Cyber Seed Crawl swap & other seed keeping successes
Late the growing season in 2020, Dawn Lamm of Como Community Seed Library and Anna McLafferty of Hothouse Horticulture both connected to say “let’s do a virtual seed swap!”, and a a result the Cyber Seed Crawl was created. In November, the distanced and virtual Facebook swap included 37 people offering seeds of over 250 varieties. Participants connected on the event platform and then either delivered or mailed the seeds to their fellow traders. It was a fun and exciting to be able to host a seed swap despite be restricted from having in-person events during pandemic time.
The Cyber Seed Crawl was 1 example of the doubling-down of seed saving/harvesting/swapping activities that knitted together the like missions of the St. Paul Seed Circle, the Como Community Seed Library, Hothouse Horticulture, the Hamline Midway Coalition and the Pierce Butler Meadow, the Minnesota State Horticulture Society and the Capitol Region Watershed District in 2020. I am so grateful for the interest and time these people and entities have committed to resiliency through seeds.
Another highlight was the progressive seed harvesting tour in September that visited 5 greenspaces in western neighborhoods of St. Paul. Seventeen volunteers dropped in during part of the tour in order to collect seeds from almost 60 different native plants! These seeds will fuel activities in 2021 and many will be grown out to make plant starts for the Pierce Butler Meadow!
It has been very rewarding to support sharing important resiliency skills through seed saving Q&A’s, class events, the progressive seed saving tour and the distanced seed swap. In a time of uncertainty, being able to grow and harvest your own locally adapted seeds is an insurance policy for our native greenspaces and food gardens. Look for more virtual seed swaps to come in early 2021 as well as Winter Sowing Kits with seeds for the meadow!