Infinity Foods is proud to sponsor Seedy Sunday for another year. This Sunday, 4th of February (10:30 – 16:00) sees the UK’s largest community seed swap coming back to Brighton & Hove, at BHASVIC (205 Dyke Road, Hove BN3 6EG).
Seedy Sunday was started in 2002 and was the first seed swap in Britain. Seed saving is one of the most important things to do in our time. Unfortunately, commercial farmers are being made to believe that they have to buy new seeds every year; these are usually chemically bred seeds and of reduced genetic variation. Real farming and gardening are done when you have your own seed – the nature of seeds is to multiply, grow and be shared!
The ever growing issue of global climate change presents a great pressure on commercial seed varieties and modern farming practices, due to genetic erosion. Potentially useful characteristics disappear every time a variety is lost and its seeds are not saved. Local varieties were important in traditional farming because they were best at growing well in the areas they were bred, and there is little chance that we will ever recover these lost varieties.
“The widespread use of genetically uniform modern crop varieties has caused agricultural crops to lose about 75% of their genetic diversity in the last century”
-The World Wide Fund (WWF)
When buying food in a supermarket, many of these varieties have been bred for commercial profit. These foods have not been developed for our health, but instead, have been grown from seed that has been hybridised, selected for traits that last longest on shop shelves and therefore appear successful and look pretty to consumers.
When we save seed and grow our own food we take back some of that power, actively creating our future, by putting health, nutrition and diversity at the forefront of growing.
You don’t have to have a garden, farm or allotment to be interested in coming to Seedy Sunday! It’s very easy to grow many plants indoors, on a window ledge or balcony. Many seeds shared at Seedy Sunday are from flowers and herbs, which can be a great way to get into developing a green thumb.
“Growing your own food
is like printing your own money”
– Ron Finley, guerrilla gardener
Why not try growing salad staples? You can very easily grow tomatoes, bell peppers, lettuce, radishes and chillies at home; they just need sunlight, good soil and a little care. There isn’t a meal as delicious as one you have grown yourself!
Seedy Sunday is not just about growing – there’s a whole host of exhibitors from the local area, as well as food producers, community projects and talks. BBC Gardeners’ Question Time is also returning to Seedy Sunday to answer all your growing questions with a panel of some of the best horticulturalists: Eric Robson, James Wong, Bob Flowerdew and Anne Swithinbank. Tickets available for Seedy Sunday visitors from 10.30am on the day – first come, first served. Other talks by a whole host of experts include topics on Pollinators, Potatoes, growing without digging and the history of gardening.
So come down to Seedy Sunday on the 4th February. A different world is possible and it all starts with a seed!