourself going.
### Benefits of saving seeds
Origins: Where did your seeds come from? Are they organic? Who grew them? Have they been treated? When you grow and save your own seeds, you know their provenance. Big seed companies rarely tell you how or where their seeds are grown, who grew them or how they've been processed en route to your seed tin!
Local adaptation: By saving seeds from your best-performing plants, they can adapt to the soil and conditions of your own growing space. Major ccompanies often grow their entire seed crops in a single location, meaning they might not be well-suited to your own growing conditions.
Preserving old varieties: By saving and sharing seeds, you can help preserve the diversity of plants for future generations to enjoy. Older "heritage" varieties are often replaced with more-costly, "improved" F1 hybrid types that don't grow true from their own seeds. When older varieties vanish, their genes are lost and growers are left with fewer choices.
Help! The zombies panic-buyers are coming! During the COVID-19 pandemic, seed suppliers were flooded with orders – some even ran out of seeds! Seed-savers didn't panic; their own-grown seeds were healthy, fresh and ready to grow beautiful produce. Security of seed supply is vital to any food-grower—even a zombie!
The joys of sharing: Sharing your home-grown seeds connects you with other growers, lets you share information and stories, and helps build communities. You also give each other access to locally adapted, diverse, resilient plant varieties that may not be found elsewhere. And knowing someone else is growing seeds you grew gives the satisfaction of a job well-done.
There are heaps more reasons to save and share your own seeds; to find out more, download our free 'zine [(pdf, 6.6 Mb)](http://nseedysat.epizy.com/media/webversion.pdf) or visit some of the websites on the links page.
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### Seedy Saturday / Sunday history
The Seedy Saturday / Sunday movement began in Canada in the 1990s and spread throughout North America. In 2001, two British gardeners brought the idea back to England and the following year, the UK's first Seedy Sunday was held in Brighton. This event has since grown into the country's largest seed swap, attracting thousands of visitors each February. Similar events have popped up all across Britain and beyond.
Northampton's first-known seed and plant swap was held in spring 2014 at NN Café in Guildhall Road; it helped inspire three friends to create the food-activism group Fruitful Abundance, which held the town's first Seedy Saturday on St Valentine's Day 2015. Since then, this busy, well-attended event has continued to grow in size and popularity. Northampton's Seedy Saturday couldn't run without our wonderful volunteers, guest speakers, stallholders and supporters; thank you all.
We're looking forward to seeing you at the swap table in 2025!