Free the Seeds event coming up soon
Start your own pumpkin patch this year.
Hungry Horse News
The sixth annual Free the Seeds event to promote real seeds, real food, and real skills in the Flathead Valley is going virtual this year and will be held Saturday through Monday March 6-8.
The three-day event, typically held at the Flathead Valley Community College, will still host a seed swap and giveaway as well as a series of workshops presented by local experts.
The event will kick off Saturday morning with three hour seed swaps and giveaways at two locations. The event will be at the ImagineIF Library in Kalispell with walk-up pickup and in Columbia Falls with drive-by pickup. Look for Free the Seeds signs to find the pickup stations. The rest of the event will feature virtual workshops, starting at 2 p.m. on Saturday, 1 p.m. on Sunday and 6 p.m. on Monday. The workshops will cover topics spanning small-space gardening, community seed saving, growing an herb garden, beneficial insects, building healthy soil, pruning and “edible neighborhoods.” Preregistration is required to attend the free online workshops. Links for each talk and details about the event’s schedule can be found at https://freetheseedsmontana.com/2021-fair/.
Each virtual workshop will feature an expert presentation and plenty of time for questions and answers. At the Happy Hour Community Conversation, presenters will lead an open discussion about how neighbors can share resources and skills to plant, grow, and share food in ways that will feed their families and our community.
Free the Seeds welcomes donations of seeds saved by local gardeners to be shared with other growers at the seed swap. Heirloom, open-pollinated, and non-genetically modified (non-GMO) seeds can be donated at ImagineIF library locations in Columbia Falls and Kalispell ahead of time, or at the swap on March 6. The libraries require masks to be worn and limit visit times to 30 minutes. Seeds can also be mailed to Farm Hands, PO Box 4404, Whitefish, MT 59937.
Volunteers interested in joining seed-packing parties before the fair or helping at the event can sign up at https://freetheseedsmontana.com/get-involved/volunteer/.
Over the last five years, more than 7,000 people have attended this free event. Upward of 85,000 packets of non-GMO, open-pollinated seeds have been given away, with about half collected locally and packed by local volunteers.
Free the Seeds is a program of the nonprofit Farm Hands – Nourish the Flathead. Information about the event can be found online at freetheseedsmontana.com and on Facebook, Instagram and YouTube.
Sponsors make this free event possible and donations can be made through the Free the Seeds website.