Projects Under Way 2023

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Volunteers are planting beans for our exciting new project to evaluate heat tolerance in heirloom varieties of beans and tomatoes. We want to know if some varieties continue to grow when the temperature reaches 40 degrees C. And what measurement will predict how a plant will tolerate extreme heat.

Home Growers are the foundation of the seed bank. Each spring they are given plants or seeds of varieties that need growing out. They return fresh seeds in the fall. 

One of our activities this year is to grow rare varieties of heirloom tomatoes to replenish seed stocks for Seeds of Diversity and our own seed bank. We are also growing out tomato seeds from 2006. These seeds were found in a drawer, yet still germinated fine after 16 years. 

Each spring, seed bank volunteers grow plants for our annual plant sales. These fundraising events help the Creston Community Seed Bank Society pay operational costs. This year, we had over 1600 containers of plants: 590 tomatoes, 560 vegetables like squash and kale, 366 herbs, and 110 flowers. We sold 1450 of these - It was our most successful plant sale ever. The leftover plants were donated to various organizations. We greatly appreciate the many hours volunteers put in to make this happen. Thank you to everyone who purchased plants, College of the Rockies staff, and the Creston Farmers’ Market! 

Our seed threshing workshop in September was a great success. Farm Folk City Folk, an organization that promotes sustainable food systems, brought their mobile seed threshing equipment to the College of the Rockies in Creston. They demonstrated how to thresh and clean seeds, and gave an informal seed saving workshop. Several participants brought their own seed plants to be threshed. Over 6 kg of seeds were cleaned at this event, including those of radish, peas, lettuce, orach, and several other types.

Teachers at two Creston elementary schools helped students learn gardening skills by growing seed bank plants and seeds.