Live Like Ally on Instagram
Hello Dear Friends!
We have an update on the status of the Free Seed Project Packs!
We have emailed every person who has requested a pack.
Please check for an email from us at [email protected] If you do not see an email, please check your spam. The email was sent today, January 30th.
Each year we have the resources to provide 10,000 packs. We are so joyous to have this opportunity to spread this abundance! We received close to 20,000 requests so far in 2023.
As much as we would love to, we are not able to provide seeds to all who request them. We are very hopeful that all will be patient with us, whether you have received a pack or not.
As a very small not for profit team, our resources are very limited. We are not able to respond to questions from everyone.
Your email will confirm whether or not you are receiving a pack and when it was sent or will be sent. Here are the details:
- On January 5th we mailed the 1st batch - 2,000 packs!
- On January 26th we mailed the 2nd batch - 6,700 packs! These packs were mailed to those who submitted a request from 12/8-12/24.
- By February 15th we will mail the 3rd batch - 2,300 packs! These packs are being mailed to those who submitted a request from 12/25 to 1/19 midday.
- Those who signed up after 1/19 midday are on the waitlist.
Please know that it is very unlikely we will have more packs available in 2023.
The waitlist is still open for signups on the website. By adding yourself to the waitlist, you will be notified by email when we have seeds available again, likely spring 2024.
We are also elated to share that we have launched a Seed Pack by Donation program. We can now provide seed packs to those who can joyfully make a donation. By doing this, more people can receive the seeds to grow their own food while providing the gift of Free Seed Packs to others without financial resources and with low access to healthy food. Please share this option with your community!
Learn more here:
www.robgreenfield.org/seeds
Health and happiness to you!
Free Seed Project Team, Robin Greenfield and Live Like Ally Foundation
Oh little seeds
holding so much life beside me,
dormant while I sleep,
that’s the Free Seed Library.
~~~
Hello New Friends!
My name is Emer (they/she)! Pronounced Em-er. I have been interacting with many of you here.
I feel so happy to introduce myself and to be part of this earth loving group. I operate communications with the Free Seed Project, Rob Greenfield, and the Live Like Ally Foundation.
Through this role I will feature the inspiring individuals, organizations, and community gardens that are connecting our cities to the land—and I will center the voices of as many BIPOC gardeners and underprivileged people as possible! I will alert you about the Free Seed Project and shipment dates, through social media, notifications, and newsletters. I am here to answer your questions about the Free Seed Project, including for Community Packs and Seed Library Packs. As the new steward of the Free Seed Library, I feel grateful to be a giver of even more resources.
Another Community Program we run is called Community Fruit Trees where you can apply to be supplied with fruit trees by mail to plant in your community! 🌳 We are giving out Grants right now! (Link in bio)
Continued in the comments👇🏾
Hello Dear Friends!
Our MLK Day 2023 was happily spent packing free seed packs with 30+ volunteers at @bounty_and_soul, a community-based non-profit providing access to fresh produce and wellness education for everyone. Give it up for some of the individuals packing your seeds!
In reflecting on Martin Luther King Jr.’s legacy, we share a commitment to change, selfless giving, and community building.
Happy MLK Day!
Love,
Free Seed Project Team, Rob Greenfield and Live Like Ally Foundation
Busy packing seeds at @bounty_and_soul with a group of AmeriCorps members from @conservingcarolina (Project Serve) for #MLKDay2023 🥰
Song is “Spoonful” written by Willie Dixon and first recorded by Howlin’ Wolf in 1960—popular during Dr. King‘s leadership of the modern American Civil Rights Movement.
Hello Dear Friends!
We have sent out the first batch of 2,000 free seed packs to those in Zones 9-10!
Free Seed Packs are on the way! It's almost time to grow healthy food and share with your community! 🌱💌🙌
Seed Packs were mailed January 5th. We ship via USPS and Free Seed Packs should arrive within 3 to 10 days of shipment.
We have sent a confirmation email to all recipients. If you have not received that email from [email protected] and have indeed signed up, please check your spam. If you have not received that confirmation email, then you were not part of this first mailing.
We will be providing Seed Packs to 8,000+ more of you to help you grow your own food and share it with others! We will mail these in March.
EVERYONE WHO SIGNED UP FOR A PACK WILL RECEIVE AN EMAIL BY JANUARY 30TH TO LET YOU KNOW WHETHER YOU WILL BE RECEIVING A PACK. IF YOU HAVE NOT RECEIVED AN EMAIL, IT MEANS YOU ARE NOT PART OF THIS FIRST MAILING. PLEASE WAIT PATIENTLY FOR THE NEXT ROUND OF EMAILS.
Please post a photo of you with the pack on social media and in the Free Seed Project Facebook group. Make sure to use #FreeSeedProject for a chance to be featured in our social media!
