Aren, teaching about seed saving
This past weekend, Four Seasons and Kumbali Cultural Village sponsored a series of events celebrating “seeds, the start of all life.” The theme really touched home with us here at the centre, where we have just created a “seed saving” chore team. As we are daily aware, the importance of preserving seed and genetic diversity should not be underestimated. Many local species, due to their adaptive capabilities, nutritional content, and cost saving potential, form an important aspect of our permaculture designs. We were therefore very excited to participate in this event!
The two-day event included a variety of activities for the whole family. Friday night kicked it all off with a seed/plant-themed quiz night while Saturday was a full day of talks, informational booths, food, and finally ending with a football tournament.
The winning team
We at Kusamala were happy to attend all the events – fielding teams for the quiz night and football tournament as well as setting up a demonstration booth to show some of the many seeds we save here at the centre.
Our enthusiasm ended up paying off! On Friday the Kusamala team came in first at the quiz night, taking home, among other trees, our very own baobab! We are still in the process of deciding where we should plant the big guy. On Saturday our staff team took home the gold in the football tournament, while our volunteer team came in sixth, book ending the final standings.
Overall it was a good weekend, full of information and fun. Given the importance and urgency of the overall message of protecting seed and plant diversity, we were happy to see so many people attending the event and learning something from the activities.
