The in-person Great American Seed Up events are our original idea bringing bulk seed and seed saving education to our local community. We are planning in-person events for 2021, with social distancing concerns addressed to the best of our abilities. Below are some of the frequently asked questions and the answers that can help explain our original program.
Imagine walking into a room filled with over 100 varieties of climate appropriate seeds ready to literally be scooped up and taken home for planting or saving. This is exactly what the Great American Seed Up is all about. “The idea is to give valley residents an opportunity to learn about seed saving and then harvest as many ounces of seed they wish to take home,” says Farmer Greg Peterson, Urban Farm Founder and local seed saver. We are partnering with the Uptown Phoenix Farmers Market. The event features a seed bazaar with bulk quantities of popular vegetable seed varieties available for purchase at bulk discounts.
Attendees are encouraged to buy and share the seeds with their neighborhood and community groups to spur local gardening and seed saving efforts. “We’re trying to get seeds in the hands of the people,” says Seed Up co-organizer Bill McDorman of Seedsave.org. “The more seed diversity we have growing in our neighborhood gardens and backyard plots, the more resilient we’ll be as a community. These seeds are the best varieties we can find in bulk to help you start your seed saving adventure.”
Included with pre-registration for the Seed Up will be access to several online presentations with seed and gardening experts to spread knowledge about traditional and modern seed saving practices.
The coronavirus situation is still changing and we are working hard to keep our events as safe as we are able to with the information we have available. Based on current CDC guidelines, we are deciding to host the 2021 Great American Seed Up in addition to our online bulk seed shopping. One big change is we are opening up registrations with limited capacity each half hour, to help stage our participants through the room with more space and time between us. Below are some Frequently Asked Questions about both the new Seed Up In a Box program and our Great American Seed Up events.
One person per registration ticket. Children under the age of 15 are free.
To register online: we accept PayPal and all major credit cards.
At the event: we accept cash, and all the major credit cards.
Absolutely! We have some of the best volunteers in town! We will have varied levels of experts from hopeful gardeners up to Master Gardeners, all on hand to help answer your seed and gardening questions.
Yes, we love to see kids at the Seed Up and encourage the seed shopping experience for future gardeners, however we do ask that you be vigilant while watching your younger children. Our seeds need to stay separated, and little hands can accidentally mix up seeds quite easily. We do not have child care or space for children to run in the seed room. Fortunately, in the Farmers Market itself there are spaces for kids to express their energy. – More info about kids at the Seed Up HERE.
We encourage participants to eat before or after their Seed Up experience to keep our seeds uncontaminated. A capped water bottle is fine inside the seed room but please take extra care not to get any seeds or surfaces wet. On Saturday until 1 pm, you may purchase food at the Farmer’s Market taking place just outside our event.
Yes, we do accept volunteers to our in-person seed up team. Please send an email to Janis@GreatAmericanSeedUp.org to express your interest.
If you have any other questions, please email them to Janis@GreatAmericanSeedUp.org. Thank you!
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