Seed saving is a growing movement that encourages the growing of heirloom and open-pollinated plant varieties in order to increase genetic diversity for gardeners and farmers.

Join the Cleveland Seed Bank’s very own Program & Education Manager Dani Jacobs for this introductory workshop covering the techniques you'll need to start saving your own seeds. No background knowledge is required. Come learn with us!

This event is free and open to the public, but please register here.

Sponsored by the Northeast Ohio Regional Sewer District and Neighborhood Connections.

Planting a soft landings garden beneath a tree is one of the best ways to support biodiversity in your yard. Join Meadow City Native Plant Nursery's Education Specialist Dave Tomashefski to learn how soft landings gardens support butterflies and moths in completing their lifecycles.

This workshop is a great opportunity to maximize the benefits of tree cover in your growing space.

All workshop attendees will receive a free pollinator-attracting plant from the Cleveland Seed Bank! This event is FREE and open to the public, but please register here.

Sponsored by the Northeast Ohio Regional Sewer District and Neighborhood Connections.

Join Cleveland Roots Garden Manager Ibrahim (Ebi) Jones as he guides us through organic approaches to pest management. Workshop participants will learn about plant spacing, attracting beneficial insects, companion planting and using soil and plant treatments to protect against harmful insects.

Throughout the workshop, we will be identifying insects and insect damage, and discussing how to use all-organic practices to prevent further damage, to remove insects and to encourage healthy plant growth.

Jones is a East Cleveland native who has gardened for 10 years, been a Certified Master Gardener for 5 and has been managing the garden at Cleveland Roots for the past 3 years.

This event is FREE and open to the public. Registration is required, click here!

Sponsored by the Northeast Ohio Regional Sewer District.

Our friends at Wicked Plant Co and Variegate Design host their sixth annual Soil & Suds Plant Swap on Sunday, May 26 at Forest City Brewery — and the Cleveland Seed Bank will be there with plants for sale!

If you're looking to add that picture-perfect plant baby to your mix or to slim down on plants, this Plant Swap has you covered... Bring your plants or extra gardening accessories and swap them for something new.

Event details and tickets are available here. We hope to see you there!

Making the most of vegetables and fruits while they're in season can be intimidating. Join nutrition advocate, educator and food movement leader Vel Scott of Vel Scott's Healthy You and Vel's Purple Oasis as she shares how to maximize your use of seasonal ingredients in your kitchen.

From learning how to prepare unfamiliar types of produce to fielding what can feel like a ton of zucchini all at once, this class is for everyone who wants to skill up on cooking what's ripe from gardens and farms near you.

This event is FREE and open to the public. Registration is required, click here!

Sponsored by the Northeast Ohio Regional Sewer District.

Join us for our April Climate Change Speaker Series workshop on Regenerative Gardening taught by Jim Matalik, Manager and Farmer at Bending Oak Permaculture Farm and Consultant for Fennel & Frog.

Just as our untouched forests, prairies and other diverse habitats continue to flourish from year to year without outside inputs, the same natural processes can be utilized in your own garden and landscape to produce an abundance of healthy food. 

In this class we will explore the components of these natural systems, then plug ourselves back into the equation and learn how to establish a healthy growing environment by using what is already at our fingertips. A brief introduction to permaculture will set the stage to start thinking as nature does.

This event is FREE and open to the public. Registration is required, click here!

Sponsored by the Northeast Ohio Regional Sewer District.

Join us as John Wright from Red Beet Row teaches about the Ecology of Wild Edibles!

In this class, we will discuss the role that native wild foods have in supporting pollinators as well as other local fauna. We’ll discuss the human role in this ecology and how we can increase our food stocks and nutrition while providing food and habitat for many other organisms in our local ecosystem.

