Back in June around 50 members of the Scottish seed network met at the beautiful Newton Dee Camphill site, just outside Aberdeen, for a day of connection, celebration and exploration of all things seed in Scotland. We had a range of workshops and discussion groups, covering machinery rings, seed-sharing economies, landrace gardening and many others. We also toured the vegetable gardens and saw seed crops growing alongside veg grown for the community, as well as a tour of the arable crops, grown in collaboration with Lapwings Community Mill.
A definite highlight were the two tasting sessions, a lettuce variety showcase and a wholegrains tasting, which really brought everyone together and helped to remind us why seed and food sovereignty are so vitally linked. It was great to see so many lettuce grown all over Scotland in one place, and how detailed folk got in the tasting with such a variety of flavours, colours and textures. Common Grains also led an exploration of eating wholegrains, as opposed to using them for milling. We had different varieties of wheat, rye, barley, spelt and einkorn all to taste which was a really eye-opening experience. The Hebridean rye and the roasted barley in particular were properly delicious and could definitely be on people’s plates in Scotland and further afield. The rye in particular was good because of the small size of the grain, making it the most like rice only more savoury and flavourful.
Common Grains also had grain network specific meet-up on the following Monday, in order for busy bakers especially to be able to attend, and they had a deep exploration of the small-scale agroecological grain network in Scotland and what steps could be taken to take more action and build the movement.
On a blisteringly hot Friday in July, two different seed stewards close to the programme here in Scotland had the chance to meet and share seed and stories across borders and generations.
The Sweeney family of Donegal have been growing Gortahork cabbages for over 100 years; a uniquely massive and productive cabbage that may have its origins back in Glendale on Skye (more on that in our Where Giants Grow film). Whilst planning a holiday in Scotland they’d heard about the wonderful work being done by Haley and Finlay at Seeds of Scotland and arranged to visit them, to see the seed farm and especially to see Haley and Finlay’s own Gortahork growing trials. So arrived three generations of the Sweeneys.
The cabbages were the main attraction, but Finlay took the long way round on the tour, showing them all their seed crops in the field and polytunnel, including Irish varieties of onion, before the main cabbage event. Finlay cheekily asked Donal to spot his cabbages in the cabbage trial plot, and of course, someone who has been growing them for over 60 years had no trouble spotting them immediately amongst all the Norwegian and other trial varieties gathered from seed banks. It was wonderful to be party to a meeting of two seed stewards, and to see deeply held knowledge passed from one generation onto the next.
