About

Objectives

The objectives of this group are for members to collaborate on community seed saving by growing & saving seed from a wide range of vegetable, fruit, herbs, flowers & trees that are suitable for growing in the far north of Scotland. Seed collected by the group will be held by members as part of the groups seed library & offered for free exchange to all members of the group & hopefully, surplus eventually also offered to other fellow growers in the wider local community.

Further objectives are to collaborate on experimenting with creating new, local varieties of vegetables regionally adapted to growing in the Far North.

What is a seed circle?

In its simplest form, its a group of growers who get together & each offer to grow & save seed of at least one variety of vegetable & then swap with each other. No money or sales are involved; its just community bartering & swapping.

Seed circle groups can also collaborate on trialling multiple varieties of vegetables to find which ones are best for our region & we can even work together to breed new varieties of vegetables that are adapted to our regional growing area.

The seed circle's activities don’t need to be limited to vegetable seeds. We can also collect & swap native tree seed, wildflower seed, vegetative propagation material & scion wood of fruit bearing trees to graft.

Seed saving circles also offer the opportunity for learning more about plants & biodiversity & foster community connections both between people and people & the land. 

How does the seed circle operate?

Each growing season, members commit to growing & saving at least one type of seed. They simply submit a rota return to let the group know which variety they plan to grow & collect seed from that season. At the end of the season, each member can add an entry to the group's seed library to offer the seeds they collected that season. An annual seed swap will be organised in the first quarter of every year where members can swap home saved seed & other seeds they have available.