Seedy Saturday: Starting the Growth of the Food Revolution

Way back in March, in the high ceiling, a voice rose up in a bubbling stew of ideas. Fresh vegetables, canned goods, home-spun yarn, handmade household goods, and of course seeds for the coming spring are swapped down among the people, and ideas become action.

Canned goods from Mrs. Wilson's Kitchen.

Welcome to the world of McKellar's vibrant food culture.

McKellar is an interesting place. It's wrapped in forest, shored in by lakes, and blanketed by sky. Earth, nature, food and our impact upon it is in our backyards. It is something unavoidable. More than any other place in the Parry Sound District people want good food, and control over the way they eat.

I am well immersed in this. Since I was little I've seen it grow into a movement, like the seeds they plant in their gardens.

Learn more about Seedy Saturday after the jump...


But my first question, despite growing up here: what is a "Seedy Saturday"? Sounds like a bad Tuesday night at the bar.

Apparently not. In a nutshell (no pun intended) it’s a big seed exchange. But let us delve deeper.

I asked the organizer of this event, Jane Saville, to tell me what it was about. Out of all the many reasons she listed, three immersed most important: food security, eco friendliness, and community.

Jane Saville discusses the purpose of Seedy Saturday.

Food security comes from growing one's own seeds and developing a non-globalized method of food production that is not subject to the food scares from larger companies.

Eco friendliness doesn't just mean growing plants, but saving a trip to the grocery store – thus reducing the amount of vegetables that need to be shipped by vehicle across land, and sometimes across oceans. It doesn't often feel this way, but the little things do help.

Above all, community was most evident at Seedy Saturday. People from all over the Parry Sound District were chatting, buying, and exchanging; supporting the local economy by purchasing local goods, trading their seeds, and enjoying lunch.

Pondering Rock Farm Yarn made and died by Heather Darlington. 

As I walked though, I found an urge to be a part of the movement. The movement: to create a happy, healthy community by the birth of life through seeds. Growth is always a revolution and an evolution of people, and the seed is the beginning.


– by Kelsey Ward
Photography by Aimée Lynn Gleeson