Caledon’s first Seedy Saturday event a success and is set to grow forward

By Zachary Roman

Beginner and expert gardeners alike gathered for an afternoon of fun and education last weekend.

On February 25, the first ever “Seedy Saturday” event to be held in Caledon took place in Palgrave. The event was a partnership between the Palgrave United Community Kitchen (PUCK), Caledon Public Library (CPL), and Albion Hills Community Farm. Seedy Saturday events began back in 1990 in British Columbia.

Highlights from the event included presentations on gardening for pollinators, tea gardening, and the school vegetable garden project happening at Caledon public schools. There were fresh-baked apple pies with local apples that sold out, and a Friends of the Caledon Public Library book sale.

Also at Seedy Saturday was, of course, a wide variety of seeds, a potting station, indoor plants, and numerous vendor and community tables.

Karen Hutchinson, President of the Albion Hills Community Farm, and said she and the other event organizers were very happy with how Seedy Saturday went. Hutchinson said they estimate over 200 people came over the course of the day, a great turnout.

“It went really well, there were lots of people,” she said.

Hutchinson said the presentations at the event were well-attended and received too.

The Albion Hills Community Farm made sure there were seed catalogues available for event attendees and managed the seed exchange. Additionally, they were selling seeds in support of the Caledon public school vegetable garden project. Caledon's Peel District School Board trustee, Stan Cameron, is leading a program to install vegetable gardens in all of Caledon's public schools.

The CPL had seeds that people could sign out with their library card as part of their seed library program.

At the potting station, people could plant seeds, such as lettuce or radish, that will begin to grow at this time of year. There were also house plants like aloe which people could pot up.

There was no admission fee for Seedy Saturday, however donations were accepted for the school vegetable garden project.

When asked if she thought Seedy Saturday would be back next year, Hutchinson said “for sure.”

She said when the organizers debrief, they may even consider a bigger venue for next year as the turnout was so great.

“People who attended, there were experienced gardeners and there were brand-new gardeners… that's the real beauty,” said Hutchinson. “I think the more you grow food the more you appreciate that it's so diverse and complex… food does connect us all.”

As a follow up to Seedy Saturday, there's going to be another community event celebrating all things gardening on May 13 at the Albion Hills Community Farm. It's called the Spring Festival and Plant Sale and more details will be available at a later date.