Red Beets are a symbol. They are food medicine! Loaded with vitamins, minerals, and antioxidants, they detoxify the body, reduce inflammation, strengthen the immune system, and fortify vital organs. Eaten by cultures all over the world for thousands of years (dried, shredded, mashed, pickled, fermented, and preserved in too many ways to count), beets are a Super Food! At Red Beet Row, we hope to imitate the beet – to detoxify and heal the land, plants, and creatures around us.

This event is FREE and open to the public. Registration is required, click here!

Soil Blocking and Seed Starting

Learn the skills that you need to start your own seedlings at home this year! Annabel and Eric from Bay Branch Farm will be on hand to demonstrate, discuss, and help you learn how to make soil blocks and other methods to start your seeds. Soil block tools will be demonstrated and available for use by participants. There will also be examples of milk jug greenhouses for seed starting. A list of resources will also be provided for purchasing the seed starting equipment that will be discussed. This event kicks off the fourth year of our monthly Climate Change Speaker’s series!

Follow this link for registration. Free to the public!

Registration for the Seed Swap is Open!

To Register: Click the link here!

The Cleveland Seed Bank’s annual Winter Seed Swap is a vibrant gathering of local growers, seed savers, and community partners sharing seeds (and seed stories!) with one another.

Seed Swap 2024 guests are encouraged to share their seeds, bulbs, tubers, plant cuttings, kombucha scoby, kefir grains, sourdough starters, and other fermentables. All viable flower, herb, and vegetable seeds are welcome! If you bring something hand-collected to swap, please label it with all important info other guests would need to know.

Bringing seeds is not required, and you can learn more about how the Seed Swap works in this coverage of last year’s event.

Cleveland Seed Bank members enjoy early admission to the Winter Seed Swap with priority access to heirloom seeds from 1:00 - 2:00 PM. Click here to become a member.

We will also be collecting non-perishable, unexpired food for St. Patrick’s Hunger Center during this event.

Featuring live music by The Hashtag Virgo Quintet.

Winter sowing is a low-cost, low-stress way to get from seed to plant; producing hardy, vigorous perennials, herbs, flowers, and annual veggies for your yard and garden!

Using empty plastic gallon containers and other discarded single use vessels, we will create a greenhouse effect; mimicking cold stratification and reducing the effort needed to germinate seeds and getting a solid head start on the growing season. No more grow lights, heat mats, and extended hardening off chores – instead the winter elements will provide an environment for plants to germinate when Mother Nature decides.

Join us to learn how you can get a jumpstart on your growing season with winter sowing!

Starting at the tender age of five, growing veggies and greens with her father, Andy, a self-taught organic gardener, Melissa’s passion for gardening embraces the soil to seed to food journey, impacting nourishment with a focus on healthy cooking/eating and curiosity about preserving both soil and food. Melissa has been tending a kitchen garden for over 40 years, with a focus on medicinal and culinary herbs and flowers along with heirloom veggies, greens, and fruits. She has developed skills in worm casting, composting, and winter sowing. With a 30-year career devoted to health & well-being, the move to create Fennel & Frog is rooted in supporting well-being in a time of chaos and uncertainty. Melissa’s deep belief in the healing power of nature and outdoor spaces is central to her approach. She has an MBA and completed the Permaculture Design Certification (PDC) with Bill Wilson at Midwest Permaculture. She has also practiced & taught meditation, mindfulness, and yoga for over 30 years.

This event is FREE and open to the public. Register HERE.

PLEASE NOTE: REGISTRATION for this event IS FULL.

Will Kirchner is a printmaker, permaculturist and herbalist. He is co-owner, with his wife Susie, of Kannagara Woods Botanical Sanctuary and is a member of the Art Students League of NYC.

Learn how to create beautiful botanical prints at this introductory workshop on eco-printing where we will explore the technique of dyeing and printing fabrics with native plants. We’ll discuss the processes of mordanting natural fibers, selecting plants, constructing and steaming bundles, and the use of iron, tannin, and natural dye carrier blankets to enhance your prints.

