Growing Knowledge, Growing Community: A Season of Seed Workshops Across Kimberley & Cranbrook

This spring has been a busy (and inspiring) one for local food learning across Kimberley and Cranbrook — with a series of seed-focused workshops bringing together gardeners, community organizations, and our local libraries.

From seed starting to seed saving, these sessions weren’t just about planting — they were about sharing knowledge, building confidence, and strengthening the connections that help local food systems grow (as we wait for the weather to catch up with the excitement for the outdoor growing season… despite the occasional late-April snow day).

🌱 Cranbrook Seed Starting Workshop (March 21)

After kicking off the Cranbrook growing season with Cranbrook's first ever Seedy Saturday and the return of the Cranbrook Seed Library on February 14, the green-thumbed momentum continued with a Seed Starting for Beginners workshop at the Cranbrook Public Library bringing together around 40 participants and a team of 8 volunteers (plus a whole bunch of seeds and soil).

With support from the Cranbrook Public Produce Garden, Interior Seed & Fertilizer, United Way BC, and Mary Cosman (from Our Cold Climate Seed Library), the session offered a hands-on introduction to starting seeds at home — with plenty of practical tips, shared experience, local area knowledge, and collaborative community energy in the room. A special thanks as well to Tara Reid from Interior Seed & Fertilizer for facilitating the workshop and providing seed trays for participants to plant in.

The strong turnout and engagement made it clear: there’s a real appetite for growing food locally and learning how to go about it from other locals (check out more pictures over on the Cranbrook Public Library's Facebook post).

🌿 Kimberley Seed Starting Workshops (April 14 & 21)

After kicking off the Kimberley growing season with a Seedy Saturday on March 7 at Lindsay Park School and the opening of the Kimberley Seed Library on March 10, that momentum carried into a series of fully booked seed starting workshops hosted by KEGG (Kimberley Edible Gardens & Greenhouse) and the Wildsight Community Garden in partnership with the Kimberley Public Library (and with support from United Way BC).

With 13-15 participants at each session (which constitutes a full house upstairs in the sunny Kimberley Library reading room), these workshops created a welcoming, hands-on space for people to get their hands dirty, ask local gardening questions to local gardeners, and leave with their own seed starts ready to grow at home (as well as seed packets from the Kimberly Seed Library for planting directly in the soil back at theirs). Special shoutout also to Sarah at Top Crop Too for all the informative gardening handouts as well as all the extra seed packets they provided for participants to have a variety of seed starting options.

As one follow-up note from the library shared, the feedback from participants has been overwhelmingly positive — highlighting not just the value of the workshops themselves, but the importance of the library as a shared community space where this kind of learning can happen and where these kinds of community connections can grow.

🌾 Cranbrook Seed Saving Workshop (April 18)

Building on seed starting basics, Cranbrook also hosted a Seed Saving Workshop led by Mary Cosman, with 15 participants gathering at the Manual Training School at Cranbrook Public Library.

With support from the Cranbrook Public Library and funding through the New Horizons for Seniors Program (via FarmFolk CityFolk), the workshop focused on how to grow, harvest, and save seeds. Participants came away with practical gardening skills and a deeper understanding of seed saving, with enthusiasm already building for a follow-up hands-on session in the Cranbrook Public Produce Garden later this September.

An extra special thanks to Mary Cosman for all the information and practical gardening tips she’s brought to our interconnected communities — including a great collection of regionally saved seeds from her work with the Our Cold Climate Seed Library before relocating to Cranbrook from the Fernie area.

If you missed this recent Seed Saving Workshop, you can still explore the Seed Saving workbook and handy Seed Saving handout from Mary's presentation (just click the bolded links) for at-home learning and reference.

🌻 Growing Forward From Here

What stands out across all of these seedy events and workshops isn’t just the number of people who attended (and seeds planted) — it’s the way they continue to build connections between gardens, libraries, and community members.

These kinds of collaborations are creating more ways for people to get involved in local food — whether that’s growing a few things at home, sharing seeds, or stepping into a community garden space for the first time.

If you’re looking to stay connected and keep growing, there are lots of ways to take part:

• Visit your local Seed Library to pick up seeds and learn what grows well in our region (you can do that by stopping by the Cranbrook Public Library or Kimberley Public Library during regular hours)

• Follow local groups like KEGG, Wildsight Community Garden, and Cranbrook Public Produce Garden for ongoing tips, events, garden work bees, and more (and check out some extra seed starting information that was recently shared on the KCFN blog)

• Explore simple ways to give back through initiatives like Plant A Row, Share A Row, where extra garden harvests can be shared within the community (deepening local food connections through community collaborations happening at the Kimberley Food Bank, Kimberley Food Recovery Depot, Cranbrook Food Bank, and Cranbrook Food Recovery Depot)

And with more workshops and garden-based learning already being planned for later this season, there will be plenty more chances to get involved — whether you’re just getting started or continuing to build on what you’ve learned.