Experience some of the basics of seed saving in this introductory workshop with Toni Kessler of West River Seeds.
Learn how to choose which seeds are easiest to save, and how to collect, clean, and store your seeds. Discover the difference between wet seeds, like tomatoes and cucumbers, and dry seeds, like beans and corn. Explore the importance of seed saving for food security and sovereignty, discuss cross pollination, and understand plant quantities to prevent inbreeding depression. After a 30-40 minute indoor presentation, the bulk of the workshop will be out in the garden to observe different plants and get hands-on practice harvesting, threshing, and winnowing seeds. This workshop is applicable for gardeners, homesteaders, and small-scale farmers just getting started with seed saving.
Presenter:
Toni Kessler is the grower and owner of West River Seeds. She has been saving seeds in Vermont for a little over 5 years but she started her seed saving journey in Oregon where she saved and sold seeds with her students. While in Oregon, she attended Seed Academy at Siskiyou Seeds and then the Rocky Mountain Seed Alliance Seed School, which gave her a good foundation of knowledge to start her seed business. She is also the Vocational Educator and Farm Manager at Kindle Farm School in Townshend, VT. She saves seeds with her students and is lucky enough to be the steward of the Kindle Clove Hardneck Garlic, which the school has been saving for almost 25 years.
This workshop is co-hosted by NOFA-VT and the Windham County Natural Resources Conservation District and partially funded by the Vermont Agency of Agriculture, Food & Markets.
