Canberra Seed Savers is a network of home seed savers. We grow our seed locally in our own gardens and farms, and we facilitate sharing, swapping, and selling of this seed. Our seeds are available at community shops, markets, events and workshops, as listed below.
Ethos
We aim to provide access to quality, chemical-free, and locally-grown seed through our network to the community. Our mission is to inspire, educate and support more people in our community to save seeds, and to share and swap them with fellow growers. Swapping seed helps circulate seed into the community via the informal economy; selling seed helps fund educational outreach and contributes to operational costs. All seed sharing helps us meet our mission.
We are not a seed company and our primary focus is not on growing seeds to sell – we are just as happy to give them away or swap them with those who contribute seeds or their time to the cooperative! We are a not-for-profit and nobody at CSS receives payment for growing or selling seeds.
When we sell our seed, we sell small packs (designed to be enough for one garden for one season) for $2 to maximise accessibility and affordability for our community.
The more seed we grow, the more are available to our community. We rely on our network of growers to donate seed – why not join us? If you’ve got a great backyard tomato or a parsley that just won’t stop self-sowing, or a crazy productive bean, why not save some seed and swap it for other locally-grown varieties? CSS is a big network with lots of people doing interesting things!
Seed Swaps
Seed Swaps are all about donating, collecting, and distributing locally grown seed, but they are also so much more. A Seed Swap is a social occasion; an opportunity to meet and connect with other local gardeners; to revel in all the wonderful things that can be grown in the nation’s capital; to learn about seed; and an opportunity to enjoy a cuppa and a snack in a beautiful place.
We try to have Seed Swaps twice a year, generally in mid autumn and late winter. In between Seed Swaps, our Seed Bank Working Group sorts, catalogues and packs seeds in our Living Seed Bank ready for distribution at events and workshops and through community shops.
If you have locally-grown, home-saved seeds, you can bring them along to a Seed Swap to donate or swap. Before bringing along seed to a Swap, please read our How to Donate Seed page on best practice for donating to CSS.
If you don’t have seeds to donate or swap, that’s okay! You can buy some seeds that have been donated by other local growers.
Some of the seeds at our Seed Swap will already be packed and labelled, but some will be in jars, ready to be scooped out. We operate on a trust system – we ask you to take (at maximum) the equivalent to the amount of seed you’ve donated and not to take more than you need. You can choose from whatever seeds are set out on our tables. You can take your time and work through all of the varieties, or ask one of our lovely volunteers to help you find what you’re looking for. Seeds will normally be organised alphabetically within plant families.
Seedy Sessions
At every Seedy Saturday, we will have a selection of the Living Seed Bank available (please note, it won’t be the full range), both to swap and to buy. Even better, if you help out with some seedy activity on the day, you can choose some seeds to take home for free!
Market and Event Stalls
We love being at markets, open days and all sorts of gardening, food and environment-themed events in our community. We do stalls so that we can raise awareness of seed saving and share educational information and inspiration. Our volunteers love to have chats about seed growing, seed saving and gardening generally and enjoy connecting our vibrant Canberra region community. We also sell some of our locally grown seeds. We’re not aiming to be a seed company and we have a range that changes from season to season based on what is donated by our network of growers. A market or event stall is a great way to pick up some seeds at the same time as chatting with some passionate gardeners and seed savers and maybe get some tips for how to save seeds from your own garden.
Become a Member
Members receive 3 free packets of seed for each year they join for (that’s 9 packets when you sign up for 3 years!).
Sales Points
3 Kingsley Street, Acton, under the Lena Karmel Residence
Hours: 10am-7pm Mon-Fri, 10am-4pm Sat-Sun
The Food Co-op Shop, also sometimes known as the ANU Food Co-op, has been our mainstay for seeds since the beginning. You don’t have to be a member to buy – and the Co-op is a lovely place to shop
Southern Harvest Pop-up Shop @Bungendore
Corner Ellendon Street and Malbon Street/Kings Highway, Bungendore
Hours: 9am-12 midday every day except Tue & Thu
Our friends over at SHA have a fabulous volunteer-run community shop in Bungendore, just 30 minutes from Canberra. It’s full of lots of local goodness, as well as our seeds
Honesty Box & Donations @Canberra City Farm LESS Building
2 Dairy Road, Fyshwick, just after Capital Brewing and before Jerrabomberra Wetlands
Hours: Only accessible during CSS/CCF events and workshops
The Canberra City Farm is where our Seed Bank is housed, and the LESS Building is where we run a lot of our events! This is the only place you can donate seed to from all our sales points.
Honesty Box @Stromlo Little Street Library
79 Ulysses Court, Wright
Hours: 24/7
This is a little honesty box that serves a thriving community, surrounded by a colourful garden grown partly with CSS seedlings, and has all manner of things going on, not just seeds and books – go check it out!
Honesty Box @Giles Street Kitchen
74/71 Giles Street, Kingston
Hours: 7am-2pm, Mon-Sun