Summer Seed Saving Workshops with Dan Jason and Owen Bridge:

Hi everyone,

I'm really excited to announce that my friend and mentor Dan Jason will be joining me for a special series of seed saving workshops at the end of August, we're holding one in Halifax on the 22nd, one in Middleton on the 25th and one in Bridgewater on the 29th! Dan is one of Canada's most renown seed savers being the founder of Salt Spring Seeds and the Seed and Plant Sanctuary for Canada and having authored 12 books to date. On top of all that he's also a really swell guy! I can credit him with inspiring me to get into seed saving years ago. Hope to see you at one (or more!) of the events.  I've added more information below.

-Owen

-Halifax Workshop: 3:00 to 6:00 at the Spryfield Urban Farm, August 22nd. Cost: $25 for the general public and $10 for Urban Farm members. An intro to seed saving at the urban farm! We'll have a garden walk and talk about as many crops as we can cover, as well as hands on demonstrations (bean threshing, tomato fermentation, etc..) and discussions on the deeper political and philosophical aspects of seeds and urban food production. Contact Su Donovaro to register: urbanfarmspryfield@gmail.com

-Middleton Workshop: 2:00 to 5:00 at Annapolis Seeds (8528 Hwy 201, Nictaux), August 25th. Cost: $25 Come visit the seed farm and learn the fun and increasingly crucial art of saving seeds. Some topics covered will include pollination, threshing, organic growing, the importance of maintaining biodiversity as well as a garden walk to discuss specific techniques for each crop. All knowledge levels welcome! Limited number of participants... contact owen@annapolisseeds.com or 825-4732 to register and reserve your spot. 

-Bridgewater Workshop: 10:00 to 3:00 at Watershed Farm (768 Allen Frausel Road, Baker Settlement), August 29th. Cost: $55 Part of a very special weekend at Watershed Farm, the workshop is closely tied with the first annual Watershed Music Festival on the 28th (1:00 to dark). On the 28th we'll have lots of music and different workshops throughout the day, and on the 29th we'll have a slightly more advanced (and much quieter!) seed workshop. We'll go into great depth for this one covering each crop individually as well as covering broader topics like threshing and storage. Also exciting will be a lesson on hand pollination of squash from local squash guru Chris Sanford! Included is a delicious organic lunch along with snacks, you'll get to head home with seeds of both mine and Dan's as well as seed garlic from Watershed Farm. You can register online at www.pollinationproject.org. Spots are filling up fast!

2010 Catalogue

Welcome friends! 

This is now my second year in business supplying hand grown, open-pollinated, non-GMO seed for gardeners, small farmers and seed savers. I grow most of the seeds listed here myself on our small farm at the base of South Mountain in Annapolis County, NS, with the remainder coming from Windhorse Farm of neighbouring Lunenberg County. While I’m not officially “certified organic”, everything I grow here is grown totally organically.

After starting the company last year at age 16 I had a pretty incredible first year, quickly selling out of nearly everything I grew. I expanded hugely over the summer, doubling my collection of varieties and increasing the total supply even more. Hopefully there's enough to go around this year! One of my main goals with this is definitely the preservation and revival of as many rare seeds as possible. All the seeds I offer are open-pollinated and so can be saved for seed, an important yet very simple skill I want to see every gardener doing! I’m pretty excited about this coming year and about getting as many of these seeds out there as I can, so be sure to spread the word to friends!  

Happy Growing!

Owen Bridge

New: For anyone keen to experience small-scale seed production and saving there's currently a position open for a longer-term or full-season apprenticeship. Please feel welcome contact me if you're interested and we can discuss the possibilities!  

Also New: Annapolis Seeds could be in a store near you! The following nurseries, garden stores and otherwise funky establishments are carrying my seeds this spring: Den Haan's Garden World, Middleton, NS; Helping Nature Heal, Bridgewater, NS; Ellora Natural and Organic Foods, LaHave, NS; The Biscuit Eater, Mahone Bay, NS; Scotian Gold Co-op, Coldbrook, NS; The Green Barn, Granville Centre, NS; Historic Gardens, Annapolis Royal, NS 

A special thanks to all our interns, wwoofers and volunteers who helped make this growing season as great as it was. Thanks to Regine, Bjoern, Lisa, Laura, Lea, Graham, Finnegan, Jason and Colleen for all your help!