In pre-Covid times, I loved heading to as many local Seedy Saturday events as I could with a purse full of seed packets I’d made up from my home-grown and saved seeds. I’d search for the table where the seed swapping was happening hoping to score some new-to-me varieties and chat with the other seed savers. Although I think there will be some in-person seed swaps this year, I can’t imagine it being the same. They were frequently very busy, shoulder-to-shoulder kind of events where I’d squeeze my way to the front of the crowd to approach each table where a local seed producer was eager to talk about certain seed varieties.
Thankfully, last year, I had placed (and received) all of my seed orders and even attended a couple of early Seedy Saturday events before the pandemic hit. In 2020, there were a lot of first-time gardeners (or Covid Gardeners) who were forced to stay home and eager for a new hobby and the demand for garden seed skyrocketed. Over the years, I’ve been increasing the number of varieties, and quantities of seeds I save. I could have planted a full garden without placing any orders for seeds. The generations of people who lived on this farm before me, saved seed out of necessity; long before there were glossy seed catalogues and online ordering options. I save seeds for fun. I like trying new-to-me varieties and eating veggies that can’t be found on the grocery store shelves.
So this year, I’m trying something new! I want to swap seeds with fellow (Canadian) seed savers without meeting in a big crowd. Hence the online seed swap. We have an online store for our farm website where I’m posting my first online seed swap. To sign up, you purchase your “spot” in the swap on our website. This payment will cover the cost for me to mail seeds back to you. Once you’ve purchased your spot in the swap, you mail me the 25 individual packets of seeds (at your expense) that you’ve saved from your garden this past year. I need to receive seeds from everyone registered prior to me sorting them to send 25 different packages of seeds back to you. Each person who participates will end up with an envelope containing 25 individual packets of seeds from fellow seed-saving-enthusiasts.
Christina
