2026 Community Education Series
All classes are from 10:30-11:30
Donations welcome
February 28th Where Do Your Seeds Come From?
Seed is often invisible when we talk about organic gardening. Understanding where seed is grown, who controls it and why this is important is key in creating a resilient food system. Learn about the sources of seed that the Community Seed Exchange is excited about and why we think growing locally adapted seed is so essential. Increase your seed literacy and help create a community-powered food system!!Taught by Sara McCamant, Garden & Youth Manager at the Ceres Project. Sara has been growing and saving seeds for over 30 years!
​March No Class
​April 11th Corn -A Dynamic Staple Crop
An introductory class about flour corn, its origins and cultural history. Learn how to grow, process for flour and masa and save seed.Will highlight corn varieties grown at Community Seed Exchange, Sebastopol and Bayer Farm, Santa Rosa.
May 2nd Wide World of Heirloom Beans
We love heirloom beans at the Community Seed Exchange. If you are not yet a fan-come learn more about the diversity of shelling beans that are easy to grow in our area. Nothing better than jars of beautiful home-grown dried beans for the pantry. Taught Laurel Anderson -enthusiastic bean grower
May 23rd- Seed-Saving Basics-
If you are new to seed saving, this is a perfect class to learn how to successfully grow your own seeds. Learn about plant families, integrating seed saving into a home garden, and preventing cross-pollination. Sara McCamant, Youth &Garden Manager at Ceres Community Project
June 27th Garden Tour-
Come see the Community Seed Garden in all of its end of June glory! Everything in the garden is being grown for seed for our seed library. We’ll talk about the varieties we’re growing and discuss seed saving in the home garden. Bring your seed questions and your curiosity.
July25th Growing Soil TBD
August No Class
September 26 Processing Seeds After Harvest
Seed saving gives us the opportunity to work with full life cycle of a plant not just the edible parts. Once you've collected your dry seed it's important to know how to separate this seed from the chaff! If you have not winnowed seed before it can be an incredibly satisfying task that connects us to our ancestors who saved seeds from foraged and grown crops. In this hands-on class, you will learn a variety of seed processing techniques. Techniques will vary depending on the seeds we will use simple winnowing techniques using bowls and fan as well as using an assortment of seed screens.
Oct 254th Growing Great Garlic-
his year hear from a panel of enthusiastic and knowledgeable garlic growers about what it takes to grow a great crop of garlic. There are different ways to approach growing garlic. We will be convening a panel of experts to share their approaches and different ways to get a great crop. Join us for the class and then if interested select some garlic to grow out for the Chester Aaron Garlic Stewardship Program. Become a garlic steward and help care for our diverse collection. Sara McCamant with 30 years of garlic growing experience will moderate.St. Stephens Episcopal Church -500 Robinson Rd.-Sebastopol