By the end of the workshop, you will leave with all the knowledge necessary to use these techniques to produce your own one-of-a-kind botanical prints on fabrics or paper.

This event is FREE and open to the public. Registration is required, click here!

Join CSB as Steve Corso from Bat Barn Farm & Foraging teaches us about lacto-fermentation!

Steve is a small-scale subsistence and market farmer on 7 acres in Chardon. He has also been managing an online farmer's market through his 501(C)3 nonprofit, The Food Shed. A few years ago, he used Ohio agricultural data to answer two critical questions: 1) Could northeast Ohioans rely solely on local agricultural operations and farmland to obtain all of their nutritional needs? 2) If all of the agricultural products produced today were divided up among the region's residents for their yearly diets, what would those diets look like?

His talk will share with you the answers he arrived at, with a discussion of why now - more than ever - it's time to take local food production seriously. This discussion will be followed by a hands-on fermentation workshop. Lacto-Fermentation is a tried-and-true preservation technique that agricultural societies around the world have relied on to enjoy summer produce well beyond the growing season!

This event is FREE and open to the public. Registration is required, click here!

Cleveland Seed Bank joins Bill at Kannagara Woods!

Learn how to create beautiful botanical prints at this one-day introductory workshop on eco-printing where we will explore the technique of dyeing and printing fabrics with native plants. We’ll discuss the processes of mordanting natural fibers, selecting plants, constructing and steaming bundles, and the use of iron, tannin, and natural dye carrier blankets to enhance your prints.

By the end of the workshop, you will have created a unique, colorfast, eco-printed organic linen pillow cover to take home, and, more important, you will leave with all the knowledge necessary to use these techniques to produce your own one-of-a-kind botanical prints on fabrics or paper.

The workshop will be held at Kannagara Woods Botanical Sanctuary in Medina, Ohio.

PLEASE NOTE: Registration for this event is FULL.

Friends in Low Places: Compost & the Soil Food Web

Nathan Rutz is a professional composter, which means he gets to drive big machines, start hundreds of seedlings, think critically about our social-ecosystem, and talk about poop and corpses in professional settings. He works as Director of Soil at Rust Belt Riders Composting in Cleveland Ohio, a worker-owned cooperative that rescues food from the landfill and makes and sells compost and compost based products for home gardeners and organic growers under the name Tilth Soil. This event is a continuation of our monthly Climate Change Speaker’s series. Follow this link for registration. Free to the public!

Soil & Suds Plant Sale

Save the date for the 5th annual Soil & Suds! Our amazing friends at The Wicked Plant Co. and Variegate Designs will be hosting a radical plant swap and all proceeds benefit the Cleveland Seed Bank. It is so generous, kind, and really a wonderful event. We hope you will join us for a wonderful day of plants, plant-related vendors, and beer! Click here for more info and tickets.

Soil Blocking and Seed Starting

Learn the skills that you need to start your own seedlings at home this year! Annabel and Eric from Bay Branch Farm will be on hand to demonstrate, discuss and help you learn how to make soil blocks and other methods to start your seeds. Soil block tools will be demonstrated and available for use by participants. A list of resources will also be provided for purchasing the seed starting equipment that will be discussed. This event kicks off the second year of our monthly Climate Change Speaker’s series. Follow this link for registration. Free to the public!

Registration for the Seed Swap is open! Register by clicking the link here!

Our annual Winter Seed Swap event will take place this year on January 28th. The free event is open to the public and has drawn hundreds from across the state for a day of seed sharing. All viable flower, herb, and vegetable seeds may be swapped and guests are encouraged to share bulbs, tubers, plant cuttings, kombucha scoby, kefir grains, sourdough starters, and other fermentables.

In addition to other incentives, Cleveland Seed Bank members enjoy early admission to the Winter Seed Swap event and are granted priority access to heirloom seeds one hour before the crowd. Click here to become a member.

