Seed Swap launches series of food events in Alton
From Illinois Business Journal news services
ALTON – The public is invited to the second annual Seed Swap, an event where farmers and gardeners meet to exchange quality seeds, seedlings, cuttings and bulbs.
Grassroots Grocery is hosting the seed swap on Saturday, Feb. 4, from 9 a.m. to noon at partner Senior Services Plus Inc.’s location at 2306 N. Rodgers Ave. in Alton.
Seed Swap organizers are working with Senior Services to ensure that healthy, affordable food is locally grown and distributed. SSP delivers 378 home-cooked meals daily to the home-bound elderly and its gardens provide some of the produce used in the meals and featured at its School House Grill. Grassroots Grocery, a full-service grocery store, sells a variety of sandwiches and wraps to the public, made fresh daily at SSP. The revenue is split between the two nonprofits.
On Saturday, the public is invited to check out SSP’s greenhouse space where supporters plan to grow three, hydroponically produced types of lettuces year-round for Grassroots Grocery.
Contact Kelly Chapman, at (618) 465-3298 ext. 115 or kchapman@seniorservicesplus.org for more information and about volunteer opportunities.
For the second year in a row, the Seed Swap is being organized by Sierra Club’s local food intern Dana Wynn, whose SIUE research is on sustainability and urban gardening. Related free events are being planned, among them public workshops that include:
– Feb. 27: Incorporating natives in your garden space to increase biodiversity at The Nature Institute, 2213 Levis Lane, Godfrey (1 to 3 p.m.); and
– March 12, a Lily Transplant Party at the Historic Koenig House, Fourth and Oak, Alton (9 a.m. to noon).
