We intend to run community-driven, informal workshops on a rotating basis throughout the day during the event. If you have an idea for a workshop, don’t hesitate to get in touch. All workshop speakers are donating their time for this community event. Here is a list of workshop topics you can expect, based on committed facilitators to date. We would love to add more community learning topics, and are actively looking for workshop proposals on topics of planning a vegetable garden, companion planting, food forests and permaculture basics for beginners (also open to other ideas).
Write to us at seedysaturdayaylmer@gmail.com with your workshop idea! We’d love to hear from you
Ongoing & Hourly Demonstrations (all day)
- Making “Bibit Homes”
- Starting seedlings indoors
- Winter Sowing (how to over-winter seeds)
- Become a Seed SItter for Pollinate Aylmer – adopt a native species, or 7
- Making and Maintaining Seed Snails
- Children’s Corner :story time, colouring, making seed envelopes (animated by Acti-Leaders from PSA)
Planned Worshops (main stage)
note: we anticipate start / end times could vary slightly. All workshops will be first-come first-seated, without prior reservations. Our setup will allow a maximum of 24 participants per workshop
1000 – 1045 (English)
Presentor: Erin Whittingham
Foundations of Health and Medicinal Plants: A Vitalist Approach
Description: From a vitalist perspective, healing arises from the body’s own life force. We can encourage this natural process through nourishment, medicinal plants, and everyday practices. In this workshop, we’ll explore how to support some of the foundations of health, including rest, nutrition, and digestion, with medicinal plants that we can grow in our own gardens.
1100 -1145 and 1300-1345 (Bilingual)
Presentor: Hélène Hébert (Potager Hélène / Helene’s Garden)
Building a New Garden Bed to Grow Food More Densely
Discover a technique of building a new garden beds that is drastically different from what your grandparents taught you and allows you to plant 5x more food in the same space. Plus it works wonders in clay-rich soil! This workshop is for new and experienced gardeners.
1200 – 1245 (bilingual)
Presentors: Dominique Tassé & Suzanne Ernst (Canopée Localeaf | Polliniser / Pollinate Aylmer)
Introduction to Gardening for Pollinators
Come learn about the heart of Aylmer’s grassroots pollinator movement, and the impact a simple mindset shift, along with some concrete actions, can make to our local pollinators, wildlife and food sources. In this shortened version of our popular workshop, we will explore the critical relationships between pollinators and native plants, and how you can transform a small space in your garden, balcony, or your entire lawn into a connected, thriving and beautiful eco-system.
LocaLeaf 