We encourage you to use our gardening guide as a resource to begin growing your own food. The guide includes how to find local resources, which are one of the best ways to learn how to grow food! https://www.robgreenfield.org/freeseedprojectguide
Please share the stories of the food and connections that these seeds help to grow. 🙂 Your excitement to grow food will inspire others to embark on the journey as well.
As a small organization, with a very small team, we are doing our best to be of service. We appreciate everyone reading our updates and waiting for updates and instructions.
Love,
Free Seed Project Team, Rob Greenfield and Live Like Ally Foundation
Hello Dear Friends!
You all seem super excited to grow your own food! 🌱🌟🪱
In less than ONE WEEK, we have received over 10,000 signups for spring 2023 and have reached capacity.
You may still sign up for our waiting list here:
www.freeseedproject.org
If you have signed up, you will receive an email from us ([email protected]) by January 31st if you will be receiving a Free Seed Pack from us!
To stay up to date on when we will offer seed packs in the future and to get involved with our current programming; follow us on Facebook at Live Like Ally Foundation and on Instagram @Live_Like_Ally. We will be sharing lots of great content and resources!
Meet Sister Christine Shehadi!
As a recipient of the Community Pack, Christine Shehadi is able to supply organic greens and vegetables to more people in her community of Ellwood City, Pennsylvania.
“On a daily basis, we cook lunch for 30 to 35 people,” says Sister Christine. “We have 12 nuns that live here and feed numerous guests. We also invite community groups to visit such as special needs schools, church youth groups, etc.”
Sister Christine is a cook and the gardener at the The Orthodox Monastery of the Transfiguration who uses all fresh produce to feed people that visit them, as well as provide meals for low-income individuals in her area.
NOTE: For those who are wondering what the Community Pack is… This year we sent Community Packs to 200 recipients. This pack is for organizations or individuals growing food on a larger scale, usually for their community. We supply a quantity of seeds fit for community gardens, school gardens, non-profit farms, Free Seed Libraries, and those creating food sovereignty in their community.
You can learn more about it on our website (link in bio): https://www.robgreenfield.org/freeseedproject/
#LiveLikeAlly #FreeSeedProject #Gardening #GrowYourOwn #GrowYourOwnFood #BeginnerGardener #FoodFreedom
Hello Dear Friends!
2022 has been a year of healthy food in the garden for many of us. We managed to send Free Seed Packs to 10,000 of you, plus 200 Community Packs!
We are grateful to be providing Free Seed Packs to 10,000 people and organizations again this year!
Growing food with your community is one of the greatest and most accessible steps you can take in creating a more equitable, just and regenerative society. It's a rejection of the broken industrial food system and a positive step of living in connection with Earth, humanity, and all our plant and animal relatives.
Plus the food you grow will be healthier and tastier than anything at the supermarket!
We've now launched our spring 2023 initiative and you can sign up to receive a pack in March 2023!
We prioritize providing seeds to people who:
• would not otherwise be able to afford or access quality seeds
• grow food to share with others who have low access to healthy food
• are first time gardeners
Please only apply if you match one of these so that we can be of best service to the community. We are a small organization that can not fulfill every request placed.
Sign up for your pack here (link in our bio)
www.robgreenfield.org/freeseedproject
Note: If you signed up prior to the posting of this update, you were on the mailing list only, and must sign up again.
Note: We are also sending packs to 2,000 people for growing zones 9 and 10 (Florida, Southern Texas, Southern Louisiana, parts of California and SE New Mexico) to be received early January 2023 for the winter growing season. Sign up via the same link above.
Happy Growing to You!
Love,
Free Seed Project Team, Rob Greenfield and Live Like Ally Foundation
#FreeSeedProject #LiveLikeAlly #GrowYourOwnFood #GrowFoodNotLawns
Imagine if all our streets were lined with fruit trees, producing an abundance of healthy fruit right in our communities! Teenager Alicia Serratos @3sistersseedbox planted 21 Community Fruit Trees in her neighborhood! Her example of improving her community through Community Fruit Trees is so inspiring.
Special thanks to @robjgreenfield for partnering with us to plant these trees!
Ruth White Wolf Bear has shared her garden plan for the Free Seed Project. The abundance is shared with her community and she encourages others to garden as well! Ruth is grateful for the addition of the Free Seed Project seeds to supplement the seeds she has saved from last year's harvest. Between fresh, canned, frozen, and dehydrated, she believes to have enough food to sustain loved ones through the winter! Incredible!
We have released a seed saving resource page, so that we can all continue the growing we get out of the Free Seed Project, and any other varieties you may grow! Free Seeds Project is a lifestyle! Visit the link in our bio to access.
Seed saving is a term used to describe the process of harvesting seeds from a crop and saving them for use at a later date.
With the abundance of turnips in the garden, we made turnip top pesto for us and to share! Turnip greens may be intimidating to some because of their spiky leaves, but blanching will get rid of this texture. Are you giving this recipe a try? What other ways do you eat your turnip greens? Share in the comments!
