I’m starting this thread to document the development of an adaptation community here in Denmark. I’m approaching this in a similar way to developing local adaptation in plants - building community is also a multi-year project, it takes care and attention, it takes maintenance and lots of repetitive behaviors with a clear purpose. All the while allowing mistakes, serendipity and the intelligence of the local conditions. It also gives a very similar kind of joy to see growing.
I’m documenting this here partly to open up for strategic discussion and input from the wider community on next steps as well as inspiring others to have success in their own regions. The stated goal of Going to Seed is to inspire a shift in agriculture. For that, we need to interface and collaborate with masses of people, first kindle an openness to doing something different, then grow that into an interest and finally support that interest to mature into a passion. We will need to this many thousands of times to shift agriculture. So I’d like to talk more with you about how to do it.
In Denmark, we have a few long-time landrace gardeners here that have worked with diverse seed for some time and also exchange through the local seed saving association. Veteran GTS member @Tanjaeskildsen has one of her feet in Denmark, I believe, and some of you also know the work of Anders Borgen, who works congenially with diverse grain. I especially want to explore how to get the new generation of gardeners interested in seed.
In 2024, long-time landrace gardeners @Logan and @Soeren came by to add some and take some when the Serendipity Seed Swap came my way. I’m happy that our shared interest is making me some new friends too. In the fall, we organized the first installment of a gardener/chef meet-up focused on plant breeding at my school in collaboration with the seed saver association: Future Heirloom: Event with Joseph in Copenhagen 20th October. My idea with this event is that it could become a platform to develop initiatives for participatory plant breeding with a culinary focus. After that event, two members joined the community, @Markus and @Hermann.Werner, and things started stirring other places.
I’m happy to say that an informal seed swap network helped along by @Hekseringen and based on having the seed chain in Copenhagen last fall has now grown considerably. At our second meeting this week we were 8-9 people. Most of the group are professional gardeners or on their way to become it. We’ve decided to have at least 2 yearly seed meetings (late fall and late winter) with possible farm trips in the season. Most members have picked a few crops to try to grow out with diverse seed this year and we’ve decided that we will focus on documentation (images, especially comparing with common named varieties). With the goal of eventually bringing the experiences to a larger shared gardener network (regenerative farming network). Several are taking the online courses and I hope some of them will join this forum too.
. Of course you will plant rice, not succeed in making it grow but if you communicate and laugh about this story farmers will be happy of this parenthesis which will distance them from their economic reality by often hard.
Sales are needed to finance the actions but only for people outside the community who don’t help.
It gives energy to people, they likes this positive spiral
, talk with conviction and passion, always go in the most ecological way possible 
… those values are safe to never run out!