Winter sowing is a low-cost, low-stress way to get from seed to plant; producing hardy, vigorous perennials, herbs, flowers, and annual veggies for your yard and garden!

Using empty plastic gallon containers and other discarded single use vessels, we will create a greenhouse effect; mimicking cold stratification and reducing the effort needed to germinate seeds and getting a solid head start on the growing season. No more grow lights, heat mats, and extended hardening off chores – instead the winter elements will provide an environment for plants to germinate when Mother Nature decides.

Join us to learn how you can get a jumpstart on your growing season with winter sowing!

Starting at the tender age of five, growing veggies and greens with her father, Andy, a self-taught organic gardener, Melissa’s passion for gardening embraces the soil to seed to food journey, impacting nourishment with a focus on healthy cooking/eating and curiosity about preserving both soil and food. Melissa has been tending a kitchen garden for over 40 years, with a focus on medicinal and culinary herbs and flowers along with heirloom veggies, greens, and fruits. She has developed skills in worm casting, composting, and winter sowing. With a 30-year career devoted to health & well-being, the move to create Fennel & Frog is rooted in supporting well-being in a time of chaos and uncertainty. Melissa’s deep belief in the healing power of nature and outdoor spaces is central to her approach. She has an MBA and completed the Permaculture Design Certification (PDC) with Bill Wilson at Midwest Permaculture. She has also practiced & taught meditation, mindfulness, and yoga for over 30 years.

This event is FREE and open to the public. Register HERE.

NOTE: Workshop date has been rescheduled to January 14th at 10 AM!

How might local clothing be just as important a consideration as local food? What is most of our clothing made of and why might it matter? How does circularity apply to our clothing choices? How can fashion be an entry point to remembering a connection to our land, other beings, ourselves, our past and our future?

Join Jess Boeke and Sarah Pottle, co-founders of Rust Belt Fibershed, in a one-hour conversation as we discuss these questions and more, ultimately focusing on how our clothing and textile choices have the potential to regenerate our earth, our health, our local community!

Jess and Sarah are educators, community organizers, and textile artists who are passionate about regenerative design systems. They co-founded Rust Belt Fibershed in 2018 and have been working in a collaborative community to orchestrate a regenerative, bioregional textile supply chain within a 250-mile radius of Cleveland, OH. Their current work encompasses educational programming, community-based projects, and regional fiber development studies.

This event is FREE and open to the public. Registration is required, click here!

Do you love our Ohio pollinators? Unsure how to begin planning a pollinator garden?

Join Erin Laffay as we discuss the thought processes behind planning a successful pollinator garden. Using the design Erin created for our new pollinator garden at Cleveland Roots, we will learn how to make your pollinator garden both functional and eye-catching.
After our discussion, we will all head outside to actually plant our new pollinator garden! Please bring anything that will assist you in the garden, such as gloves and a sun hat.

Erin Laffay is passionate about stewarding the connection people have to their landscapes. She develops interactive designs that showcase the beauty of native and horticultural species. Her ideas inspire a strong curiosity about the natural world and remind others how alive a space can feel. Her background in fine gardening translates into beautiful yet functional designs.

This event is FREE and open to the public. Registration is required, click here!

Steve Corso is a small-scale subsistence and market farmer on 7 acres in Chardon. He has also been managing an online farmer's market through his 501(C)3 nonprofit, The Food Shed. A few years ago, he used Ohio agricultural data to answer two critical questions: 1) Could northeast Ohioans rely solely on local agricultural operations and farmland to obtain all of their nutritional needs? 2) If all of the agricultural products produced today were divided up among the region's residents for their yearly diets, what would those diets look like?

His talk will share with you the answers he arrived at, with a discussion of why now - more than ever - it's time to take local food production seriously. This discussion will be followed by a hands-on fermentation workshop. Lacto-Fermentation is a tried-and-true preservation technique that agricultural societies around the world have relied on to enjoy summer produce well beyond the growing season!

This event is FREE and open to the public. Registration is required, click here!

