Seed Gathering This Season
Through this autumn festival of Seed Gathering, The Tree Council aims to inspire everyone, particularly school children and families, to gather seeds, fruits and nuts and grow the trees of the future.
The Seed Gathering Season starts on the 23 September (the autumn equinox, considered to be the first day of autumn) and continues until the 23 October, giving everyone plenty of days on which to hold events.
Every tree starts with a seed: without the seed, no tree grows and without the trees, none of the many benefits that we enjoy would be available to us.
The season for seed gathering is moving into gear and the biggest single engine for the journey will be 
ordinary people choosing to go out, admire the autumn colours of the changing leaves and pick up the many different sorts of tree seeds that they find in parks, on streets and walking through woodlands.
It's what you might call a growing movement!
Be part of this movement by joining in The Tree Council's Seed Gathering Season - launched on Friday 23rd September and going through until 23rd October.
Coordinated events and informal activities are taking place all over the country but you can just as easily do it on your own. Just take a walk in town or country to collect seed to pot up and grow into small trees that can then be planted out next year, making every seed matter.
Of course, seeds are food as well as potential trees - for humans and for wildlife. Make the most of the autumn harvest by gathering berries, nuts and fruit to eat and make into delicious autumn treats - just make sure that there is plenty left over for the creatures that depend on them to get through the winter.
As a small girl, I used to gather beech seeds to paint and string into necklaces and bracelets. It wasn't until a few years later that I found that there was a more long-lasting pastime to be enjoyed by planting these seeds and helping them to grow into young trees. Every seed can be made to matter for all sorts of reasons, and regardless of the use, each one is important to the person - or creature - that benefits from it. New trees, food, even jewellery - seed gathering for a purpose is a good reason to get out and enjoy the trees in your local area. You can take part in an organised event or simply go out with family and friends and have a great time enjoying the fresh autumn air.
Pauline Buchanan Black, director-general of The Tree CouncilIf you want to be sure that you are picking the right things in the right places, there are planned events, run by The Tree Council's member organisations, its volunteer Tree Wardens and other supporters, currently taking place throughout the country.
Further information can be found on the Tree Council's website, https://www.treecouncil.org.uk.