Finding a Seed Swap?

[flowerbug]

so as said in other posts. i'm going to do a mini-seed-swap and garden group at the local library. putting my time where my mouth is.

 

[flowerbug]

the seed saving presentation Wednesday afternoon was fun and there must have been about 15 people who attended. i took some of my beans with me to give away (not the whole car trunk full! - it was raining) and was glad there were a few people who would take some to try out. i took plenty of Purple Dove and then some containers of a mix of about 10 wax and green beans that i'd grown over the years (also including Purple Dove) - most of the mix included beans from @Bluejay77 's collection and a few of others. so those are all off on their new adventures in survival.

and got to talk to a few old friends from the library i hadn't seen in years. made a few new friends too. should be interesting to see if they will show up to any garden club meetings. one person was funny in that he and his wife had to point out that he didn't like peas, but perhaps we'll change his mind about that because he's never eaten peas fresh from the garden so his perception is based upon canned peas. i don't think he'd ever tried any pea pods either.

Bevin Cohen did a good job of going over the basics of seed saving and was entertaining too. a lot to cover in 1hr for quite a bit of material. he also did plug the seed library and i was glad to see some people using it afterwards.

i was able to mention the gardening group meetings and to see a few people from that who attended the seed saving presentation. it was a soggy day so i wasn't expecting a huge turnout for the presentation, but i was good to see that many people came out anyways.

 

[Zeedman]

I have neglected to mention that much to my surprise, there is now another SSE member just a few miles away from me. They first contacted me to invite me to a seed swap last Spring, but that was shortly after my DW's passing, and I was not yet ready to attend public gatherings. However, they held another seed swap in late October, which I did attend. It turned out to be a great experience! Although they are deep in the city, they have a large lot, and their garden is actually larger than mine. I knew right away that we were kindred spirits, because we both grew different varieties of luffa (!!!). They are also VERY heavily invested in permaculture, and their location close to Lake Winnebago enables them to grow fruits that would not normally survive this far North (such as paw-paw). It was the first time I saw a medlar tree in person. They also had an extensive collection of fig trees, which require a lot of protective measures on their part. Further conversations about their fruit growing methods will be pleasant, and ongoing.

Because the swap was held outside, I only brought a limited amount of seed (mostly seed grown this year) and some garlic cloves left over after planting. As it turned out, those garlic cloves were of the most interest. I gave an impromptu presentation on garlic growing, convinced 6-7 gardeners to grow garlic for the first time... and it just happened to be perfect garlic planting weather at the time. I gave away about a pound of garlic cloves, of 3 large-bulbed varieties (each a different type) that have proven to perform well in this area.

I was pleasantly surprised at the attendance to the swap. There were 2 others offering seeds besides the host & myself, and about 25-30 attendees to the swap. One was a Korean immigrant, who was surprised that I had Korean soybeans; we will likely exchange seeds in the near future. There was also an elderly East European immigrant who was overjoyed that I had some Hungarian peppers that she recognized; I promised to bring some plants for her in next year's Spring swap.

The host & I exchanged seeds, with the promise of a more extensive exchange in the future. But the best part is that the host works at the University - and told me that he might be able to find students to help with my preservation efforts! From what has otherwise been a dark year, a ray of hope.

 

[Tormato]

I host a fairly large seed swap. If it's OK with moderators, I will post a link to it. For now, I have to fulfill current participants wish lists. I figure that by early January, others can join.

 

[flowerbug]

I host a fairly large seed swap. If it's OK with moderators, I will post a link to it. For now, I have to fulfill current participants wish lists. I figure that by early January, others can join.

i'm not a moderator but it would help if you could update your profile to give a general location so people don't have to search back to figure it out.

i have no objection at all if you want to talk about seed swaps here as this is the topic and thread. cheers!

 

[Tormato]

i'm not a moderator but it would help if you could update your profile to give a general location so people don't have to search back to figure it out.

i have no objection at all if you want to talk about seed swaps here as this is the topic and thread. cheers!

Will do, on the update, when I figure out how to do it.

 

[meadow]

Will do, on the update, when I figure out how to do it.

Some linking can be a problem in these kinds of forums (I don't know about here), but usually links to other forums (for instance) can get a person banned. So be careful! @flowerbug

 

[meadow]

I have neglected to mention that much to my surprise, there is now another SSE member just a few miles away from me. They first contacted me to invite me to a seed swap last Spring, but that was shortly after my DW's passing, and I was not yet ready to attend public gatherings. However, they held another seed swap in late October, which I did attend. It turned out to be a great experience! Although they are deep in the city, they have a large lot, and their garden is actually larger than mine. I knew right away that we were kindred spirits, because we both grew different varieties of luffa (!!!). They are also VERY heavily invested in permaculture, and their location close to Lake Winnebago enables them to grow fruits that would not normally survive this far North (such as paw-paw). It was the first time I saw a medlar tree in person. They also had an extensive collection of fig trees, which require a lot of protective measures on their part. Further conversations about their fruit growing methods will be pleasant, and ongoing.

Because the swap was held outside, I only brought a limited amount of seed (mostly seed grown this year) and some garlic cloves left over after planting. As it turned out, those garlic cloves were of the most interest. I gave an impromptu presentation on garlic growing, convinced 6-7 gardeners to grow garlic for the first time... and it just happened to be perfect garlic planting weather at the time. I gave away about a pound of garlic cloves, of 3 large-bulbed varieties (each a different type) that have proven to perform well in this area.

I was pleasantly surprised at the attendance to the swap. There were 2 others offering seeds besides the host & myself, and about 25-30 attendees to the swap. One was a Korean immigrant, who was surprised that I had Korean soybeans; we will likely exchange seeds in the near future. There was also an elderly East European immigrant who was overjoyed that I had some Hungarian peppers that she recognized; I promised to bring some plants for her in next year's Spring swap.

The host & I exchanged seeds, with the promise of a more extensive exchange in the future. But the best part is that the host works at the University - and told me that he might be able to find students to help with my preservation efforts! From what has otherwise been a dark year, a ray of hope.

I totally missed this @Zeedman I am so happy for you! This is such a wonderful development!

 

[Tormato]

Some linking can be a problem in these kinds of forums (I don't know about here), but usually links to other forums (for instance) can get a person banned. So be careful! @flowerbug

Under the terms and rules (Don'ts #9), it appears that linking to another "similar " site is objectionable.

Perhaps using PMs is OK? To not step on any toes, here, I'd just give out my email address, and any discussion would take place there. If I had time, I'd supply all info, here. But, again posting a couple of thousand varieties of seeds isn't doable for me

 

[ducks4you]

Very easy. Click on your name. It will open up a space to put your general location. MINE looks like this:

Click SAVE
Some people just put their area of the country. Some put their city (if it's big.) I live in E Central IL, along with several other medium sized cities, general.