Seedy Sunday event attracts gardening enthusiasts

By Al Beeber - Lethbridge Herald on April 4, 2023.

Herald photo by Al Beeber Gilles Leclair with Urban Hens YQL talks to people at Seedy Sunday about urban chickens including the myths and benefits.

LETHBRIDGE HERALDabeeber@lethbridgeherald.com

If April snow brings May flowers, the weekend weather was perfect for Seedy Sunday at Casa.

Seedy Sunday, staged Environment Lethbridge, attracted a strong turnout to Casa to visit with workshops, swap seeds and attend three workshops.

Kathleen Sheppard, executive director of Environment Lethbridge, was impressed with the crowd who packed the available space from early afternoon. Shortly after doors opened, the Casa parking lot was packed to capacity with vehicles as people of all ages, many with children in tow, attended the event.

“Last year was a little smaller because we were coming out of COVID and people were a little cautious,” said Sheppard, adding she felt the turnout Sunday would be double that of 2022.

When Sheppard saw Sunday’s snow, she wasn’t sure what the turnout would be.

“But sometimes you get a bit of bad weather and people want to come to something indoors so I think it’s worked out of us,” she said.

“Anybody who has a garden is sort of doing that thing where you wander around your garden and check out what’s starting to grow and think about what you want to grow. So this is a great way to kick that off. We also have lots of new gardeners who are trying to think about if they want to get into gardening. So we have resources, free seeds, we have all sorts of stuff for people who are just getting into it.”

Water conservation is an important part of gardening, said Sheppard, with many people looking for lawn replacements.

“Using drought-tolerant and native plants is a great way to save water. There are lots of people looking for alternatives out there,” Sheppard added.

“Lots of us like that nice green grass but to keep it green in our climate, you have to water it. There’s no way around it.”

Among the diverse group of exhibitors was Urban Hens YQL, an initiative to create a pilot project in Lethbridge which would allow residents to have hens in their yards.

Gilles Leclair said there are three major – and unfounded – sources of concerns people have with chickens in the urban environment.

“We’re trying to build a little bit of momentum to hopefully get enough public support to have them legal” in Lethbridge, Leclair said. Presently in Alberta, more than 20 communities allow residents to grow chickens.

The matter has come up a couple of times to city council but has never progressed past the presentation, Leclair noted.

“The timing wasn’t very good when I presented last October because it was just before budget time and councillors were caught up in that type of work,” he noted.

“So it kind of went into a bit of a stall but hopefully we’ll be able to launch some type of initiative this year. We’re depending a lot on public support.”

The three main objections people have with urban chickens include smell, predators and noise.

“They seem to rely on old tropes,” Leclair added.

Chickens don’t smell if they are properly taken care of, he said. And he says no evidence exists that there is an increase in predators when chickens are kept in yards.

“Nothing has shown that an increase in predators happen. We have maybe stories, anecdotes but the reality is a lot of those predators even are nocturnal animals. And if the chickens are locked up in a coop at night, they should be safe against those,” Leclair said.

Noise also isn’t an issue if roosters aren’t kept.

“If you don’t get a rooster, you’re really OK. Crows make more noise than chickens do.”

Benefits include the ability to get a daily source of protein.

“It does vary through the year but with four chickens, you’re probably guaranteed to have three eggs every day in the summer. In the winter, of course, production drops off – a lot of people stop having chickens in the fall because the extra effort doesn’t really yield that much. But if you’re a hobbyist and you like animals and you like looking after animals, chickens are ideal because they give back five grams of protein with every egg,” said Leclair.

“I think a lot of this movement, the sort of undercurrent, is people’s desire to have a more stable food supply. And because we saw with the pandemic, the food supply chain could be vulnerable, this would stabilize things a little bit more.”

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