SWFL RESET CENTER TO HOST 2ND ANNUAL FALL SEED AND PLANT FESTIVAL & EXCHANGE DECEMBER 9, 2023

 

Fort Myers, FL,  November 15, 2023 - The SWFL RESET Center, and sponsors Leaf Filter,  Natural Awakenings, and The Pachamama Alliance of SW Florida invite the public to attend the 2nd Annual SWFL RESET Center Fall Seed and Plant Festival & Exchange to increase awareness of the need for community gardens and celebrate the resourcefulness of the area’s citizen growers.

 

Held on the sprawling campus of the Unitarian Universalist Church of Fort Myers (UUCFM) at 13411 Shire Lane, Fort Myers 33912, on Saturday, December 9th, 2023, the festival will last from 10:00 a.m. until 3:00 p.m.

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“This festival is an opportunity for plant and seed vendors to share their gardening expertise as well as selling or swapping their garden bounty with the community,” said Linda Sechrist, SWFL RESET Center’s President.  The event was conceived by Holley Rauen,  RESET Secretary Emeritus and last year’s event chair, who plans to travel from Olympia Washington to join in the festivities. “Our inaugural festival took place just weeks after Hurricane Ian last year, and we were pleasantly surprised at its success and the outpouring of participants from the community. I can’t wait to see how it’s grown,” Rauen added.

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The event features a variety of expert speakers, including permaculture experts, community agriculture speakers, and local gardening vendors.

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As a celebration of the abundance and nutrition that is available to all from seeds planted in family and community gardens, the festival aims to impart more growing knowledge to the community.  “This is an open-air opportunity to learn how we all can benefit from planting and growing best practices that help restore and honor the land while creating a harvest for reducing the food insecurity crisis,” added RESET Secretary and conservationist Robin Serne.  Donations made at the event and via the online auction leading up to the event will go towards helping to refurbish the FGCU Food Forest, which was severely damaged in Hurricane Ian, and other SWFL community gardens.

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Throughout the day, guests can shop gardening vendors selling and exchanging plants, seeds, seedlings, and starts, for the fall planting season, as well as craft vendors in time for holiday gift-giving, and enjoy garden tours, music, kids’ gardening activities, festival food trucks, and more. Master Gardener Bonnie Jean Clancy is heading up the Exchange and will be on hand to offer advice to gardeners.

Event speakers include other master gardeners and experts from the diverse but connected fields of permaculture, regen agriculture and conservation and will share presentations for all ages. The morning lineup includes permaculture expert Alex Nikesh on rapid composting techniques,  Tim Watkins of Eco-Design presenting edible landscape design techniques, and Green Actioneers’ CEO Dave Finnigan on how kids can help their families “go green”.

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Tony Mauriello from the Florida Native Plant Society (Coccoloba Chapter) kicks off the afternoon with eco-friendly landscaping ideas using native plants, followed by Gerri Reaves,  President of Audubon of SWFL, on preventing bird-window collisions, and Lauren Daniels-Judge, from the ECHO Global Farm will teach us all how to become more prolific growers with “Plant Propagation 101”.

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Tickets are free to the public and available on Eventbrite; guests who make a $5 donation at the door will be entered into a raffle/drawings for multiple gardening and gift items throughout the day. 

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Those interested in becoming a vendor, exchange exhibitor or sponsor, can visit the festival’s website for details at seedandplantfest.com.

The event will also feature a silent auction leading up to the event with proceeds helping RESET Center continue their work for the community.  Individuals looking to donate items can visit the auction page of the event site. Interested parties may sign up to be notified when bidding begins on the same page.

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About SWFL RESET Center

SWFL RESET Center is a consensus-building organization that inspires collaborative actions to “reset” human impacts on global warming and ecological systems through transformative education. We are committed to being both good stewards of our planet and good relatives to the land that serves us. As regenerative agriculture revitalizes the soil through sustainable practices, restoring the planet from the ground up, it is naturally a special focus of the RESET Center. RESET is best known for its RESET Conversations, a monthly series of free community education events on Zoom. Learn more about SWFL RESET Center at swflreset.org, Facebook, twitter, Instagram and TikTok.

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