On February 3, 2024, Green Venture, in collaboration with Hamilton Public Library, hosted the 13th annual Hamilton Seedy Saturday. We returned to the Hamilton Central Library Branch, and this year’s event reached new heights on the 4th floor. The open space and extra square footage allowed us to welcome almost 1,000 attendees to the day-long event comfortably. Visitors were able to connect with over 30 seed and garden supply vendors and environmental community organizations and businesses, learn from four workshop speakers, donate and receive free seeds at a massive seed exchange, participate in numerous kids’ activities and storytimes in our Seedling Zone, and win amazing garden-related prizes in the silent auction.
This event would not have been possible without the enthusiastic and hard-working volunteers who dedicated over two hundred volunteer hours to this event, including packing hundreds of seed packs over the last 6 months. We’d like to say a special thank you to:
- Hamilton Public Library Central Branch team, including Meg DeForest, Katelyn Kirk, staff from the children’s section, and custodial staff.
- Dundurn’s Historic Kitchen Garden Gardeners, including Sapphire Singh, Victoria Bick, and their dedicated team. We sincerely appreciate their time and effort during the event – setting up and taking down, providing seed knowledge, and supporting Hamilton’s garden community.
- Mohawk College and the Campus to Community volunteers coordinated by Tyler Sinke and Rinalyn De Asis.
We thank our community and all involved for supporting this great event. Events like Hamilton Seedy Saturday are critical for promoting and empowering our community to participate in a more local, sustainable, equitable food system.
Growing a Gardening Community
Inspiring the Future
Hamilton Seedy Saturday’s Seedling Zone offered numerous activities for the youngest members of our garden community. Our Seedling Zone kid’s area stations were led by Green Venture staff, volunteers, and program assistants. Hands-on activities were available throughout the day, including making seed balls and exploring vermicomposting worm bins. The HPL team created a reading area for families to look through and check out books on gardening, plants, and nature. Along with the HPL Family Storytime, the team at Planting Seeds of Hope offered two additional interactive storytimes.
Jackie Ryan, founder of Planting Seeds of Hope, leads one of the 3 interactive storytimes offered in the Seedling Zone.
Jordyn and Jasmine, Environmental Education Youth Program Assistants for Green Venture, show some of the many critters and creatures found in a garden.
Welcoming Newcomers to the Hamilton Garden Community
We were pleased to welcome several new vendors and community groups to Hamilton Seedy Saturday this year. This, along with the growing support of first-time attendees, highlights the growing interest in gardening by Hamiltonians. One goal of Seedy Saturday is to make gardening accessible to everyone by connecting individuals to local resources with similar goals and audiences. The Giving Garden Long Term Care (LTC) Program works to provide long-term care residents gardening opportunities to grow food and donate produce to LTC kitchens and community food organizations. They have gardens at four LTC homes across Hamilton, Burlington, and the GTA, and these gardens are cared for by residents and staff.
Community groups provide residents with a space to connect with local neighbors, learn from gardeners in the community, and support gardening biodiversity, environmental protection, and pollinator habitats through native gardens. Action 13 provides residents with access to native seeds, workshops, and community climate action events in the Dundas area. Other community groups that are wonderful resources and places to learn include the Butterfly Way Hamilton, Flamborough Horticultural Society, Halton Master Gardeners, Garden Hamilton, the Niagara Peninsula Conservation Authority, the Hamilton Naturalists’ Club, and the Crown Point Garden Club.
Community gardens provide growing space to many Hamilton residents and create space for locally grown food, pollinator gardens, and community connections. Roots to Justice facilitates a youth-led shared community garden at J.C. Beemer Park and provides mentorship opportunities and weekly garden sessions. The Immigrants Working Centre continues to welcome newcomers to Canada and connects them to local services including a gardening group at the Riverdale Salad Bowl Community Garden.
An overhead photo of one section of Hamilton Seedy Saturday where vendors and community groups interacted with Hamilton Seedy Saturday attendees.
Volunteering beyond Seedy Saturday
At Hamilton Seedy Saturday, we welcomed high school volunteers earning volunteer hours for school and college-aged volunteers through Mohawk College’s Campus to Community Program. Volunteers assisted vendors throughout the day and aided in running each workshop session and virtual streaming on Zoom. Although Hamilton Seedy Saturday is over for this year, there are still many ways to be involved with Green Venture’s environmental work around Hamilton. A few areas to volunteer include:
The Hamilton Seed Library:
The Hamilton Seed Library is a free public resource. Anyone can borrow seeds year-round at no cost. The program depends on local garden seed donations and volunteers giving time to clean, pack, and label seeds.
Learn more about the Hamilton Seed Library.
Community Garden sessions:
Among the community groups at Seedy Saturday was Roots to Justice. Roots to Justice works to address the struggles surrounding food insecurity and accessibility, particularly among racialized, low-income youth in Hamilton. The group has added several new raised beds to their garden space at J.C. Beemer Park and completed their first full garden season in 2023. This garden season, they will continue to provide workshops, education opportunities to local youth, drop-in garden sessions, and accessible, locally-grown produce.
Community Green Spaces:
Through partnerships with local schools, organizations, and community groups, Green Venture removes asphalt and concrete to renew and beautify community spaces by adding natural playgrounds, pollinator gardens, trees, rain gardens, permeable pavers, and other permeable surfaces. In addition to building a strong sense of community, this program also increases usable public space and improves water quality.
Green Venture’s Green Infrastructure Program includes numerous Community Greening, Urban Garden Club, and Urban Forest Projects throughout the Hamilton area.
Learn more about Green Venture volunteer opportunities, such as assisting with community tree planting, stewardship, and depave events.
Learn More:
Learn more about the gardening initiatives supported by Green Venture:
Roots 2 Justice, Kahnekanoron, Youth Stewardship
Thank you everyone for once again making this event an amazing welcome to a new year and new garden season! To view the full list of sponsors, vendors, and workshop speakers visit greenventure.ca/seedysaturday
For any questions in regards to Green Venture’s Garden Programs email garden@greenventure.ca
