We have different growing seasons here in Canada than in Zambia Africa so it is often hard for me to get seeds to send over there in the start of their rainy season which is October-March.
To help alleviate some of the food insecurity in Zambia due to high levels of poverty, we collect non-GMO fruit and vegetable seeds in Toronto Canada, from student volunteers at David and Mary Thompson’s culinary training program, my kitchen and other generous people who save seeds for us when they prepare foods for their own consumption. The seeds are then dried, packaged and sent to six cities in Zambia where they are distributed for planting.
In Toronto Canada where the seeds are collected all year long, but most in the fall during our fall harvest, it is hard for us to get certain seeds from what we eat like carrot, cabbage, beets, broccoli, cauliflower so these seeds are such a blessing if we can get them.
Therefore I am so fortunate to have Havelock Home Hardware donate hundreds of packaged seeds and gave us a great discount on purchasing some at the end of our growing season.
These packaged seeds are easy to hand out to villagers so they can plant a variety of vegetables and share them in their villages.
Thank you to the owner/manager, James Bell and staff of Havelock Home Hardware, east of Peterborough Ontario, https://www.homehardware.ca/en/store/16530. You have saved this planting season for over 500 families in Zambia Africa.
Zambia had a really short rainy season last year and a drought for most of this year so villagers have not been able to save their own seed. Carrots have to stay in the ground for 2 seasons for them to go to seed so for me to send carrot seed will make them very happy. Carrots are rich in beta carotene, which your body converts into vitamin A. This nutrient promotes good vision and is important for growth, development, and immune function. Carrot’s will help decrease blindness in children. ( About 250,000 to 500,000 malnourished children in the developing world go blind each year from a deficiency of vitamin A, around half of whom die within a year of becoming blind.)
We have just sent some of the seeds to our Eastern location in Chipata on October 15, 2019 and will send the rest to Mongu, Kaoma, Kalabo & Sioma on November 15th after I collect all of the unused pumpkins from our neighbourhood and dry the seeds.
If you will have an uncarved pumpkin after Halloween and would like to donate it to Socio-Economic and Environmental Development Solutions (SEEDS) please contact me. 647 444-5534.
Havelock Home Hardware Store at 22 Ottawa Street West, PO Box 429, Havelock
Phone:(705) 778-1222
https://www.homehardware.ca/en/store/16530
Home Hardware founder, Walter Hachborn, was once quoted as saying his company was not just in the hardware business. He believed they were also in the people business – a philosophy which carries on today many times over with all of the Home Hardware stores.
Home Hardware Stores Ltd. , is an Ontario, Canada-based dealer-owned cooperative, supplying more than 1,000 independently operated stores located in every Canadian province and territory.
