Not far from Sofia, the delightful garden of Elin Pelin is once again hosting the Festival of Independent Free Exchange of Seeds, Seedlings and Saplings.

Over the weekend, volunteers from the “Green Team of Bulgaria” are inviting all people who grow or want to grow Bulgarian fruit and vegetables in their own gardens to exchange seeds and saplings and find out more about gardening. 

The organizers will present their ideas for establishing a network of so-called “seed keepers” who will keep seeds from all valuable fruit and vegetables in the region of Bulgaria. It will be the job of these “keepers” to plant, grow, preserve, package and ultimately share all of these valuable seeds, and inspire people to start to grow them themselves. The idea is to bring back to life the old Bulgarian varieties using GMO-free seeds, and to use them to create and maintain an independent seed bank. The festival will also include a workshop for children where they will be able to plant “magic” seeds.

Compiled by Darina Grigorova

Translated from the Bulgarian and posted by Milena Daynova