Picture of seed library in my living room.
I'm Emma-Kate and I have a wee seed library in Ōtepoti, Aotearoa. I have lived experience of disability, immune dysfunction, and other illnesses; I worked as an occupational therapist, enjoy natural sciences, and community networking. I am passionate about the activity of seedsaving and believe all communities and neighborhoods have the capability to build up seedsaving networks.
Seeds need to be grown out and shared around the community, around all communities, to ensure seed is as accessible as possible to everyone wanting to grow. There's so much pressure, especially on poorer, minority communities, and seed is a resource that can be used to help ensure access to fresh produce.
As we keep growing out, saving and sharing seed, we are successfully engaging in and achieving the following:
Building community, resilience, networks which enable safer neighborhoods;
Adapting plants/plant genomes to local climate as it changes;
Learning how to garden, sow seed, save seed;
Offsetting *some food costs (*depending on privilege in areas of health, fitness, accessibility, time, money, skill, space, and so on);
Prioritising our mental health and wellness, acknowledging mental health;
Learning about natural processes and the science that explains these processes and systems;
Recognition of how our deep ancestors were seedsavers, passing on knowledge and seed;
Because collecting stuff is fun;
Because it's art, science, meaning, purpose, in the past, in the future, and it's important to us as humans now;
It allows us a deeper recognition of ourselves, and how we operate in our immediate environment, how we engage with nature.
It sows hope in the face of despair.
Saturday #seedlibrary shout out 🇳🇿🌱 #greenheart
#Aotearoa needs more passionate #seedsavers saving and sharing seed around all communities
I aim to share as much as I can to educate and encourage more #seedsaving.
Seed library in St Kilda, #Dunedin #Ōtepoti
