- Find a group of seed geeks who want to trade seeds.
- Pick an appropriate location based on the size of your group.
- Give each participant one ticket per pack of seeds they bring to trade.
- Organize seeds into 3 groups, Vegetables/Fruits, Flowers, Herbs/Other.
- Give the participants time to browse the available seeds/socialize/drink wine & beer/eat delicious snacks.
- Allow each person to choose one pack of seeds in return for one ticket.
- Repeat #6 until all tickets are used.
Last night I attended my first seed swap. I was pretty unsure of how this thing would go down but then arrived to find that everybody else felt the same apprehension as me. There were about 7 of us. One of the girls who participated said she was a little intimidated and didn't know if her seeds were "cool enough" to bring for trade. Then she likened the seed swap to a "seed prom!" We informally decided the seed prom queen was someone who showed up with seeds she brought home from Italy in lovely homemade packaging.
It was really incredible to sit around talking seeds and gardening with these folks. They really knew their stuff! Plus, I met 3 new people. One of them was a male who again shattered the male gardener stereotype floating around in my head. Before we knew it, it was 10:30. A seed swap until 10:30! That's crazy! Obviously we all had a very enjoyable time and we're already plotting our next swap.
If you grow stuff from seed, chances are that you've got a whole bunch of seeds you'll never use. I encourage you to get together with your other seed geek friends for an informal seed swap. It's great fun and I brought home some really cool stuff that I would never think to buy.
Happy Swapping!
