The Bega Valley Seed Savers (BVSS) have made it their mission to preserve heritage varieties of vegetables and encourage people to eat locally.

But they're also creating a seed bank to make sure they've got seed, "in case something goes terribly wrong". A kind of insurance policy to ensure "food sovereignty" on the Far South Coast of NSW.

The group was established in 2003 by members who have since put up the garden hoes for good, but it continues to flourish in 2022, due to the efforts of a small group of older women who volunteer weekly.

Nellie Pryke of Tarraganda, Bernadette O'Leary of Brogo, and Liz Worth of Stony Creek were instrumental in setting up a project in 2019 that incorporated garden beds on a established market garden property located on the outskirts of Bega.

"One of the joys of seed saving for me is that it's so abundant, I can grow a few metres of something and get thousands of seeds. It's so generous," said Liz.

"And also forgiving," added Nellie with a laugh.

The project uses just seven beds to grow thousands of seeds that are either swapped or sold on to the Bega Valley community every year.

But they're not just any seeds, they're the best of the best - having been specially cultivated and selected to flourish on the Far South Coast.

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When ACM visited the market garden at the beginning of August 2022 the group was preparing garden beds with green manure - using plants such as beans, clover, fenugreek, and mustard greens - to put nutrients back into the soil before the growing season started in spring.

The seeds grown are all edible heritage plants. If you don't know what a heritage vegetable means, don't worry, the BVSS have trouble pinning down a definition too.

"There's nothing official about how long a variety has been around for, we generally say it's open pollinated, which means it is something you can save at home," said Liz.

"We're focusing on stuff that will become true to type through using ordinary gardening techniques," said Nellie. "So if you planted a butternut pumpkin, then you get a butternut pumpkin."

"It's not an F1 hybrid - so if you plant it, let it go through the whole cycle and then to seed, and collect that seed, it will be able to be plated and grown again," added Liz.

Still confused? Basically the group's intention has always been to create a seed catalogue to hold on to the hundreds of abundant varieties of fruit and vegetables to ensure they don't get lost to the test of time.

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The group also meets on the first Friday of every month at the Bega produce markets where the volunteers get together to process and package seeds for sale or swap.

Volunteers have the option to take seeds in exchange for their time, but the seeds are sold to the public at the markets or selected local grocery stores.

"If you come and pack seeds you can take seeds. If you come and labour, you're in. There is no membership fee. It's so abundant - so let's share it," said Liz.

The group also provides free seeds to school programs, community projects, and organisations.

Sometimes market gardeners or farmers in the Valley will bring the group bags of seed material such as pods or stalks and in exchange will also be able to access the various varieties of seeds grown by the group.

The women said gardeners or farmers in the region were usually isolated enough to not have to worry about cross-pollination from bees or birds.

At the BVSS' Buckajo garden beds there were tricks used to ensure varieties never got crossed over.

"We don't grow pumpkins here because they cross," said Bernadette.

"But we're not just talking companion planting, if we have a big crop that we need to keep for seed and we put it in a row next to the market garden, we might shade out its crop."

Liz said the group didn't have to worry so much about crossing in self-pollinators, so tomatoes, lettuce, peas, and beans. "The flowers pollinate before they open," she said.

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Most of the produce grown by the group cannot be sold on and is often much larger than the produce people in Australia are used to eating.

If there is left over edible produce, such as pumpkin after the seeds have been scraped out, the group gives it away to members or passes it onto the community food program at Ricky's Place in Bega.

Cucumbers and zucchinis are often left until they are very mature and look large and yellow before the seed can be collected.

Zucchinis, cucumbers, and tomatoes that have seeds encased in pulp have to be fermented in their own pulp for about three days, before they're rinsed off and dried.

Pumpkin seeds are washed and dried.

Lettuce seeds are fluffy like dandelions, so they're just gently collected.

Peas and beans are left on the plant until well-past eating and dried.

Depending on the plant, once seeds are in the jars, they are frozen for a few days to kill off any bugs.

"There's a lot of effort to make sure that the seed is grown to maturity and then safe in storage," said Bernadette.

The women said knowledge about these processes were passed down through group members, researched over the years, and cultivated through trial and error.

All three women said volunteering for the BVSS helped connect them to fellow people in their community interested in growing food and cultivating food security for the region and they felt they were doing "something worthwhile".

To connect with the group, follow their Facebook page.

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