With spring in full swing, there was a group effort Thursday night in Barrie towards educating and celebrating the significance of seeds.
The Barrie Public Library is one of more than 10 locations across Simcoe County offering a seed library. Tonight planting beginners and those looking to take their knowledge to the next level gathered there for an educational session.
“Communities are getting together to grow and save seeds like they have never before in recent history,” says Jacob Kearey-Moreland, the seed expert behind tonight’s session. “People are realizing the importance of growing your own food and generating natural ecosystems around us, so people are looking for seeds.”
The seed libraries include a wide variety of plant and flower-based seeds are available as part of an effort to improve local production. Kearey-Moreland says knowledge is critical as it can help increase local food supply throughout the region.
“When you plant one seed, it has the potential of reproducing exponentially,” says Kearey-Moreland. “That one seed could give you 1000 seeds, and those 1000 seeds could give you millions of seeds, and with little effort here, we have brought probably over 100 different varieties of seeds that we’ve saved ourselves on the farm.”
Participants at tonight’s gathering not only broadened their knowledge of seeds but the packed many that they each brought to add the to the collection of the seed library in Barrie.