Seedy SaturdayA City of Food

The most exciting thing about Seedy Saturday was not...

Before Picture: This is what setup looks like. Scroll down to end if you want to see the After Picture. Notice Greta (organizer in the orange shirt) of Greta's Organic Garden tirelessly working. She's been the coordinator for this Seeds of Diversity event for many years.

Trading and Buying Seeds

I know what you mean random guy, "It is hard to say no to all those great varieties and as an enabler told me, it's a cheap habit."

Chatting with Friends

Here are my partners in crime (wo)manning the Canadian Organic Growers- Ottawa Chapter booth: Connie and Lloyd. These guys are workhorses! You may recognize them from such places as Seedy Sunday at Perth, various organic events like Feast of Fields and EcoFarm Day, farmer's markets and more.

Meeting New People

Like this lady from The Garlic News and Beaver Pond Estates who suggested I try a soft neck variety that's hardy and a good keeper. I'm on the waiting list, looking forward to making some garlic braids.

Eating the Goodies or any of the other Activities...

Yeah, it was busy though perhaps a few less elbows to rub as you crane your neck at the seeds than last year.

... It was Finally Tracking Down these People!

Twigs were growing around the building asking you to pick a website: www.HiddenHarvestOttawa.ca

Who are they? Not the Sasquatch or the Loch Ness monster. No, they are the until now elusive urban orchard people like Not Far From the Tree in Toronto. It's a way of making use of all that beautiful and often unharvested fruit within city limits. Want to know more about Hidden Harvest Ottawa? I'm hoping to post an interview with the organizers very soon.

In the meantime, here are some other initiatives to get us growing in the city:

Community Orchard brought to you by the Heron Park Community Association - You are in the pre-know so look for info on this project after March 20th at the above site.

Just Food does a lot more than just food: Check out their community building website. Here is the link to a list of Community Gardens in Ottawa.

Veggie Patch: New to me, this is an urban Ottawa based CSA that uses rented garden plots (my understanding is its land for veggies) to run a patch work farm. It looks like it works on the principal of SPIN farming.

My Review of Seedy Saturday

The trade table was hopping and bopping with lots of donations from regular folk and seed vendors (Nice to see you here Mountain Grove Seeds), but was it my imagination or were there less seed vendors and more sundries this year?

Overall, the sketchy weather seemed to keep the hordes at bay so there was breathing room to manoeuvre between booths. I have to assume you all have enough seeds from last year. Now that was a crowd!

I really enjoyed meeting up with plant buddies such as the twin themed I Wet My Plants and I Soil Myself who came out of blogger hiding to dash off a few posts (keep them coming) as well as some more folk for a few private seed exchanges. It's a party folks - if by party you mean hanging out with a lot of chlorophyll drunk people giddy over pre-baby plants.

Next up on the calendar of plant fun, I'll be giving a talk on Starting Up Your Organic Vegetable Garden in North Grenville at the Branch Restaurant. Come out and say hi.

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P.S. I'm still on the lookout for something substantial on:

Urban Foraging - *Your Group Meetings Here*

Ottawa Guerilla Gardening - *Your Clandestine Drops Here*

Any other Projects? Let me know.