In the parish of Glendale, on Scotland’s Isle of Skye, there are stories amongst the community of a giant cabbage once grown by their ancestors. Legend has it that one stormy night centuries past, a ship was wrecked off the cliffs of Glendale. Survivors settled on the island for the winter and come spring shared treasure saved from the waves with local inhabitants – a leather pouch of precious seed from their home – which grew to be known as the giant Glendale cabbage.
Across the sea in Donegal, Ireland, the Sweeney family have been growing a familiar-sounding cabbage for over three generations... A giant of a Brassica, the Gortahork Cabbage is a local favourite, expertly adapted to the regional climate and sought after by many. The vegetable not only survives but thrives in wet and windy conditions. A drumhead winter cabbage with excellent flavour, one head fills a wheelbarrow while two will topple it over.
Could these two cabbages in fact be one and the same? Where Giants Grow follows the story of this legendary cabbage across our isles, exploring how seeds have always accompanied people, gathering tales and traditions, Intertwining with our histories.
Throughout human history we have chosen the most resilient, most productive, most nutritious seeds. Those seeds have nourished us the following year, and the year after that. Sowing, selecting, saving and sharing seed was an intrinsic part of nurturing plants and people. Yet, in a short space of time, our long-honed skills have begun to wither. Society has prioritised commerce over co-evolution.
Seeding Tomorrow captures the re-emergence of an ancient occupation. It follows the market gardeners in Ireland who are returning to seed production; amongst the chaos of Brexit and climate change, their story offers security and hope for the future. They are seeding tomorrow. And the world needs more growers to do the same.
Since the dawn of agriculture, our seeds have travelled with us, over landscapes, across oceans, through time. Each generation passes these tiny bundles of life on to its descendants. No one owns these seeds. They are a gift from the past and a promise for the future.
A Legacy Imbued in the Seed follows seed keeper Tamsin Leakey as she strives to sustain the beans bred by her father. Colin Leakey was a world leading botanist, himself the son of palaeontologist Louis Leakey whose renowned research proved that mankind evolved from east Africa.
The film documents Tamsin’s determination to start a ‘bean revolution’ in her father’s name. It comes at a time when beans are much needed to provide locally grown, low carbon protein for all. As plants that also improve the soil, their regenerative role in a food system facing climate chaos has never been more important. The film explores the weight of responsibility Tamsin feels as the inheritor of her father’s seeds. It also celebrates the importance of community in alleviating this, allowing seeds and seed keepers alike to flourish.
It is a story about seed keeping as an intergenerational practice, and seeds as a source of love, legacy and connection to those who have come before and those countless generations yet to be born.
Londoners are rising to the challenges of climate change, food poverty,
entrenched inequality and our nation’s mental and physical health crises
by reviving one of the oldest human activities of all- sowing, saving and
sharing seeds.
A Quiet Revolution, profiles London’s urban seed and food growers who are members of the London Freedom Seed Bank, a network of more than 72 growers caring for over 120 seed varieties, many of which are rapidly adapting to London's unique growing conditions.
This film gives growers and community activists a platform to share their work and explain why urban seed and food networks, and the green spaces they maintain, matter to so many Londoners.
A Quiet Revolution, profiles London’s urban seed and food growers who are members of the London Freedom Seed Bank, a network of more than 72 growers caring for over 120 seed varieties, many of which are rapidly adapting to London's unique growing conditions.
This film gives growers and community activists a platform to share their work and explain why urban seed and food networks, and the green spaces they maintain, matter to so many Londoners.
Welsh organic farmer Gerald Miles has been on an epic quest to rediscover the rare black oats his grandfather grew.
For a long time it looked like his search would be in vain, and that the black oats were gone for good.
Then, after more than twenty years, Gerald met Iwan Coedfadre, a folk singer and perhaps the last farmer in Wales to have kept black oats alive into the 21st Century.
Llafur Ni - Our Grains tells the story of how Gerald and Iwan came to meet through singer Owen Shires, the blossoming Llafur Ni Network and The Gaia Foundation’s UK & Ireland Seed Sovereignty Programme. It explores the significance of black oats and other Welsh crops in a time of climate crisis and why reviving seeds is a crucial part of a wider movement to re-value and pass on the skills, language and culture that have enabled welsh farmers and rural communities to thrive for centuries.
Llafur Ni - Our Grains tells the story of how Gerald and Iwan came to meet through singer Owen Shires, the blossoming Llafur Ni Network and The Gaia Foundation’s UK & Ireland Seed Sovereignty Programme. It explores the significance of black oats and other Welsh crops in a time of climate crisis and why reviving seeds is a crucial part of a wider movement to re-value and pass on the skills, language and culture that have enabled welsh farmers and rural communities to thrive for centuries.