#seed swap

[oh-he-grows]

Preparing for a seed swap! Finally, I can be as generous as I like without having to worry about postage.

since I misplaced my assortment of small seed envelopes, I ripped a bunch of pages out of a seed catalog and folded them into envelopes with the sides taped shut. I can fit an entire season of seeds in a single altoid tin!

[tomorrowsgardennc]

market update // national seed swap day 2025

geeeeez i have so many notifications here, i guess i really haven't been on here in a hot minute. it has been nuts prepping for my first *major* seed swap, and it legit was a major one. but now that it has been a week, i think i'm finally starting to catch up with things. but i want to share with y'all before i forget all my mental notes and stories!!

i personally took so very few photos, because after 5 minutes in i was SWAMPED!! there was a line the entire 2 hours of the swap, and at the end of the market we had to tape off the seed swap portion in order to pack up! i was genuinely only expecting a steady stream of curious people, but it was shoulder to shoulder people, courtiosuly helping one another find varieties of this or that and everyone talking and asking questions!

now for setup... i had myself, my farmer mama (sooo happy she was able to make it!!), a local community garden captain who i asked to volunteer so he could promote his community and network a bit himself, another fellow plant vendor at the market, and one other volunteer who knew nothing about gardening but LOVES to organized. and y'all... i could not have asked for a better team to help me. farmer mama helped me keep my panic attacks away from so many people in one place... the community garden captain helped put a smile on everyone's face and giving the regulars new info, the fellow vendor was acting like she was a salesman and got so many seeds flying off the tables by answering sooooo many questions, and the last volunteer kept all the tables nice and tidy throughout the swap and refilled when space opened up. it was truly amazing.

we had a total of 25 feet of table space, and every table was jam packed with seeds. i brought approx. 1,375 seed packets (+/- a few dozen between added donos the morning of and me shipping some out the week before). but the thing is... the tables never got empty because of the amount we also had donated back! we had books and nursery containers too. i left with more books than what i arrived with, and all the nursery containers were gone by end of the swap. which is good because i don't need any more of those 😅

i think, with the seeds donated day of, that there were more seeds saved personally than open seed packets than i expected. now, sadly, i'm going to have to get the word out that labeling seeds as "pumpkin" is... well... not all too helpful for anyone. but i have 350ish days to get that word out before the next seed swap. and i plan to! just... need to wind down from this event first, mentally.

ok so, i know that part of my autism is me legit not being able to grasp certain concepts of emotions... even with hubs best efforts i still can't understand empathy. but i also... ok sorry this is hard to explain so it'll be written poorly... but a ton of people kept congratulating me??? saying what i did was a "true accomplishment" and i "knocked this out of the part" and "you succeeded!!" but... this wasn't about me???? i didn't do this for me. i did this for everyone who needs food. for those who have been too scared to try and start seeds before. who have tried before but trying again was too high of an investment. i didn't do this for my benefit, nor for marketing, or anything. the community garden captain gained more social media followers than me, and that's EXACTLY what i wanted!! one woman, dressed as though she was just barely getting by, legitimately broke out into tears when she picked up one envelope, dug through her purse and asked how much and i said "everything on these tables are free!" she said thank you a few times before she couldn't hold it in and grabbed a few more packets and left. congratulate HER on having the means go grow when it obviously means so much to her! congratulate ao many others who now won't have to worry about how they're going to afford a garden this year when bills are so tight! i don't know... maybe i'm missing something. just... i don't need a pat on the back for helping people. this should be the norm, bar minimum, not an accomplishment.

...

anyway... notes for next year:

- have a better donation system. turns out a lot of people were putting the seeds on the table that they brought, and nobody realized it, so i couldn't properly thank those people when they did.

- make sure to get more companies to donate. i had 7 companies donate, but renee's garden donated over 600 seed packets alone while every other company was, like, 50 maximum. we are going to need quite a lot more next year...

- still debating on switching my company to non-profit or not. i've talked to an "official non-profit consultant" at the local community college but she didn't really answer my questions about my type of business. i'm definitely not doing any of this for money, but i need more funding if i want to make seed swaps not only bigger but in more locations, both in person and online. and i have soooo many ideas on how to do so. i just need to figure out the best way to do so, legally. i'm just scared of messing some sort of legal paperwork or taxes up when i switch to non-profit.

- try and get the same volunteer team. i could not have done it without them.

- grow. grow grow grow and grow.

that last note is for you, too.

just grow 🌱

[thechickendaddy]

Alright folks, seed swap time

Feel free to message me what you’re looking for (corn, pumpkins, beans, tomatoes etc) and I will check to see what I’ve got

If you don’t have seeds to swap that’s totally cool, I have everything I need, anything extra is just a bonus

This is to create some sort of community. To get people into growing their own food, even if it’s just one pepper plant. There’s nothing more fulfilling than pulling off your first ripe fruit, and even tho I grow in large quantities that feeling never goes away. I hope you all get to experience it at least once in your lifetime

[farmobileo3]

[turtlesandfrogs]

I am rich in kale seed. I can not wait to bring this to a seed swap and give it away.

[bethelctpride]

Bethel CT Pride's Gardening Program

These all are coming from zone USDA 6B and are a mix of partial packets and saved seeds. So they're all stuff that will grow in zone that g

Make your garden GAY with our free seeds by mail program!

just select what you want and give us a mailing address and seeds will be mailed to you for free so long as you live in the US!

What's on the list changes as we run out or as we get local folks giving us more seeds to send out!

Live in the Bethel CT area and want to drop off seeds you saved from last year? You can drop them off at Rainy Day Paperback at 81 Greenwood Ave. during business hours or in the yellow drop box on the porch.

We also host a monthly in-person plant swap. March & April are indoor plants only, but May we will have free live seedlings and trees available!

[walks-the-garden]

[ID: A digital poster with a white box in the center for text and a greyish green background that has various fall leaves and flower clip art on it. The text in the center reads as: "Saturday, Sept. 24th 10am-12pm, plant & seed swap, Southwest Chatham Library, meet your neighbors and swap plants, seeds, and garden tips! Seed saving demo, DIY seed packets, DIY plant markers. Hosted by Windsor Forest NFN Community Garden." End ID]

Anyone in Savannah, Georgia, near Southside?

We're going to get hosting a Plant and Seed Swap event at Southwest Chatham public Library on September 24th (2022), from 10am to 12 pm !

Along with swapping seeds, cuttings, and plants, we will be doing seed-saving demos, answering questions, and showing the difference between a few different domestic plant species and how to tell them apart (such as the different squash species based on fruit and seed appearance, along with Pepper species )

If you're local, come on down! Even if you don't have plants or seeds to share, this is a completely open event and everyone will be able to take home something with them, since I am swimming in thousands of pepper seeds to share :)

[journiland]

9/2/2022

Making seed packets for the upcoming seed swap at the bee conference next weekend.

The @pirateking42 -style ones won for best packet, judging by appearance, ease of making, containment of seeds, and non-snaggability (not inadvertently coming open).

Pirate's seed packet folding tutorial