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Free the Seeds! returns to FVCC

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KALISPELL – Free the Seeds! returns to Flathead Valley Community College on Saturday, March 2, for a fourth year of workshops, conversations and free seeds. Organizers expect more than 1,000 people to attend this free fair, which runs from 9 a.m.-3:30 p.m. in the FVCC Arts and Technology Building.

Free the Seeds! is committed to building a sustainable and resilient future for our community through real seeds, real food and real skills. Every aspect of this year’s fair brings attention to the value of a robust community-based food system. The event will offer more than 20 educational workshops by local experts, at least 30 booths with resources and information about accessing, growing and processing food locally, a seed exchange and community conversations focused on the state of our valley’s food system and ways we can make it stronger together. All workshops are OPI-accredited for K-12 teachers, and kids 8 and older can attend kid-friendly activities throughout the day. Food and beverages will be available for purchase at the fair.

Free the Seeds! is a program of Farm Hands – Nourish the Flathead, a local nonprofit dedicated to connecting people to the sources of their food and those who produce it. The annual Free the Seeds! fair has grown rapidly, drawing attendees from the Flathead Valley and across northwest Montana. More than 1,200 people have participated in the fair each year. This year, organizers and volunteers have been packing thousands of packets of seeds to give away at the event. 

These free seeds will be planted in local backyard gardens, community plots and even schools. But the real takeaway of the March 2 event will be learning how growing food and seeds locally is central to our community’s health and longevity.

“Up until now, we have tended to view food as ‘somebody else grows it and I just eat it, so I’m not part of the process or the system.’ But if you eat, you’re in,” said Robin Kelson, owner of the Good Seed Company and a member of the Free the Seeds! organizing committee.

There are five segments to a strong local food system — production, processing, distribution, consumption and recovery — give everyone a part to play, whether you grow the food, convert it to a product, share it, eat it or recycle it.

“The opportunity is to actively engage in the system from wherever you fit in it. All of us working together create a resilient system that builds the local economy and improves everyone’s access to nourishing food,” Kelson said. 

The workshops alone will offer plenty of ideas for how to become more tied into our food system, noted Brooke Bohannon of Wicked Good Farms and Wicked Good Produce and another of the fair’s organizers. This year’s topics include everything from production, by starting and saving seeds and growing mushrooms and microgreens; to processing, by pickling and making honey; to recovery, by composting and growing healthy, live soil. The fair’s booths will provide more resources, information and skill-sharing tips. 

Regional experts will lead discussions on the state of seed for common use and the value and opportunity for developing local seed saving in our region, including programs already under way in the valley. Other communities worldwide are also building up their food systems, and one of the event’s conversations will look at what they’re doing and where they’re succeeding. 

“It’s all about helping people make the connection and get the picture, about shifting their perception on their role in the community food system,” said Kelson. “Understanding the need to develop a robust regional food system is an education by itself. Seeds are fundamental to food, so Free the Seeds! is central to inspiring the community.”

For the March 2 event, Free the Seeds! encourages local gardeners to bring open-pollinated, non-GM (non-genetically modified) seeds to share and exchange. Pre-event drop-off boxes for seeds (clean or uncleaned) are available at the libraries in Bigfork, Columbia Falls, Eureka, Kalispell and Whitefish, as well as at the Good Seed Company in Whitefish and Camus Organic Market in Hot Springs. Attendees can also bring seeds with them to the fair, where early drop-off is appreciated.

Volunteers run the entire Free the Seeds! program, with many more needed to help out the day of the fair. Volunteers can sign up at: http://freetheseedsmontana.com/get-involved/volunteer/. Dozens of local businesses and organizations provide financial backing, and Free the Seeds! would not be possible without their support. 

Free the Seeds! is a free community-powered program of Farm Hands – Nourish the Flathead and has a mission of building a sustainable and resilient future through real seeds, real food and real skills. Free the Seeds! can be found online at: freetheseedsmontana.com, on Facebook and on Instagram.

 

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