Cicada Seeds

10/01/2026

I will be speaking at the Third International Food Forest and Forest Garden Symposium this year! The lineup of speakers is incredible- so many of my perennial vegetable heroes are presenting. The dates are Nov 3-6, it's a totally online conference, and the sessions will be recorded for watching later.

Sliding scale tickets available here: https://registration.iffg2026.com/iffg2026

Building on the previous two symposiums, this promises to be an exciting gathering of food forest practitioners, researchers, educators, chefs and others interested in sustainable food and growing.

In the last two years the profile of food forests and forest gardens has risen dramatically, with interest from even conservative forestry, agriculture and horticulture organisations.

This symposium aims to continue the push to get the profile and knowledge about these amazing sustainable growing systems, out to a wider audience. We will share stories from thriving food forests, and discuss the latest research, educational initiatives from kindergarten to university, practical design and management strategies, the use of perennial foods and much more.

More than anything this event will be a chance to connect with likeminded enthusiasts and shine some welcome light in these troubled days.

Registration is £79 / £39 / Free, which gives you four days full access to the event including presentations (both live and on an additional presentations channel), posters and other info, chat with other participants, plus six months exclusive access to watch presentations on-demand after the event. Choose a bursary option is you cannot afford the full fee.

09/30/2026

🎋 Michalina Hunter raised on a Sunshine Coast BC permaculture homestead finds business success with Cicada Seeds. By Riley Webster, BCBusiness

Michalina Hunter believes that perennial vegetables can transform our food systems. She started her business, Cicada Seeds, with the mission of making them more accessible.

Hunter came by this path naturally. Raised on a permaculture homestead on the Sunshine Coast, Hunter was introduced to sustainable agriculture in university. Later, she began learning about perennial vegetables—plants that live for more than two years—which were once commonly planted but became less so as farming industrialized. “Perennials can be less work for growers, better for soil health and carbon sequestration, and more resilient to pests and harsh conditions,” Hunter explains.

Determined to grow varieties that are unique to Canada, Hunter began sourcing and trialling seeds on her farm in Errington on Vancouver Island, and then selling those that thrived. “Regional seed producers and distributors that sell locally grown seeds are the foundation of a secure food system,” she says.

This year, she’s expanding production, hiring staff and launching trials with market gardeners to test perennial crops. “The benefits to farm ecology, climate and nutrition could be incredible if they were grown at scale,” Hunter emphasizes.

SOURCE: https://bcbusiness.ca/business/environment/sustainable-plant-growers-bc/

Cicada Seeds website https://cicadaseeds.ca/

PLEASE Keep comments and conversations civil and respectful 👇 NO H8

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09/30/2026

Thank you to BCBusiness for the article! I’m in good company with Xalish Medicines and West Coast Kelp!
Read here:

Learn how these B.C. growers are shaping the future of the province's botany industry, from traditional medicines to ocean farming.

09/17/2026

The Diversity Fava Bean Mix is very dear to my heart. It’s a mix of many varieties that were gifted or traded with friends over the years. Fava beans are probably the oldest crop in cultivation, originating in the fertile crescent. They were eventually brought over to South America where farmers cultivated a huge diversity in colours and patterns. This mix is a celebration of diversity, generosity, and the gratitude for the many generations of seed stewards who protected and shared these seeds.

Some beans in each packet will be crossed with one another, so each bean you grow out will be unique. Interesting traits will keep popping up over generations of growing this mix as they cross over time. Select the ones you love and keep planting them. This could be the start of many new fava bean varieties! Or just enjoy the colours, patterns, and flavours 🌀

Fava beans can be fall-planted in many regions, so we’re offering seeds now if you’d like to try that. Otherwise wait until early spring. Favas are much more cold tolerant than other bean species.

They’re now available at cicadaseeds.ca

09/15/2026

Our fall seeds & bulbs have landed! We’ve got:
French Grey Shallot bulbs
Babington’s Leek bulbils
Meadow Garlic bulbils
Walking Onion bulbils
Sea kale seeds
Diversity fava bean seeds
Nodding onion seeds
Great camas seeds

Check em out at cicadaseeds.ca

These are varieties that can be planted in the fall in most growing zones. Let us know your questions about these varieties!

09/08/2026

The Mini Fall Restock is just around the corner! Newsletter subscribers will get notified of the restock date first, so get on there if you’re not already: https://cicadaseeds.ca/pages/subscribe

The following varieties will be added to the website next week and can be fall-planted in most areas:

🌸 Babington’s Leeks Bulbils: A perennial leek that makes bulbils instead of seeds (and cute whimsical flowers). Goes dormant in summer and re-emerges in fall. Harvest by cutting at soil level in spring, and new leeks will resprout from the roots.

🧅 French Grey Shallot: The shallot with a cult following- extra high sugar content make them caramelize so well. Chefs kiss 😘

🥬 Sea Kale Mix: An essential perennial vegetable with edible shoots, leaves, broccolis, flowers, seedpods, and roots. Plants are loaded with showy, honey-scented flowers. Best seeded in fall outdoors to stratify.

