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What are your favourite winter species? I love looking out my front window at the lovely white birch that someone kindly planted in my front yard years ago. Soon these trees will have more friends. I can’t wait to see what happens when the native trees, shrubs and plants that were planted this summer start to grow.

 Today on Ask A Master Gardener at 1:00 pm Nancy will be sharing some of her favourite species with winter interest.

As always, while we have a theme for today, we’re happy to answer any gardening questions.

Join our zoom session:
https://us02web.zoom.us/meeting/register/tZYkcOGsrz4jEt0qKidQgh_u4_WZCLcEG_EZ

Meet Tatenda Mambo. He is a farmer and researcher who wrote this incredible article about the fragility of mainstream agriculture. It makes our work fighting for locally adapted seeds in the Kingston Area even more urgent!

Efficient or resilient: Alberta must find the right balance to protect our food supply

“Last summer, a brutal heat dome knocked out crops across the prairies. But on our experimental farm just south of Calgary, it also gave a measure of hope.

At the University of Calgary’s Simon Farm Project near Blackie, Alta., we’re testing whether the traits found in locally-saved and traditional seed varieties can bring more resilience to our food production in the face of climate change.

It’s part of a larger research effort to help Alberta’s farmers shift their practices and weather the increased drought we know is coming.

The heat showed a difference between the various seed varieties we were testing, and it was staggering.

Most potatoes, kale and other plants from the seed of national distributors succumbed to the heat and withered away. The same plants from the locally-saved seed held on.  (bo

This seed was from farmers in the region who had been planting and gathering it for at least 10 years, letting it acclimatize to our conditions. At the end of the day, despite four weeks of no significant rain and  27 C heat, we still got a modest harvest from the locally-acclimatized seed. (bold font is ours btw)

Of course, this is just one extreme summer and the work is ongoing, but the resilience of local seeds has been documented by other researchers. Traditional or Indigenous agricultural practices around the world have shown we can work with nature to produce our food in a manner that can restore and support ecological functions rather than degrade and erode them. And if we go back to incorporate these techniques, we can create a system that is more resilient.

Read the rest of the article here Please share it widely!

January 19, 2022: As gardeners, we can help mitigate climate change. Find out how today, at 1:00 pm when Astrid talks about Regenerative gardening practices.

As always, while we have a theme for today, we’re happy to answer any gardening questions.

Join our zoom session:
https://us02web.zoom.us/meeting/register/tZYkcOGsrz4jEt0qKidQgh_u4_WZCLcEG_EZ

Read the blog post here

In caring for a 40-year-old collection of 300 seed varieties, the non-profit Ratinenhayén:thos aims to strengthen local food security and revitalize Indigenous connections to the land

The Kenhté:ke Seed Sanctuary is in the heart of Tyendinaga Mohawk Territory, just west of Kingston, Ont. It is home to a 40-year-old living collection of almost 300 seed varieties, including rare heirloom crops like blue Cayuga flint corn and ancient ones like Jacob’s cattle bean, a red and white legume dating back to the 1700s.

Since 2019, the collection has been cared for by Ratinenhayén:thos, an Mohawk-led non-profit whose name means “they are farmers of seeds” in Kanyen’kéha, chosen because it denotes a strong spiritual and cultural connection that grounds the organization’s work in community and place.

Here is the link to the rest of a beautiful article in the Narwhal about our sister organization, Ratinenhayén:thos.

January 12, 2022: We’re back with Season 3 of Ask a Master Gardener, celebrating 2022’s Year of the [Ecological] Garden. As always, while we have a theme for today, we’re happy to answer any gardening questions.

Today, at 1:00 pm, Cathy will talk about Seed Catalogues: Past, Present, Future.

Join our zoom session:
https://us02web.zoom.us/meeting/register/tZYkcOGsrz4jEt0qKidQgh_u4_WZCLcEG_EZ

Remember the days before the Internet when we anxiously waited for our seed catalogues to arrive so that we could start dreaming and planning for spring and summer plantings. Imagine how welcome those catalogues would have been for early growers who were isolated in their cabins or farms waiting for winter to end.  

Believe it or not the earliest garden catalogue appeared over 400 years ago at the 1612 Frankfurt Fair.  It was a bulb catalog called Florilegium Amplissimum et Selectissimum, created by Emmanual Sweerts in the Netherlands.

During the 18th and 19th century new printing methods, improved travel and mail service helped seed growers find new homes for their seeds.  Those gorgeous creations provided information and entertainment that fueled the dream.  

Join us this to learn more about the fascinating history of seed catalogues and to talk about their future.   

You can learn more about this presentation here. Thanks Anna for writing such a great blog post!

In the spirit of gift-giving, Melt Studio + Gallery will be hosting a raffle for Susan Wallis’ encaustic painting “FOREST WATCHER”, with all the proceeds being donated to Kenhte:ke Seed Sanctuary and Learning Centre in Tyendinaga.

Ratinenhayén:thos is a non-profit organization dedicated to the sustenance and growth of the Kenhte:ke Seed Sanctuary and Learning Centre (KSSLC) in the Tyendinaga Mohawk Territory.

The KSSLC is dedicated to growing heirloom and Indigenous seeds, including those specific to the Rotinonshyon:ni, and ensuring the availability of healthy, local seeds for the next seven generations.“

In this painting I challenge the viewer to join in the scene, to take a seat by the bonfire under the night’s sky. To watch and protect the forest. To celebrate it’s glory and recognize and understand it’s vunerabilites. Only then will the forest survive.” –

Susan Wallis12”x12”, Encaustic. Framed in Solid Walnut.

Retail Value $485

Tickets $10 each or 3 for $25 Buy Tickets in person at the gallery or online at https://www.meltstudiogallery.com.

Please support this worthy cause!

Please join us by clicking HERE at 10:00 am.

We look forward to seeing you then!

It’s the last virtual Seedy Saturday today at 1:00!  Register at seedsgrowfood.org! We start with a seed swap and then talk about seed saving and gardening! Please join us!