Wild Ones Twin Cities Minnesota: September Program

Tuesday, September 20

Zoom Social 6:45 pm

Program 7:00 pm

In-Person & Online Meeting

Wood Lake Nature Center, 6710 Lake Shore Dr S, Richfield, MN 55423

Program is free and open to Wild Ones members and public, registration is required to access meeting.

Want to join Wild Ones Twin Cities or renew your membership? Click here!

All About Seed Saving: Glorious, colorful, wonderful seeds!

Presenter: Vanessa Van Alstine

Have you ever wanted to try seed-saving, but didn’t know where to begin? Vanessa Van Alstine will share her successes (and failures) as she digs into the specifics: how to collect seeds from native flowers and other plants, prepare them for storage, store them, and “wake them up” next season.  

Why save seeds when you can buy them easily? What plant biology do you need to know to successfully save seeds? How can you tell if your seeds are viable? And, what should you think about in planning next year’s garden to incorporate seed-saving? Vanessa will provide answers to these questions, show us different types of seeds, and demonstrate each step of the process — including use of seed-cleaning equipment.

Time permitting, Vanessa will answer questions on processing seeds collected by guests after her presentation..

Vanessa Van Alstine is an enthusiastic home gardener who has been growing vegetables, herbs, berries, and flowers in Minneapolis’s Longfellow Community since 1998. Her gardens are also certified National Wildlife Habitat. Vanessa starts all of the seedlings for her own garden and shares extras with family, friends, and neighbors. She has trained at the Seed School at Seed Savers Exchange in Decorah, Iowa, and taken multiple classes with the Rocky Mountain Seed Alliance.

Altlawns' Buzz Fest 2022

Saturday, September 24, 10:00 a.m. – 1:00 p.m.

Moir Park, 10320 Morgan Ave S

Questions? Visit the Buzz Fest Webpage

Buzz Fest is an event hosted by Altlawns and funded in part by the Hennepin County Green Partners Education Program and The Richfield Foundation. The event will showcase easy steps you can take to transform your yard into habitats that attract birds, butterflies, bees, insects. There will be presentations, demonstrations, and booths from local nonprofit and government organizations with topics ranging from habitat restoration, climate change, youth environmental action, native plants, rainscaping, and more. There will also be a children’s activity area, free native plants, door prizes, and food trucks. Presentations on a variety of topics will be offered with simultaneous translations in ALS and Spanish.