MN Seed Project

The MN SEED Project was co-created by Courtney Tchida, Dawn Lamm and Stephanie Hankerson in 2020 to address the knowledge gaps in saving and growing seeds. In the Fall of 2020, we were invited to do a seed collection at 21 Roots Farm's Restored Prairie and from there we began to focus on the Seed Cycle of Native Plants. Our mission is to create a free, locally adapted, native seed economy by hosting events to teach people how to collect, clean, share and grow native plants from seed to benefit ecosystems and pollinators. 

We work with many community partners including the Capitol Region Watershed District, Frogtown Green, Gibbs Farm, The U of M Bee Lab, Metro Blooms, D10 Como Community Council, Hamline Midway Coalition, Great River Greening, Urban Roots and more. 

In 2022, the Capitol Region Watershed District awards the MN SEED Project their Watershed Outreach Program of the year award. 

In 2023, we collected more than 3.6 Million seeds from 150 different species of Native Plants which we turned into 14,000 seed packets that we have give away at more than 60 events in 2024. 

At the Wakan Tipi's Pollinator Festival in 2024, we shared over 700 packets with community members. At the Emerging Farmer conference we hosted a Seed Space where we share seeds and education on saving seeds, cleaning seeds and growing seeds with conference goers. 

In 2025, we plan to share even more seeds and keep teaching people about collecting, processing, saving, sharing and growing native plants from seed. Help us make seeds and knowledge of the seed to seed cycle available far and wide.