Ally believed that every living thing is good and worthy of unconditional love. A way she practiced this was through a three-year correspondence with John, a forty-seven year old man serving a life sentence in a Texas prison.
This exchange was important to both sides. When John didn’t have any actual paper, he wrote to Ally on toilet paper; when she realized that prisoners were regularly denied something as basic as pen and paper, she sent John money to buy them in the prison commissary.
John had hand-painted and neatly lettered a beautiful card for Ally’s twenty-first birthday (May 27th) and had mailed it with enough time to make it to New Zealand. The card thanks Ally for being born, writing, “Your presence makes the world a better place, particularly my world,” and wished her “ten million more lovely breaths.” Heartbreakingly, the card was never received, it was en route when the tragedy that took Ally’s life struck.
John received news of what happened by a letter from Ally’s sister, Emily. “She was the only person in the world who genuinely cared about me,” he wrote, his pain palpable. “She reached out to me, a nobody; she gave me love and dignity when no one else would.”
If you are interested in showing your humanity by connecting with an incarcerated member of society, there are a number of organizations dedicated to prisoners’ rights and to helping inmates cope with incarceration. @abolitionapostles has a program you may sign-up for, and is a great resource to educate yourself on further topics.
Diane started gardening on a larger scale 5 years ago, trying to grow as much as she can to freeze, dehydrate, can, and eat fresh! She is always reading and watching videos to learn from others. This year she had the idea to try growing in a few cardboard boxes. Looking at the photo, you can see there is a box in between the fence and cinder blocks; check out those beautiful mustard leaves! This has given Diane more growing space and it’s been working quite well! Her garden is chemical free and thriving!
How is your Free Seed Project garden going? Take a photo and tag us at Live Like Ally Foundation on Facebook and Instagram @livelikeally
One of our Community Fruit Tree recipients, @impactearth_composting, donated 3 Paw paw, 2 American hazelnut and 1 bing cherry to the Rochester Museum and Science Center @rocrmsc. They held a planting day where local preschoolers were invited to learn about the significance of trees and compost! To be a Community Fruit Tree steward at four years old... imagine their future!
Learn about Community Fruit Trees by visiting the link in our bio!
This is Alexandra’s first harvest of Free Seed Project mustard greens and arugula that was shared with the neighbors! We LOVE these vibrant, flavorful greens, what a special gift to share with our community. One week later, she pulled ANOTHER harvest! Talk about abundance!
What varieties have been growing prolifically for you? We’ve got a load of turnips!
Lynsey and her family have recently started a ‘Take a Plant, Leaf a Plant’ stand in front of their home! It is similar to a seed library exchange, but expands to include plants, clippings, seeds, vegetable/fruit starts, pots, soil, yard art etc. Community members simply bring a plant or anything garden related and exchange it for something at the stand; handcrafted or homemade is always a welcome! They built the stand from materials sitting around their yard (old doors, window screens, expanded metal, pallets, old fence board). Upcycling for the win!
Lysney’s family has also installed a neighborhood garden in the front yard! What was grass and weeds a few months ago, is now producing fresh food for her family while putting out any extra home grown produce at the plant stand for others to enjoy!
Their hope is to inspire others to connect with others by starting a stand or garden of their own! It has been a positive experience for the family: they have met so many new neighbors and people in the community stopping by… Let’s build relationships centered in growth and care!
Thank you SO much for the wonderful impact you and your family have made Lynsey!
This teenager helped start 100 seed libraries across the USA and you can start a Free Seed Library in your community too!
Meet @alicia.serratos from @3sistersseedbox.
Learn more about the Free Seed Project by visiting the link in our bio!
Turnip and Arugula went crazy in one of our Free Seed Project demonstration gardens! Here we are going through the rows harvesting and thinning in one go. We got a basket full of greens to make a delicious cold soup for these hot days!
How are you eating your Free Seed Project greens?
Full sun, the garden, and friends; What a life we get to experience!
Our dear friends at the Napa County Seed Library have been growing the Free Seed Project pack (plus some extras!) in their garden since March; check out the harvest! Growing your own food to share with the people around you is one of the best ways to make a difference for both people and the planet. Our relationships with each other and greater life will fruit a connection like no other, tended with love and intention.
@napacoseedlibrary Thank you for all you do! We love you!
Zulma Polanco had some mystery greens growing in their Free Seed Project garden bed. After deliberating with the Free Seed Project Facebook Group, they pulled out the plant in the night to reveal: radishes!
Join the conversation on the Free Seed Project Community Facebook group! In the group you can:
-Ask questions and get answers from experienced gardeners.
-Talk to other people who are starting gardens with Free Seed Project seed packs and find out what’s working and not working for them.
-Post photos with updates from your garden.
This group is a source of motivation from other new gardeners as a space to share successes and failures with the other gardeners to motivate and encourage them too!