Boost Bertie County Seeds and Alliance of Native Seedkeepers

Elizabeth Roach is organizing this fundraiser.

Donation protected

UPDATE - we are proudly in our new building and operating our first storefront, Bertie County Seeds. In-store pick up hours will be offered soon! For now, we are busy getting our 2026 catalogue up and running. We often do have the open sign showing when we are here so call or stop by!

If you follow us on Facebook, you'll know that we have experienced delay after delay. Now, things are finally moving in the right direction albeit very late in our prep season!

Donated funds here support us in critical ways:

Staff - we only have two people who are paid to work with us full time on very lean wages while our majority owner doesn't receive any wages whatsoever (and who puts a lot of her Sierra Club salary into the business!)
Building utilities - we are so thrilled to be in this physical space yet that has added additional costs!
Equipment maintenance - we are delighted and relieved to finally have our seed-packing machine yet it has come with additional equipment needs and labor to get it going
Peace of mind - we run super tight margins to keep our seed packet prices affordable for a wide variety of audiences

After opening our doors for a soft opening in August, we have been warmly welcomed by so many home gardeners in this beautifully rich agricultural area. We are expanding our contract seed grower program to locals in our area. Please visit us to learn more!

Original Post:

Alliance of Native Seedkeepers is ready to launch our Indigenous Grower’s Program in an effort to honor the stewardship, Living Ways and Food Sovereignty efforts of our Relatives across Turtle Island. AONSK is a Native-owned benefit corporation, devoted to reconnecting Indigenous People to our ancestral food ways and restoring the sacred relationship between these seeds and our communities. AND - WE GOT OUR OWN BUILDING!!

First, who are we are serving? We remove barriers, open access and help build capacity for the next generation of Indigenous growers.

To achieve these ambitions, we have secured our first property to house our seed operations! This 1950s building has solid bones but needed some TLC...so far we have:

Repaired roof leaks
Replaced insulation and ceiling panels
Upgraded lighting and electrical systems
Remodeled bathroom
Installed climate controlled systems

Next up - receive the highly anticipated seed-packing machine and expand our offerings!

As we grow, we’ll need..

Shelving, dry storage, a seed cooler, a larger germination chamber, and freezers for organic pest control to manage insect infestations in newly received seeds

We have come a longggg way from a corner in a small apartment then a small room in our small house to running electricity through an extension cord to a shed in our home's yard to this new headquarters - amazing! We will never stop growing but this is a huge step for us. One that we couldn’t do without YOU, our supporters. With this expansion, we will have the space and capacity to fulfill our mission and vision.

The funds will be used to do the following work:

Decolonize the process of contract growing for Indigenous growers
Offer resources and educational information and further development around seed saving, seed cleaning, seed banks and protocols for working with these sacred seeds
Distribute resources directly to Indigenous growers
Launch a grant matching program for Indigenous growers
Remove obstacles and barriers for contract growers who want to serve in this market