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Seeds of IMBOLC
A CELEBRATION OF THE SEED!
(pronounced “IM-bulk” or “EM-bowlk”), also called Oimealg, (“IM-mol’g) by the Druids (more interesting IMBOLC lore below!)
- Are you an eco-luctionary? an revolutionary ecological action figure??
- Do you want to help protect food sustainability and seed biodiversity, protect our right to own our food/seeds?
- Do you love the taste, smell and health effects of authentically grown, delicious heirloom fruits/veg/flowers?
- Do you look at the world and wonder how you can make a difference for yourself and the Earth?
- Do you want to support locally grown seed and growers?
If YES, YES,YES, YES YES!! Come learn with us!
It’s easier than you think to encourage, promote and protect our food biodiversity right in your garden, farm or container garden!
- We Grow Heritage/heirloom organic vegetables and ornamentals, and preserve their seeds and offer them to you
- We bring people the experience of our inherent connection to nature, and cause them to remember their symbiosis with mother Earth
- We embrace and Embody the protection of biodiversity, with ongoing education through sharing of information
- Fabulous hands on learning workshops
- Plant sales, Public speaking engagements, Fresh beautiful naturally grown FLOWERS!!
Why we do what we do, our story;
I have been on a lifetime journey awakening to how interconnected the natural world is; the force which sustains all of us. While enjoying the fruits, vegetables and blooms of my labours, I marvelled at the complex aspects of this symbiosis. I joined Horticultural societies in my quest for knowledge and became a certified Master Gardener through Dalhousie University.
The love of seed was germinating and the seed stewardship seed was planted deep within me. A passion for connecting people through growing food had already been growing, the concepts and ideas of life long learning have truly begun to sprout. Seeds, plants and nature helped me to find my sense of place.
I have participated in many volunteer organizations, been on radio and cable TV shows, hold inspiring workshops, grow out rare heirloom seeds, speak to various groups, write articles & offer fresh LOCAL naturally grown flowers, dahlia tubers & plant sales. I have offered many workshops through Continuing Education. I have joined many wonderful groups like the Seeds of Diversity, Seed Savers Exchange, ADS (American Dahlia Society), ASCFG (Assoc Specialty Cut Flower Growers) and the Ontario Biodynamic Society. I have contributed to Seeds of Diversity by growing out varieties and returning them to the seed bank and continue to learn more and more about the fascinating world we live in.
Today, my goal is to reach a wider audience and promote more beneficial gardening, making our endangered seeds more available to all to participate in their wonder. Creating a Canadian seed source for beautiful flowers and vegetables which provides food security as it all starts with a seed.
Together, we have power to effect huge change in the world . Everyone can contribute even on the smallest scale. Each act that we set in motion has a ripple effect outward into the larger world. Ripples become waves, and waves have force.
Gardening brings the natural world to our door and into our homes and lives; it becomes part of our daily life. We experience an awareness of that eternal cycle of which we are all part, a cycle that for many of us has lost its essential message of where we came from, who we are, and where we are going. We can learn much from observing nature, she is our greatest teacher.
Everything comes from and returns to the soil nourishing it for the next generation, Full Circle – natures incredible recycling program. Reciprocal respect is the focus of what I do, through honouring the role seeds/nature plays in sustaining and enriching the Full Circle of Life.
Leading by example we can have the biggest impact to protect and restore the environment. By instituting best practices to reduce our impact on the environment, and by educating as many as possible, (ending all the misinformation out there!) we are influencing many other businesses, and the world as a whole.
“Each of us is being called to a more expansive perspective of who we are and what we are here to do. This awakening of spiritual perception transcends community, national and even global boundaries. According to the Mayan Wisdom tradition, it is an awakening of our Galactic Spiritual Heart… an encounter with our place within Cosmos. This awakening entails not only embracing our sacred elemental nature and loving connection with the great feminine energy of Mother Earth, it also requires us to be Cosmic Citizens and travelers among the stars.”
Mayan Elders
Interesting Imbolc Lore
IMBOLC is an ancient festival (February 2nd) to CELEBRATE THE SEED and Nature as they considered it to be unconditionally sacred, an expression or manifestation of deity and divinity. Druids do not worship nature; they give reverence to deity that is expressed within nature.
It is the time of Blessing of the seeds and consecration of agricultural tools. It is the festival of the Maiden, for from this day to March 21st, it is her season to prepare for growth and renewal. Brighid’s snake emerges from the womb of the Earth Mother to test the weather, (the origin of Ground Hog Day), and in many places the first Crocus flowers began to spring forth from the frozen earth.
Another traditional symbol of Imbolc is the plough. Pieces of cheese and bread are left by the plough and in the newly turned furrows as offerings to the nature spirits. It is considered taboo to cut or pic plants during this time.
We can attempt to try to understand this power, this energy that we feel and see all around us, or we can simply accept that it is beyond our full comprehension whilst acknowledging its power over our lives, that it is deity, that it is sacred.
To a Druid, the term ‘supernatural’ has no meaning; nothing can be above Nature. Another view would be that the universe had no beginning, it is a continuing, ever changing wonder that we can’t hope to fully comprehend.
Within our society it has become normal to think of nature as something linked to the countryside, or that which might be observed outside of ourselves other than that which is beyond the physical. Perhaps we can learn from their knowledge. Food for thought
Deities of Imbolc:
All Virgin/Maiden Goddesses, Brighid, Aradia, Athena, Inanna, Gaia, and Februa, and Gods of Love and Fertility, Aengus Og, Eros, and Februus.
Symbolism of Imbolc:
Purity, Growth and Re-Newal, The Re-Union of the Goddess and the God, Fertility, and dispensing of the old and making way for the new. rings to the nature spirits. It is considered taboo to cut or pick plants during this time.