Salt Spring Seeds is located at Seed Spirit Farm, nestled within the mountains of beautiful Salt Spring Island. Our team is small and multifaceted – we do it all, from growing, harvesting, processing and packing the seeds, to the shipping, customer service and everything in between. Additionally, we also have a wonderful group of skilled local growers who help us achieve the great diversity of seeds we offer – you can check them out here: “Our Growers”.

Team members at Seed Spirit Farm

Dan Jason

A passionate gardener since he planted his backyard in Montreal at age 13, Dan Jason is committed to empowering people to grow their own food and save their own seed. Since 1976 he has lived on Salt Spring Island, BC, where he created the mail order seed company Salt Spring Seeds, which specializes in heritage and heirloom open-pollinated and non-GMO seed varieties of vegetables and plants.

Dan was strongly involved in Seeds of Diversity Canada in the early years, and founded the Seed and Plant Sanctuary for Canada in 2003. Dan has written many bestselling books, which you'll find in the Books Section. As an active critic of genetically modified seeds, patents on living organisms and industrial agriculture in general, he is a dedicated educator on sustainable organic gardening and farming, food politics, seed saving, and a farmer of beautiful gardens full of vegetables, grains, medicinal and culinary herbs and flowers.

 

Caitlyn Price

Caitlyn came to Salt Spring Island from North Vancouver, where she grew up immersed in the natural world of the Pacific Northwest Rain Forest. In Vancouver, she studied Holistic Nutrition and Herbal Medicine, which led her to realise that our health begins with what we eat - and the health of what we eat begins with how it’s grown!

From that point on, Caitlyn turned and walked gladly down the path of small-scale farming. She had the opportunity to learn the foundations through the KPU Richmond Farm School program, where she was taught by two incredible teachers, Kareno and Daniel. She is deeply grateful to both of them for showing her the ways of the land.

Kareno (Seeds of the Revolution), in particular, held a real passion for seed saving and had apprenticed with Dan Jason on Salt Spring Island. Her stories inspired Caitlyn to dig deeper into the world of seeds, and that digging brought her to where she is now at Seed Sprit Farm. 

Each season spent with the seeds deepens Caitlyn’s love of what they symbolise: the beginning, the end and all the stories and wisdom in between. She sees open-pollinated seed-saving as a doorway to a more resilient and abundant future in which everyone can share food, medicine and knowledge - growing together with no fear. Her work at Salt Spring Seeds is her way of creating the world of abundance and generosity that she wishes to see unfold. 

 

Fernando García Vicario

Fernando, or Fern, grew up on the outskirts of Madrid (Spain) surrounded by concrete. Originally an IT professional in the corporate world in England, he decided to switch careers and lifestyles after falling in love with organic farming while volunteering in New Zealand. He then pursued a Master of Science in Sustainable Food and Natural Resources at the Centre for Alternative Technology in Wales – gaining an understanding of the challenges facing the food system from an academic standpoint. Following his studies, he taught seminars to master students at his university and worked on several organic farms and sustainability projects around the globe. After having lived in 5 countries, Fern moved to British Columbia in 2022 to learn the art of Seed Saving from Dan Jason. This is where he found his life’s contribution to a better world: seeds. This is now Fern’s life path and there is no way back!

Aside from working at Salt Spring Seeds, Fern is also the Vice President of the Salt Spring Seed Sanctuary Society, a charitable organization dedicated to the health and vitality of the earth through the preservation and promotion of heritage seeds.

Fern has many hobbies and passions, such as macro photography of flowers and seeds, hiking, yoga and reading. His guiding values and principles are: Integrity, Authenticity, Equality, Justice, Reciprocity and Relationship.

Fern will be forever grateful to his farming mentors, without whom he wouldn’t have found his life path: Clyde Potter (The Chef’s Garden at Epicurean, New Zealand), Roger McLennan (Centre for Alternative Technology, Wales) and Dan Jason (Salt Spring Seeds).