Blog

For the fifth consecutive year, the Semillistas Association participated in the Sulayr Festival, held every summer in the beautiful village of Pampaneira, in the Alpujarra region of Granada. This festival, which weaves together culture, art, ecology, and community, has become an essential meeting point for projects committed to caring for the land and the relationships that sustain it.

In mid-June, the Semillistas Association organized a two-part event in the surroundings of Pitres, with a shared goal: to collect seeds, learn from the environment, and sow community.

On Friday, June 13, in the town of Los Guájares, we held a roundtable. This gathering wasn’t a formal event or a technical talk — it was, above all, an invitation to listen to one another: to those who inhabit and care for the Sierra de los Guájares in different ways.

Last Friday, 6th june, a new edition of the Seed Lab Open Day was held in Pitres, organized by the Semillistas Association. This annual event aims to bring science and seed work closer to the general public.

A few days ago, a roundtable took place in Órgiva, organized by the Semillistas Association in collaboration with the Órgiva Town Council. The aim of this first gathering was to bring together individuals, collectives, and organizations connected to Sierra Lújar—whether they work there, walk its trails, or simply appreciate and enjoy this natural space.

After the most intensive sowing period, our team is now refocusing on research. In this phase, we have begun studying a range of new tree and shrub species with potential for ecological restoration. Among them are willowherb (Epilobium spp.), clematis (Clematis spp.), flowering ash (Fraxinus ornus), Pistacia terebinthus, juniper (Juniperus spp.), maple (Acer spp.), wild apple (Malus spp.), mock privet (Phillyrea spp.), and stone pine (Pinus pinea), among others.

We continue monitoring the progress of the seedlings sown approximately a year and a half ago. These young plants have already withstood their first summer, winter, and part of the spring, and are now taking advantage of the current season to continue their vegetative growth, benefiting from the remaining soil moisture.

Over the past few weeks, we have begun monitoring the germination of all the seeds sown during the winter. We are currently finalizing the protocol for organizing and systematically recording these counts, which will officially begin next week and are expected to continue for approximately two to three weeks.

With winter coming to an end, we close the last harvest of the season before spring returns to give us new seeds. On this occasion, we have collected Juniperus oxycedrus in Sierra Lújar, a seed with which we have been experimenting for years to understand its standard germination, that is, how it germinates without any previous treatment.

At Semillistas, every sowing starts long before the seeds are put in the ground. Behind every plant that sprouts, there is a careful and detailed process that takes place in the laboratory. Today we want to tell you a little about how we prepare the seeds to ensure that they have the best possible conditions to germinate and later grow strong in the field.