Frome Potato Day and Seed Swap returns this month

The annual Frome Potato Day and Seed Swap is returning this month in a celebration of food and horticulture.

This beloved event, set to take place at the Cheese and Grain on Sunday 16th February, draws together gardening enthusiasts, local businesses and community groups emphasising regenerative practices, healthy food, education and community involvement.

It aims to motivate individuals to nurture their own green spaces and connect more deeply with the environment.

Having established itself as a key annual tradition, the Frome Potato Day and Seed Swap serves as the perfect place for all your gardening needs. Whether you are a seasoned horticulturist or just beginning to explore gardening, Potato Day offers all the essentials to get your growing season underway.

Organisers, Frome Field 2 Fork, welcomes anyone who would like to help out on the day which runs from 10am to 2pm. At the event, people can expect:

Gardening Stalls: with a selection of seed potatoes, bulbs, seeds, plants, fruit trees, and tools.

Community Groups: find fun ways to connect with your community, exchange tips, tricks, and experiences.

Community Seed Swap: participate in the Community Seed Swap by bringing your excess seeds in clearly marked paper envelopes. Swap seeds with fellow gardeners and find exciting new varieties to diversify your garden.

Free Workshops, activities and films: Pre-book here for workshops: https://www.eventbrite.co.uk/o/frome-field-2-fork-cic-34472155696 or call 07857437608 if you can’t access internet.

What’s on at the Potato Day and Seed Swap

Visit the Magical Mycelium Space facilitated by Tasha Elena from Land, Food Medicine 

With books, live fungi specimens, mycelial spawn and interactive demos of mushroom log inoculation.

Tasha Elena founded Land, Food, Medicine in 2024, based at 42 Acres where this collective holds an outdoor mushroom farm, cultivating with ancient techniques, growing medicinal crops/medicine-making and foraging /wild tending with over 15 years of experience.   

Collectively they generate over 5,000 units of medicinal foods and medicine each year through gentle wild tending techniques that work in reciprocity and collaboration with the earth.

Spring-time seed sowing with Frome Selwood Horticultural Society 

The society has been active in Frome for 50 years and offers members and visitors the opportunity to meet new friends, share gardening experience (without having to be expert), coach trips to places of interest, plant sales, flower shows and social evenings.

10:30am Mindfulness and Ecopsychology for mental health with Better Nature Ecotherapy CIC

Hear about the powerful merging of Mindfulness and Ecopsychology for mental health and how Tom and Babs are bringing this into the community via our local GP services. They will also offer a chance to experience mindful nature connection which is both restorative and enriching.

Better Nature Ecotherapy CIC offers therapeutic nature-based services, bringing together mindfulness, ecopsychology and nature connection for mental health and wellbeing.

They believe that reconnecting people with nature is a vital part of ‘one health,’ that is, the sustained wellbeing of humans and the planet. They offer therapeutic courses, retreats, drop-in sessions, individual support and also professional development.

11:30am Short Taster Demo with Alex from Somerset Kimchi and Kraut

Find out about the benefits of local organic fresh sauerkraut and kimchi, with Alex from Somerset Kimchi and Kraut.

Raw, unpasteurised kimchi, sauerkraut and coconut kefir. Somerset Kimchi and Kraut produce two different kimchi – classic and cauli, plus five flavours of sauerkraut and a delicious coconut kefir.

Fermented traditionally in small batches in their Frome kitchen, this small company was born out of Alex’s passion for gut health, good food and delicious ferments. Packed full of good bacteria (probiotics) this food feeds our gut microbiome and soul.

12:30pm Top 20 herbs for growing in a year-round kitchen/medicinal garden with Radix Herbal Hub

Local herbalists Olivia Cliff and Jude Greenan will share their top 20 favourite herbs to grow, covering cultivation, harvesting and the benefits of some of the most helpful herbs for treating ailments.

Olivia and Jude are herbal practitioners working from their Apothecary and Physic Garden Radix Herbal Hub CIC, based on Vallis Farm.

1.30pm Film Screening: Continuous Cover Forestry with Wood for the Trees UK

Fresh from a screening in Westminster, Charly Le Marchant from Wood for the Trees is showing her latest film on the challenges and benefits of Continuous Cover Forestry, filmed at nearby Stourhead Western Estate.

A chance to know more about how the woodland many of us know well is managed in a way that is biodiverse, resilient and profitable.

Charly co-designed and coordinated the community orchard planting and Wassail at Weylands in Frome. She also co-produces and films the YouTube series Wood for the Trees UK.   

Organisers of the Potato Day and Seed Swap, Frome Field 2 Fork CIC is a welcoming and inclusive community market garden within walking distance of Frome town centre, where people can connect with nature and each other, learn agroecological growing methods, gain healthy vegetarian cooking skills and access affordable locally grown food.

They are working together with the community to improve access to and support for local, ecologically produced and nutritious food at affordable prices and nature-focused wellbeing projects.

One of the organisers, Caroline Wajsblum, said, “Making sure they reach as many people as possible is important to the team, so they organise public events like Frome Potato Day and Seed Swap, to celebrate food and growing together and workshops to spread the wealth of knowledge and skills existing in and around Frome.

“Any profits from the event will support the free wellbeing sessions on the land: Growing Food and Friendships (adults only on Tuesdays) and Growing Strong (family-friendly session every other Sunday).

There is a suggested £3 donation to attend the day. Children go free.

Frome Field 2 Fork CIC is a community-led organisation and new volunteers are always welcome. If you would like to volunteer for a couple of hours at the Potato Day and Seed Swap, call 07857 437608.

Find out more about Frome Field 2 Fork CIC  https://fromefield2fork.org/

Pictured: Potato Day 2023