HOW TO GET INVOLVED
The Grey Bruce Native Seed Bank is always looking for passionate individuals to join our mission of ecosystem restoration through native plant propagation. Whether you have expertise in horticulture, a passion for nature, or a desire to make a positive impact on the environment, we welcome you!
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Join our Volunteer Coalition!
We use a "coalition” model of site stewardship, and would like you to join us!
Volunteering is a great opportunity to connect with nature, support native biodiversity, learn valuable information about native plant species, and meet like-minded people in our community.
We mostly steward the Duncan seed orchard, although a few times a year we will meet at Ontario Flora to care for our Alvar plants.
We are inviting local groups and individuals to ‘adopt a species’ at our Duncan, ON seed orchard.
As a single species ‘team’, each group will help steward, weed, and care for a native species (a row of 120 feet) throughout the season.
Teams can create their own plan of when and who will come each week to steward their plant and its seed.
Groups can also chose to assist instead in general stewardship of the site under the supervision of our stewardship leaders.
Whether you’re an individual, a young or mature family, friends, or part of a local environmental group, we welcome your participation!
What To Expect
Every other Wednesday from 6:30-8pm from May to October, our members gather to care for native seed plots by planting, weeding, and doing other tasks needed to support the growing seed orchard. In the spring we have weekend planting events, and in the late fall into winter we have weekend seed collecting and sorting events. Whether you’re experienced or brand new to this kind of work, all are welcome!
It's a great way to become connected with your local green community and even network with other likeminded people and groups!
In the winter months, although the plants are asleep, we stay busy processing and winter-sowing our collected seeds.
We often meet in local libraries and make it a community event!
Maintaining and growing the seed orchard does require a certain amount of physical work, and it may be a little buggy in the field! But we always have a lot of fun and often bring our dogs along to "help".
If field work isn't really your thing, we are also looking for people interested in admin roles!
If you're interesting in participating or forming a species stewardship team, here's what to do:
1. Identify your Team:
Gather your volunteers, or you can also join as an individual!
2. Decide Which Species to Steward:
Depending on the size of your team and your availability, you can sign up for a single species, a larger area of the orchard, or general volunteering.
3. Complete the Sign-Up Form/Survey:
When your group is ready, have your group leader fill out the online form to formalize your participation.
(Online form is coming soon! Please email us in the meantime)
We look forward to volunteering with you!
Our Seed Orchard Locations
We have two Seed Orchard locations where our stewardship group raise our native plants and harvest seed
Duncan Seed Orchard
We don't have a fire number for the Duncan Seed Orchard, so the exact coordinates are:
44.408676, -80.458332
Please park along the road and be cautious of oncoming traffic.
Ontario Flora Seed Orchard
Access from 9th line only.