After a bountiful harvest Cathy had a living room full of seeds. In 2017 Cathy grew her first seed garden with the help of Michelle Thomas and Bob Chambers at Edible Forest Farm. The joy of seed saving and Cathy’s personal journey Cathy drew a link between seed sovereignty, food sovereignty and the impact on human kind’s ability to feed itself. This narrowly focussed seed production does not bode well for biodiversity and resilience especially in the light of changing and uncertain climate conditions. In addition 60 to 80% of the commercial seed market is controlled by a few multinational organizations. The world has lost 75% of its seed diversity over the past hundred years. Have you ever thought where seeds come from or what they are all about? Cathy highlighted some challenges we are facing. Why seeds?ĭid you know that 9/10 bits of food we eat start with seeds. The organization’s aim is “to increase seed and thereby food sovereignty for the Kingston region”. Its focus supporting the development of a vibrant sustainable network of local ecological growers producing local food and local seeds. KASSI is a small non-profit organization founded by local farmers, backyard and market gardeners, and community members. What is the Kingston Area Seed System- KASSI? I have included many links if you want to learn more and at the end of this blog there are also links to volunteer opportunities. This was followed by the usual sharing of knowledge by Master Gardeners and questions from participants. This week, Cathy introduced us to the goals of KASSI, the concept of seed saving, some seed terminology and some examples of seeds to save.
She trained as a freshwater biologist and currently teaches Science Education at the Faculty of Education at Queen’s University.
Cathy is a Master Gardener in training and Chair of the Kingston Area Seed System Initiative (KASSI).
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