Come learn from Judy Semroc of Nature Spark as we discuss the elements of pollination and how it works. Information will include natural history, important plant choices and tips for how to make your yards and gardens more attractive to pollinators. As we learn more about pollination and its great impact on our world, we can adopt new and better gardening methods to help our beneficial insects.

If time allows, we may be going outside to observe pollination in action.

This event is FREE and open to the public. Registration is required, click here!

In designing a Forest Garden, we can think of the plants occurring in layers as they do in the forest. Come learn from John Wright of Red Beet Row as we learn how to create and maintain a Forest Garden & how Forest Gardens can produce staples like foods, fruit, fuel, wood, animal fodder, mushrooms, medicinal plants, and more!

Please note: This is a 2 hour long workshop, worth every minute!

This event is FREE and open to the public. Registration is required, click here!

Participants will be able to touch, smell, and taste greens growing right in their backyard! Promoting local, sustainable, and environmentally friendly foods, join Yolanda Ramos & Rhonda Sharpley of Freshly Rooted as we create a beautiful salad with a fresh vinaigrette, learn the health benefits of the greens and herbs used, and take home a yummy recipe.

This is a wonderful opportunity to engage all the senses: come taste, smell, see, touch, and hear the sounds of eating with the seasons!

This event is FREE and open to the public. Registration is required, click here!

Hosted by Variegate Design and Lindsey - The Radical Plant Mom. All details and registration information are on the Facebook Event page.

Save the date for the 4th annual Soil & Suds! We all know during this pandemic how we all expanded our green herd. So if you are looking to add that picture-perfect plant baby or just slimming down, we got that covered. Bring plants or extra gardening accessories and swap them for something new! Sip a beer (or 3 — we won’t judge) in Forest City Brewery’s outdoor Beer Garden while mingling 6 feet apart with other plant fanatics and shopping for new additions for your own urban jungle from our vendors. Have a pot that needs a drainage hole? Bring it along - we'll have volunteers drilling holes for ya! All proceeds will benefit the Cleveland Seed Bank.

Participants will learn the art and science of soil amending with organic fertilizers. Old Husher will break down his personal concepts of True Fertilizers, Minerals, and Enliveners, while also discussing cover cropping, mulching, and soil disturbance.

This event is FREE and open to the public. Registration is required, click here!

Spring is almost here! The Cleveland Seed Bank is teaming up with Tomato Monster Heirlooms for an exciting Spring plant sale in Old Brooklyn.

Tomato Monster Heirlooms will provide over 50 different varieties of heirloom tomatoes and peppers, all available for pre-order online. The unique part of this collaborative plant sale is that a portion of the proceeds from each plant sold is then donated back to the Cleveland Seed Bank, which makes this plant sale a small fundraiser for our organization.

Starting now, we will be taking pre-orders for a variety of basil plants for sale on our website. We will be growing 7 varieties of Basil that will pair great with your tomatoes — Genovese Basil, Lemon Basil, Lime Basil, Dark Opal Basil, Thai Basil, Lettuce Leaf Basil, and Cinnamon Basil!

You might recall that we typically have the plant sale at Coffee Coffee Coffee but due to COVID, we moved the plant sale across the street. With both groups growing double the amount of plants compared to last year, it just makes sense to keep the sale outdoors (and still close to the delicious coffee that we love).

Pre-orders for tomatoes and peppers grown by Tomato Monster Heirlooms can be pre-ordered on their website now. The Tomato Monster’s are hosting a few plant sales this year so be sure to select the sale on May 14th to benefit the Cleveland Seed Bank. Pre-orders for native plants grown by the Cleveland Seed Bank are also open now. Both groups are bringing extra plants for those that wish to purchase in-person instead of online.

If you have any questions, feel free to reach out to the folks at Tomato Monster Heirlooms or us at the Cleveland Seed Bank! We look forward to seeing all of you in mid-May when spring is in full bloom!