Seed Saving & Seed Sovereignty
My Seedsaving journey!
I’ve always had a passion for saving seeds, ever since I was a kid and every year I would have saved a selection of seeds from my garden between vegetables, flowers, herbs and wild plants!
In 2019 I completed my training in seed saving with Irish Seedsavers, and then I went on to complete the Gaia Foundation’s Year long training in Seed Saving & Production.
Since then I have been running workshops for the Kildare Library Service as part of their Seed Library Project. And I have run sessions in various community garden and community settings.
My dream is to set up a seed saving company on my land, this in progress but slowly!
If you’re interested in hosting and running an introduction to Seedsaving workshop do get in touch!
Why we need to buy Irish grown seed and grow and save our own seed.
Seed Saving is an ancient skill that has been nearly lost, like growing our own food. Seed Saving was an essential part of everyone’s lives from the first farmers, until our recent ancestors, and essential to ensuring a food crop for growing the following year, which would ensure your survival in a time when there was no such thing as shops and Supermarkets and Tescoes!!
The Politics!
In more recent times, Seeds have become political because over 60% of the world’s seed companies have now been bought up by 4 major Agri-Chemical companies[1]. These are called the Big 4…
Irish Seed Companies
If you would like to find out who are the Irish provenance seed companies – ie. the companies who are growing and saving their seed in Ireland, follow the link below, we need to be supporting out Irish indigenous seed companies, it’s the only way to futureproof our food & seed security and sovereignty.
Useful Resources for Seed Saving:
Podcast: Science Tales: Seed Part 1 & 2 – a look into the story of Irish seed currently in Ireland.
Book: ‘A Seed Saving Handbook for Ireland’, Jo Newton.
Book: ‘The Seed Detective’, Adam Alexander. (Seed stories!)
Seed Sovereignty Organisation: The Gaia Foundation, https://www.seedsovereignty.info/
Short Irish film: https://www.seedsovereignty.info/seeding-tomorrow/
Irish Seed Champions!
Irish Seedsavers
ISSA, have done huge work to conserve the over 200 varieties of Irish heritage apple trees, over 60 heritage potato varieties, grains and over 600 different heritage vegetables, flowers and herbs from the island of Ireland and beyond.
Brown Envelope Seeds
Brown Envelope Seeds are a West Cork based Irish seed company, who have been growing and saving seed for over 30 years. Run by Madeleine McKeever, Madeleine has developed an extensive tomato and grain collection along with a broad base of vegetable varieties as well as unusual and heritage varieties. https://www.farmersjournal.ie/unsung-heroines-fearless-fierce-and-female-749864