Free the Seeds! Seed Saving workshop

Oxford City Farm is hosting Free the Seeds!, a seed saving workshop on Saturday 31 October, from 2:00 to 4:00pm. It's led by Phil Pritchard, one of the farm's community growers, with support from WISH (Waste Innovation Station). The session is family-friendly, so it works as much for kids as it does for adults.

At its simplest, it's about how plants make seeds and how you can save your own to plant again next year. But it goes a fair bit further than that. Phil will show you how to run a germination test on older seeds to see if they're still viable, how to develop your own new varieties over time, and how to save money by not buying new packets every spring. There's also a broader conversation about reclaiming control of the food chain, so you'll walk away with a bit of the bigger picture alongside the practical skills.

The farm itself is a 2.5-acre community-led site in east Oxford, near Florence Park, and it's built around getting local people involved in food production. It grows crops in its North and South beds and polytunnels, and it's home to fruit trees, a pond, chickens, bees and goats, as well as a yurt and a kitchen area. There are wheelchair-friendly facilities on site. On Fridays and Saturdays, the farm runs public volunteering work parties, and it works with school groups and vulnerable people. There's also a Saturday pop-up cafe and a produce stall selling freshly harvested veg and eggs.

It's free to attend, though donations are welcomed. The venue is smoke-free and doesn't permit dogs, and there's no parking inside the farm, so you'll need to find a spot nearby. The workshop runs from 2:00 to 4:00pm on Saturday 31 October at Oxford City Farm, Cornwallis Road, Oxford OX4 3NH.