Food Bank Cashes In on Paperless Statements Free Seed Library is Back Again in Roseau River

By Janet Kroeker

The seed catalogues have been arriving in my post box for a while already. As the winter wears on, some of us have begun making plans for vegetable gardening 2023.

Last year, local gardeners and seed savers began sharing their favourite seeds by bringing them to the free Community Seed Library located in Artisan Hall at Reimer Concrete and Building Supplies, in Roseau River. After a short winter break, the Library is back, beginning January 14.

For those of you who didn’t know about this last year, this seed exchange works just like our Little Free Libraries – take some seeds, share some seeds – with one difference.

To make it easier to search for certain seeds, sharers are asked to clearly label their seeds, including the year they were harvested, and file them alphabetically by type, rather than variety. For example, “Scarlet Runner Bean, 2022” would be placed under “B” for beans. If you are open to fielding questions about your seeds, consider including your contact information as well. One improvement suggestion over last year would be to package your seeds in a small paper envelope or insert a piece of stiff paper/cardboard if using a plastic bag (no wider than 3 inches), as they will stand up and be more easily noticed in our seed display box.

Laura Reeves, local botanist, proprietor of Prairie Shore Botanicals, enthusiast and participant of the Seed Library gives us some compelling reasons for seed saving and sharing.

By Angelique Forest

Who knew saving someone else’s printing costs could benefit local charities? That’s exactly what Niverville Credit Union is offering when their members decide to go paperless when it comes to their statements.

Through the incentive program the Niverville Credit Union Statement Suppression Campaign recently donated $5 for each statement that was suppressed to a local charity. The Landmark branch again chose the Tache Food Resource Centre as the beneficiary.

A cheque was presented to the Tache Food Resource Centre (TFRC) in early January.

“Our credit union has made annual donations to the TFRC for a number of years, and this year is no exception as we donated $520,” said Branch Manager Steven Andres. “As a community-oriented organization, we give back in a variety of ways each year. We love what the TFRC is about, uniting this community to meet the needs of our neighbours. It is a mission we can all get behind and groups like this make us proud to operate in Tache.”

Andres proudly added that members of their board and staff also make individual contributions to support the Centre.