🧄 Meadow Garlic Bulbils: A wild allium native to Eastern North America. Edible bulbs, leaves, and topset bulbils, with flavour is like a cross between onion and garlic. Somewhat similar to Ramps, although way easier to grow and propagate!

🧅 Red Walking Onion: New this year! A red variety of everyone’s favourite workhorse perennial onion.

🧅 Regular Walking Onion: Variety unknown but it’s a reliable standby with great vigour.

🌈 Diversity Fava Beans: An intercrossing mix of the most colourful and patterned fava beans I’ve come across from all over the world. Even more colourful than last year! I grew even more beans this year, so I don’t expect them to sell out in 5 minutes like in previous years 😅

Here on the PNW coast, we can plant fava beans until late November. Personally I wait until early spring but it’s worth playing around with fall seeding if they floats your boat! Other zones should look into whether fall-sown favas typically survive in your climate.

⏰ I’ll stop shipping the bulbils once the weather gets cold, so scoop them up now if you’re keen! ❄️

Let me know what questions you have about these varieties 🌱

07/02/2026

Come for a farm tour and potluck this August, in partnership with Young Agrarians!
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I’ll take us on a tour of our quarter acre seed farm, where we grow high-quality perennial vegetable seeds using practices that support ecological diversity and minimize soil disturbance.⁠
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I’ll share my experience of scaling up my home seed saving practice into a viable seed business on land leased through the B.C. Land Matching Program. You’ll have the chance to ask questions about farm start-up, seed growing, land sharing, and why you might want to integrate perennial foods into your farm or garden. The evening will wrap up with a potluck dinner, with plenty of time to socialize.⁠
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Come on out to share a potluck meal and learn about seeds and perennial vegetables!
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🕛️ WHEN: Monday, August 10, 2026 | 5–8 pm⁠
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📍 LOCATION: Unceded Kwalikum, Snaw-naw-as and K’ómoks territories | Errington, BC⁠
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Reserve your spot here https://youngagrarians.org/events/august-10-2026-errington-bc-farm-tour-and-potluck-at-cicada-seeds/
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06/29/2026

These are going to be incredible workshops- I can’t wait! Peter and Greg are SO knowledgeable and great teachers.

It’s your last chance to register for the Woody Perennials one- deadline June 30.

Please spread the word!

Registration for the July 17th Establishing Woody Perennials Systems course closes on June 30th!

06/09/2026

What a treat to visit this special farm in the Japanese countryside! Many thanks to for hosting me and my 7(!) friends, and showing us how they grow and propagate chorogi, aka crosnes or Chinese artichoke.

The farm is located in a small community near Himeji City in Hyogo Prefecture. Jin, Yuzu, and Mr and Mrs Hashimoto graciously agreed to let us visit to talk about chorogi, and Mrs Hashimoto prepared us a delicious lunch of somen (a cold noodle dish) and onigiri made with rice from the community farm that Mr Hashimoto leads!

Jin specialized in chorogi in university, and one thing he found is that propagating the plants by stem cuttings reduces disease spread. In Japan, chorogi is sometimes eaten pickled for New Year’s, and Jin is working to make it more popular.

One shared issue facing chorogi production in both Japan and Canada is summer heatwaves as chorogi prefers cooler temperatures. We shared ideas about ways to shade the crop, such as companion planting with apios (hodoimo) or Chinese yam (nagaimo).

Jin and Yuzu started farming in this area because of a program to get young people to move to the area, and they were paired with the Hashimoto family in an internship. It sounds like the program has been successful, and could serve as a good example for ageing farming communities in Canada as well.

One more lucky thing about our visit was that Mrs Hashimoto is a coffee enthusiast, and made us amazing coffees and even showed us how to roast the beans with a special ceramic pot!

This visit has been a highlight of the trip and I’m looking forward to staying connected with these wonderful folks.

05/29/2026

Cicada Seeds is going to Japan and I want your recommendations!

I’ve been so impressed to learn about the celebration of perennial vegetables in Japan. There seems to be a strong appreciation of sansai (mountain vegetables), many of which are now cultivated instead of foraged, and many are perennial!

Many regions in Japan have similar climates to Canada so we can grow many of the same species. I would love to see how farms are growing these vegetables on a larger scale, since we are pretty slow to embrace these crops here in North America, despite their many benefits to climate, soil health, the growers, etc.

I’m leaving next week and would love your recommendations. In particular I’m looking for farms growing the following cool-climate perennial veg:
- groundnut, hodoimo (Apios spp.)
- hosta, gibōshi/urui (Hosta spp.)
- udo (Aralia cordata)
- mountain yam, nagaimo/yamaimo (Dioscorea spp.)

Also open to other sansai or just cool natural farms in general, farmers markets, or restaurants using these vegetables. I’ll be in Tokyo, Osaka, and Kyoto mainly but happy to travel. Also a sweet Japanese friend is travelling with us and willing to translate 🥹

Pictured is one of my favourite root veggies, crosne aka chorogi in Japan!