The Northern Seed Cleaning Tour takes place inside British Columbia next week.
According to Seed Safety Program Coordinator Siri van Gruen, the tour is part of the FarmFolk/CityFolk Society's BC Seeds program. van Gruen said he hopes to visit interior and northern British Columbia and meet local farmers.
"Our goal is to educate and inspire people to strengthen BC's sustainable food systems," said van Gruen. "We have been conducting seed tours since 2019 and in 2021 secured funding to purchase three more seed trailers from the BC Department of Agriculture and Food. This year we set out for the north with our team for the first time.
The tour starts in Pemberton on September 24th and then stops in Quesnel at the Bouchie Lake Harvest Festival on September 25th, Prince George's Rodeo Association on September 26th, Hazelton at WoodGrain Farm on September 28th, Tea Green Farms in Kitwanga on September 28th September, Williams Lake Farmers Market on September 30 and Horse Lake Community Co-op near 100 Mile House on October 1. van Gruen said the time will vary by day but said each stop will likely last from 10am to 1pm.
At each stop, van Gruen said he would teach farmers and gardeners how to clean and store their seeds. Seed cleaning requires separating the seeds from the chaff, which can be done manually or with a machine.
"When we think of seed cleaning, we think of three main steps. Threshing, which simply means ridding that seed of the plant matter it's stuck in," said van Gruen. "After that, we moved on to a technique called screening, which separates seeds by size, or we're talking winnowing, which simply separates a seed by weight."
On the back of the seed wagon, van Gruen said he had examples of several different machines. These include a winnowing assistant, a desktop mower for screening and a bicycle thresher.
"We have a bit more DIY gear for the North Tour to show people what they can do themselves. We have all this great gear but once you know how to do it you can do it yourself at home.
van Gruen said he is looking forward to the tour as it will be his first time traveling north of Lake Deka. There are several large seed farms along the way and as someone who would like to live in a rural setting one day I appreciate the opportunity to get a taste of what it will be like.
Going forward, van Gruen said, the trailer will be permanently relocated to a northern community so the interior can access its equipment. For more information about the tour, the public is invited to check out the events page at farmfolkcityfolk.ca.
patrick.davies@100milefreepress.net
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