Grant applications open October 25th and close Jan 25th, 2026
Since 2003, Qualicum Beach Seedy Saturday Association has given back to local gardening programs and projects, as it is our mandate to support food security and sustainable gardening practices by promoting locally grown heirloom seeds.
Last year we donated $4000 and 37 bags of Sea Soil (generously donated by Foenix Forest Technology Inc.) to six District 69 school gardens, Qualicum Beach Museum Garden, Seeds of Diversity Canada, the Milner Gardens – Shoots with Roots Program, Little Star Nursery Garden and two church community gardens.
If you’re a gardener or part of a community group working on a project that benefits our community, we’d love to hear from you.
Please submit the completed form and direct any questions you may have to qbsschair@gmail.com
FAQ
- If our group has received funds previous years, may we still apply? Yes
- What is the amount of the funds? The grants range from $100 to $1000, depending on the scope of the project
- Does the project have to be open to the entire community? No, but it must benefit the community or part of the community in some way – sorry but your backyard garden does not qualify!
- Does my project have to involve food? No, a flower garden that has pollinators and adds beauty for the community to enjoy qualifies
Grant Application Form >
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Milner Food Garden
On behalf of the Vancouver Island Master Gardeners Association (VIMGA), Parksville, Qualicum Beach and Nanoose district. We are very grateful to the Qualicum Beach Seedy Saturday Committee, for our project at Milner Garden’s Food Demonstration Garden.
The grant money of $500 was put towards a much-needed sprinkler and spray nozzle kit, which has made our watering of the garden much more efficient.
Some of the funds were reserved for a joint project to put a small greenhouse in the Food Garden area, but this has been delayed as the new Milner strategic plan is adopted and changes unfold. Having the green house will enable us to start our seed starting process onsite.
The garden also deals with rabbit and deer damage leading to the future purchase of wire to protect the more vulnerable growth.
2026 will see various coordinated changes in the Food Garden but still have a Master Gardener presence demonstrating techniques and educating the visitors.
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Milner Shoots with Roots Program
We hosted 12 school classes for our Five Visit Program last year. We offer this for free to local schools based on the generosity of donors like QBSS as well as fundraising we do here. Were schools to pay for the program, we would have to charge $1000 per class for the year to recover costs. So that means the $500 you donated covered half of the cost of one class attending for the year. If you want more information about the Five Visit Program, you can learn about it on our website – there’s a video on this page that shows what one of the field trips is like: https://milnergardens.viu.ca/school-programs-and-day-camps and there’s more information on the Five Visit Program here: https://milnergardens.viu.ca/shoots-roots-frequently-asked-questions
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Knox Food Garden
First I want to thank QB Seedy Saturday for supporting Knox Food Garden with your generous grant and bags of Sea Soil. Your grant supported us both physically and emotionally It took a lot of volunteers, energy, and support from Knox people and groups like QB Seedy Saturday to make a dream become a reality. We built four raised garden beds, planted potatoes, cabbage, peas, beans, tomatoes, carrots, beets, spinach, kale. Through out the growing season we weekly harvested and donated bags of vegetables for the Salvation Army Soup Kitchen and Food Bank. The garden has been a source of happiness for the congregation, the volunteers, a local children’s daycare, the Salvation Army, the Soup Kitchen and those who can’t afford to buy or grow fresh vegetables. The garden has been very successful and a blessing to us and to others.
Our motto has been: “Seeds are a reminder that renewal begins in small, deliberate acts of care.”
The hard work of building is done, and we look forward to many years of providing fresh produce to those in need.
Thank you and bless you for your kindness and support.
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Arrowsmith Elementary School
Thank you so much for following up with our AES garden. The funds came in great use to help us buy fruit trees, berry bushes and seeds for starts. The garden is doing well, although with the lack of rain this summer it was difficult to keep watered. Our school garden only has two rain barrels and no close water source so it is tricky.
This year we are applying for grants in order to buy self watering garden beds from a Vancouver company. They save up to 80% water and will be a game changer for our space. We are also going to buy tools to build an hügelkultur bed that will also save water and be its own source of soil. Students will be learning about this type of planting that dates back hundreds of years.
In addition, we will be focusing on native plants and those used by Kwalikum First Nations today and in the past.
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Qualicum Beach Museum
We carefully took photos of our successful food crop container gardening and educating at the museum this year. The Seedy Saturday grant fit in really well with our ‘pollination station’ kids program, to the extent that we had live bees working on their mint plant [in a container] next to the bee puppet station with the kids. So the kids could make the puppets and then observe the real bees in action. Super cute!
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Balenas School
We are starting a worm compost system, and planting seeds that will live in the windowsill. My new class is very West facing, so it will get great sunlight this spring.