Empowering people through seed education: Collect, clean, save, swap, and grow native, local plants from seed

Events

Get Involved

What we do

Seed Collection Workshops

Hands-on educational events teaching seed collection best practices from native plants. Held at partner’s sites throughout the Twin Cities, MN with a variety of species.

Seed Processing Events

Stand alone events or part of larger events, participants are invited to learn how to clean and prepare seeds for packaging and sharing. Always hands-on, participants learn the techniques and best practices for cleaning seeds from various plant species.

Seed Swap

Our seed swap is a gathering where individuals exchange seeds, promoting community sharing and biodiversity.

Seed Swap

Our seed swaps are gatherings where individuals exchange seeds, promoting community sharing and biodiversity.

Share Seeds

The seeds we collect are available free of charge at all of our events.

Collect.

Share.

Grow.

Collect.

Share.

Grow.

Collect.

Share.

Grow.

Our story

The MN SEED Project was co-created by Courtney Tchida, Dawn Lamm and Stephanie Hankerson in 2020 to address the knowledge gaps in saving and growing seeds. Our Project started as a program at the Minnesota State Horticultural Society, where Courtney was working at the time.

That first year we hosted several webinars on seed saving and in the fall we were invited to do a seed collection event at 21 Roots Farm’s 3 acre restored prairie. That event along with a nudge from Capitol Region Watershed District to apply for a partnership grant put us on the path we walk today. Since 2021 our focus has been on creating a free, locally adapted, native seed economy by hosting events teaching people how to collect, clean, share and grow native seeds.

In 2022, Capitol Region Watershed District awarded the MN SEED Project their Watershed Outreach Program of the year award.

We are currently in the process of becoming our own entity outside of MSHS. We’d love to to join us at an event and learn more.

The Team

Co-creator

Courtney Tchida

Courtney is an experienced horticulturist and educator with a passion for sustainable agriculture. She has cultivated a diverse range of edible crops and designed gardens for various settings, including schools, farms, and food shelf gardens. She is an alumnus of the University of Minnesota with degrees in Environmental Horticulture (B.S.) and Agriculture Education (M.Ed) and played a crucial role in establishing and managing the Cornercopia Student Organic Farm there. She previously served as the Community Program Director at the Minnesota State Horticultural Society, contributing to the Garden-in-a-Box, MN Green and MN SEED Project programs. Currently, Courtney holds the position of Midwest Program Associate growing the midwest program at Wild Farm Alliance where she works on protecting and restoring natural habitats that create a strong, resilient agriculture. Courtney's interest in native plants began during her earlier work at a native plant nursery in the early 2000s. Her involvement with the MN SEED Project has reinforced her commitment to working to make native plants accessible to all.

Co-creator

Courtney Tchida

Co-creator

Stephanie Hankerson

Stephanie is an independent garden educator and long-time St Paul resident, brings over 25 years of leading garden and sustainability programs in public and private spaces. Her work spans Minneapolis and St Paul neighborhoods, community gardens, St. Paul Parks, and urban farms. Her knowledge base includes urban forestry, food growing & preservation, landscaping, rain gardens, native plants, composting, and more. Stephanie likes to operate where community and sustainability come together. Her approach incorporates reducing nature deficit and barriers to gardening with the goal of connecting people with plants, soil and nature.

Co-creator

Dawn Lamm

Dawn Lamm says it all starts with a seed! Life long Gardener, Como Park Neighborhood resident and community volunteer, Dawn founded the Como Community Seed Library in 2015, a mobile seed library with a focus on offering organic, open pollinated seed for check out along with garden education that grows seed savers to the Como Park neighborhood in Saint Paul MN and surrounding communities. Since 2015 we continue to share seeds and their stories reflecting the cultural richness of our location. We do this through satellite seed library locations, popups at community events, farmers' markets, and collaborations like MNSEED. Community stewardship of our environment through seed saving and sharing is our goal. You can find Dawn in her family garden where she’s always finding new garden experiments, working with her bees or exploring the natural world around her.

Co-creator

Dawn Lamm

Our Mission

Create a free, locally adapted, native seed economy by hosting events teaching people how to collect, clean, share and grow native seeds to benefit ecosystems and pollinators.

Events