… they are meant for sharing not for keeping. That was the big message from The Fife Diet Seed Truckers during a tremendous day spent in Keith.
The house ceilidh in Longmore Hall was a lovely evening with sharing of stories, song, music and poems. There were tears and laughter and it was a pleasure and a privilege to get a chance to hear so much local talent. Keith Heritage Group brought along videos of The Keith Country show from 1951 and 1994 that played as a captivating backdrop.
Thanks also to the Scouts for their excellent service, good humour, and managing to resist eating anything till after all the refreshments were served, especially the beautiful home-made cupcakes.
The famous Seed Kist came along to the ceilidh too, and Fergus from The Fife Diet spoke about the importance of saving seeds, especially Scottish varieties, which are more likely to thrive here. The kist is full of seeds that are swapped or donated. The Fife Diet collect information on how they grow, as well as gathering recommendations on other varieties. It is hoped one day to have a Seed Kist for Scotland and this is certainly an idea we’d like to see go forward.
It’s very easy to get started with seed saving, and we’ll be putting a simple guide online soon. Earlier in the day, Dorothy from REAP ran some workshops including basic and some more advanced seed collection and storage techniques, and we donated seeds to the truck for them to take to St Fitticks Community Garden in Aberdeen. If you’d like to know more about seed saving, we can deliver a free workshop to your group, so long as you’re based in Keith and Strathisla. It’s an easy way to grow sustainably and work in harmony with the environment.
Another workshop featured a herb spiral built with help from allotment volunteers, made from re-used bricks and donated topsoil.
Meanwhile, Penny did story telling and nature activities for children.
There were were busy bees flitting from flower to flower in the bee game and one or two hunts for giant, enormous turnips, rumoured to be growing in the allotments.
There was also a chance to mill and take away your own flour, with every step of the process explained from winnowing to grinding, while Mrs Mash made delicious pancakes with some of the finished product.
We would like to thank Moray Beekeepers who brought their virtual hive, and a virtual encyclopaedia of knowledge and fascination; Duncan from Waste Aware with kids’ activities and a very active wormery; Mr Les Coull for bringing along his stunning vintage Model T bakery van, very eye-catching and gleaming red, it was a big draw and a great chance to sit in the cab and imagine driving out with the day’s loaves on board.
REAP volunteer Charlie had the electric bike on show, as well as a vintage grocery bike kindly loaned by Annands
Community Food Moray were there with some lovely fruit platters and thankfully, apple and orange juice cartons. They are also in the North Church Hall, Mid Street, Keith every Thursday from 9-9.45am with fruit and local veg for sale.
Thanks also to Clive Coney (landroverlad at hotmail dot co dot uk), who supplied some very attractive seating made from local wood.
It was a day of glorious sunshine, great conversation and lots of sharing of seeds, food, knowledge and fun. The Seed Truckers would love to go on tour again next year and we’d love to see them back in Keith
You can see more photos on our Facebook page find out about what happened on tour here.