Humboldt Permaculture Guild Holding 20th Annual Seed Exchange This Saturday

This is a press release from the Humboldt Permaculture Guild:

ARCATA – On Saturday, March 31, from 11 a.m. until 4 p.m., the Humboldt Permaculture Guild will be holding this year’s Seed & Plant Exchange at the Arcata Community Center (321 Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Parkway, Arcata).  This will be the 20^th year of this premier local event, which provides free resources and education to gardeners, farmers, and the public. Nearly 2,000 people have attended the event in each of the last several years. Participants bring seeds or live plants to share if they have any, and take whatever they reasonably expect to use regardless of what they bring.  Seeds or other materials from locally invasive plant species are prohibited.

This year, the Guild is especially encouraging participants to walk, bicycle, ride the bus or carpool to the event if they can. The Guild promotes responsible transportation as part of community-scale permaculture. Additionally, parking is limited when most participants drive themselves to the event.

In addition to the free exchange, local companies will be on hand at the event to sell seeds, plants, and garden-related services, and a number of local non-profit organizations will offer educational materials on topics ranging from native plants to healthcare.  Free workshops taught by local experts will be offered, covering an introduction to permaculture, urban permaculture, and worm composting, and a kids permaculture area will be available.

Live entertainment will be provided by local musicians Lyndsey Battle & Cory Goldman, Jan Bramlett, and the Striped Pig String Band. Raffle tickets will be for sale at a reasonable price to help cover the costs of the event.  A locally sourced lunch will be served by the nonprofit Locally Delicious, with proceeds going to a program that helps local farmers grow food for Food for People.

Anyone interested in bringing seeds or plants to the event is encouraged to provide detailed labels which include species name, variety name, and for seeds the year and location the seed was produced.  Participants are also encouraged to bring locally appropriate species and varieties, and to focus on seeds and plants which have been produced using organic or other sustainable methods.    

Anyone interested in taking home seeds or plants is encouraged to bring old seed envelopes, bags and boxes for re-use, although some will be provided for those who do not bring their own.  Participants are also reminded to take care not to bring or take home invasive plants or weeds.

Permaculture is a set of principles and practices for designing human landscapes with the diversity and resilience of natural ecosystems.  The Humboldt Permaculture Guild is a group of local residents with the goal of promoting permaculture-related practices and ideas in Humboldt County and surrounding areas.  For more information visit humboldtpermaculture.com.