Seedy Saturday 2025 Recap

On February 1st, 2025, Green Venture in collaboration with Hamilton Public Library hosted Hamilton's 14th Annual Seedy Saturday. We saw a fantastic turnout with over 1000 people in attendance for the event. Considering there was a heavy drop of snow and deteriorated road conditions, it was a very pleasant sight to see the crowds of people entering the event. This day was considered an ultimate success – It was a true testament to the commitment and overall importance of gardening and seed saving in the Hamilton community. We had the pleasure of talking to guests who drove over 2 hours to attend the event!

We want to take this opportunity to thank the Hamilton Public Library, our volunteers, our workshop presenters, our vendors, and all the wonderful people who donated items to the silent auction. Thanks to each and everyone of you this event was as successful as we hoped.

This year we had a multiple of events taking place during Seedy Saturday; a vendor market with over 30 grassroot and retail organizations related to seed saving, eco-friendly products and environmental initiatives, a large seed swap, an ask the experts panel, a silent auction, 5 presentations, a documentary viewing, and a large area for children activities which were lead by Green Venture staff, The Children's Garden Project, and The Boys and Girls Club of Hamilton-Halton. We also welcomed roughly 40 volunteers from Mohawk’s Campus to Community program and the Hamilton community to help ensure this event was a success.

We are thankful to our community and all involved for their continued support of this great event. Events like Seedy Saturday are critical for promoting and empowering our community to take part in more local, sustainable, and equitable environmental practices and initiatives.

A Recap of the Day

Seedy Saturday consisted of over 30 organizations partaking in our vendor market. Many of those were local organizations including HumbleBee, Hamilton's Naturalist Club, Roots to Justice, Hamilton Conservation Authority and more. Various community organizations in attendance are doing amazing work to promote biodiversity and add green spaces to Hamilton. It is vital for them to engage with the public and find more volunteers to help with initiatives. Ultimately, the grassroot environmental groups and community ambience is the origins of why Seedy Saturday was started in the first place – to save local seeds and learn eco-friendly practices. 

We welcomed 5 wonderful guest speakers at Seedy Saturday this year. The first presentation to kick off the day was led by Green Venture’s program lead Jessica Gale. Jessica led a group of past rebate participants through a panel discussion where participants talked about their experience building rain gardens, the process and the highs and lows of their Low Impact Development projects. It was an informative and inspiring discussion for those who are interested in implementing rain gardens and other Low Impact Development projects on their property. The second presentation of the day was by Dya & Mia from The Gilded Grove. They hosted a dynamic and interactive workshop called “Demystifying Design for the Home Gardener”. The duo walked through the steps of preparing your site, garden design, and all the steps along the way. Dya & Mia interacted with the audience throughout the presentation to make the design process a collaborative activity. 

The third presentation of the day was by the Hamilton Conservation Authority (HCA). Jeff from the HCA focused on creating habitats at home for pollinators and other animals that are valuable to our ecosystem. He covered the topic about birds, bats, bees, butterflies and what you can do to make your backyard a place for them to visit. Our fourth presentation was led by Branching Path Farms. Adam focused on the topic of working with “weeds”. This presentation talked about shifting our perspective of what we think of ‘weeds’ and how we can use these plants in ways to benefit us. Whether through culinary uses,  self care or otherwise. The presentations were wrapped up by 3 Halton Master Gardeners. Pam, Trish, and Allyn who shared a presentation about native plants and how they can be used beyond the traditional garden planting. They shared how native plants can be grown for bouquets, containers and beyond. 

Our seed swap saw hundreds of guests participate throughout the day, there was a lot of interest in perennial flower seeds followed by vegetable seeds.The silent auction was very well received.We received donations from businesses and organizations all over Ontario. We saw some fantastic donations such as an Isolation box from Green Light Gardens, indoor vegetable growers from Vegehome, a beautiful solitary bee house from WeeBeeHouse and many more.

Beyond Seedy Saturday

With Hamilton Seedy Saturday over, our minds are quickly turning to the growing season ahead. We urge you to continue to dive deeper into local food systems and explore all the ways you can continue to share seeds, help build more sustainable food systems and continue to find ways to reduce environmental impacts.

Not sure where to start?

Volunteer: The Hamilton Seed Library depends on seed donations and volunteers giving their time to sort and organize seeds. Learn more about how you can get involved with sorting and organizing seeds here .

Donate:The Hamilton Seedy Library is a free public resource for all. Anyone can borrow seeds year round at no cost. Donate your extra seeds to a seed library near you. To find the list of seed libraries, click here.

Thank you all and see you next year!