News From the Field: 
Successful Seed School Held in Mountain Province 
 
The 50 proud graduates of Mt. Province Seed School. 
 
Last month 50 farmers and local government officials gathered at Layog Country Farm in Tadian, Mt. Province for Seed School. This was our second Seed School of the year and sixth in the last three years. The training was facilitated by our talented Country Manager Karen Lee Hizola and two farmer facilitators from the Benguet Association of Seed Savers (BASS) Ma'am Fely and Ma'am Letty. A large part of our model is farmers teaching farmers as we believe this is the best way to share local knowledge and build local sustainability of seed saving. 
 
Participants represented 8 different Municipalities of Mt. Province and Cervantes and Illocos Sur as well. They came excited and eager to learn about seed saving and specifically how to preserve and use endemic local varieties. The program was a perfect collaboration between us, our gracious hosts at Layog Country Farm and the Office of the Provincial Agriculture in Mt. Province.  As a result of this course participants are excited to establish seed libraries in three different  areas of the Province helping ensure more farmers have access to locally produced non-chemical seeds. 
 
Owner and Manager of Layog Country Farm Ma'am Lina shared the 
following  reflections from the Seed School:
 
GSS Staff pictured with the Layog Farm Team at farm entrance prior to Seed School Seminar.
"It was a pleasure to have Global Seed Savers at our farm for the
seed saving seminar. With focal persons and many organic farming practitioners attending, I am sure your organization has planted hope in the continued work of saving our own seeds. Let us further hope that the enthusiasm shown by the participants during the seminar will continue to burn as they leave the gate of the farm." 
 

Welcome New Intern
 
Join us in welcoming Laura Voake, our new
Events  Marketing and Communications Intern.  
 
Laura is a Colorado native and a recent
graduate from the University of Colorado Boulder with a degree in International Affairs.  Her interests include: community engagement, international relations, nonprofit work, and enjoying the beautiful Colorado outdoors with her dog. She is eager to take her passion for community development to an international scale through supporting the incredible work accomplished by Global Seed Savers.  
 
 
Laura will be managing our social media presence and supporting the success of our upcoming 8th Annual Nourish Event through silent auction management and other event planning support. Welcome Laura! 
Field Volunteer Reflections

Lapu-Lapu and Tamara at Nanay Letty's Farm
In April we hosted  Lapu-Lapu and Tamara as field volunteers in the Philippines.  We were thrilled to have them engage with our farmers and programs during their trip. They are both Returned Peace Corps Volunteers: Tamara served in Guatemala and Lapu-Lapu in Kenya in the early 2000's. They currently both work at the US Peace Corps Headquarters in Washington D.C. 


Read Tamara's reflections about her volunteer experience with us below:


" A highlight of the volunteering experience was staying several days with Nanay Letty (farmer member of the Benuget Association of Seed Savers (BASS). She lives in Japos, a small farming community two hours outside of Baguio City that you find up a winding and narrow mountainous road. Nanay Letty is strong, entrepreneurial, and bold. She'll also surprise you with her humor and musical talents. While staying on her farm, Mimi (the cat) and Oreo (the dog) were playful and warm additions to the crew. 
 
Tamara learning about beans from Nanay Letty 
Photo Credit: Lapu-Lapu Yabu
During our stay with Nanay Letty we cleared weeds around her organic coffee trees, weeded around her vegetable garden, and harvested amaranth leaves, onions, and pole beans. She cooked up our harvest with some red rice and homemade coffee vinegar for a delicious lunch! She is also growing beets, squash, French green beans, chives, thyme, and much more. Letty is very thoughtful about how she produces her crops and does not use chemicals, preferring permaculture techniques. She considers the impact on the local environment and the people eating her crops. In her yard she has a variety of free range, colorful chickens and chicks. She takes a holistic approach to growing and producing her products. 
 
I was struck by how curious each BASS Farmer is about plants and how willing they are to share, support, and learn from each other.  Organic gardening and seed saving is about patience and experimentation and finding out what plant grows well where. These thoughtful farmers and Karen the GSS Country Manager (who is intelligent, kind, and intuitive) are doing valuable and important work for the Philippines and for the world as a whole."  
June Annual Campaign Success 
 
Thank you for making our June Annual Campaign a great success! Thanks to many of you we raised over $10,000 in one month from 85 unique donors. This is our most successful Annual Campaign to date. 
 
Special thanks to our Corporate Sponsors:
 
Fil-Am Property Connections at Keller Willams and the Cliniko Team for your generous support of over $1,500! 
 
 
 
BASS Farmers Say Thank You
 
The funds raised will help us accomplish  the following in the coming months:
 
- Host four-day Seed School Teacher Training Course for 25 leaders in  Sustainable Agriculture in the Philippines this November. 

- Supply needed seeds and educational materials to our new partner seed library in Cebu.  

- Launch the Benguet Association of Seed Savers (BASS) Seed Entrepreneur Program. Scaling the production, marketing, and sale of seeds. 
 
Global Seed Savers

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