„Seeds from Grandma, from Aunt, from Mother-in-law and even more, seeds from Mother-in-law of Mother-in-law!
… or the story of the Bank, in short.
The people behind the project. Chronology.
Adina M. Moise: „in the spring of 2013, I collaborated with my colleagues from Romania In Transition – Transition Towns Romania Community on a small seed bank project. It was not to be, the success…
Then in November 2013 I worked on projects related to the promotion of permaculture, close to fine peasants – like Willy Schuster, RIP, and … I wanted „seeds to be free”.
Why ‘Free’? The story is long, but in short, free from Nature and live, because from them – those saved by us, the same plant grows again, with similar characteristics.
Second, Free from greed and the interests of those who cannot appreciate their value.
We initiated the movement, the project that became viral Semințe libre, also under the umbrella of the NGO #RomâniaInTranziție. The group now has 16,000 members who request, give and exchange seeds for free. Our work, 100% voluntary. I remember some of my friends who did not understand why (I) do what I do.
But, although the project had become known and involved an increasing number of participants and seed holders, and we were passing on precious seeds, some of which had been kept in families for several decades, they did not return to us and we were unable to keep and save. The need for a seed bank to track, document, catalog, save, preserve and multiply the old and precious varieties was outlined.
In 2018 we receive a visit from the team of the International Association of Seed Savers, Arche Noah Schiltern based in Austria. They value our effort and years of volunteering 💚 and want to support the unfulfilled dream of creating the Seed Bank. Not just any, but a „community” one, following the #CommunitySeedBank model.
The process of creating the Bank begins with the visit to Arche Noah, in November 2018, where we familiarized ourselves with the structure and work stages in the cold season and beyond. The visit from next summer, 2019 brings additional data from the Arche Noah gardens and especially from the warm season. Following these 2 visits, the material that we will publish here soon about the organization of Arche Noah was prepared. You can see pictures in the Gallery from those visits.
In 2019, the Casa Semintelor Seed Bank is hosted by the Permaculture Research Institute, at their location in Bucharest. There the first collection of the bank is developed, the first drying, cleaning, cataloging and then storage procedures are carried out. The first workers appear – collaborators in bank operations, namely Dragos Dumitru – the initiator from InFloresti and Alina Sfabu – the garden fairy, as she calls herself. The volunteers come too, along with many other supporters, friends, donors or recipients of seeds, supporters of the dream of the created Bank.
Among them Irina Ispas, a student abroad who came to gain organizational experience and more, Szidi Papp, doctor of anthroposophism, who dedicates one day a week to small tasks in the bank.
Dear friends, thank you all very much! 💚💚💚”
2020 – The pandemic brings an interruption in the flow of people and the need for a decision, as a result of which the Seed Bank moves to Domnesti – 18 km from km 0 Bucharest – namely by collaborating with a gardening and permaculture enthusiast Teodor Terpez, initiator at Poiana with Permaculture, we set up one of the rooms for hosting seeds and sowed several autumn varieties in the layers started right then.
2021- continue the activities of saving and multiplying the saved varieties, along with documentation. Summer brings the purchase of a 1,500 square meter plot of land in the immediate vicinity, for the Seed Bank. Autumn catches us at The Legacy Bucharest, where we can carry out the necessary work for the seeds in good conditions. The first Legacy Fair is born here at the end of August, and will continue every 2 weeks, in the yard and the generous garden.
A new member and later colleague, Emil Zorila, collector of varieties and passionate about permaculture, begins to get more and more involved in the coordination team.
2022 – Emil takes Teodor’s place in coordinating and setting up the gardens. The garden at The Legacy will be decorated with old varieties from Transylvania and will be open and visible to the general public. The Domnesti garden will undergo major interventions, in order to adapt to our times.
The need sustainability and resilience of the project brought in the first place the need for human resources present daily in the garden. We have built an A frame tiny house made of both new and recycled materials, together with a team of volunteers led by architects. End of May 2022 finds us with the house finished and old varieties sown. More than 40 varieties are multiplied this year at the Seed Bank’s garden.
The Bank’s registration in wwoof and workaway brings young people, implied and willing to learn and to contribute volunteers hosted in the Bank’s garden starting from 1st July and until end of September. We shared, we learned, we worked and enjoyed the new green and partially offgrid oasis of the Seed Bans Farm.