Photo and blog by KokHeong McNaughton
What do gardeners do in the winter months? We don’t hibernate like some animals, or go into dormancy like most plants, but we are actively preparing for the next growing cycle. We do Winter Sowing (https://peecnature.org/what-is-winter-sowing/), we clean and process seeds (https://laconm.libcal.com/event/13903203) that we’ve saved in the fall, and we like to curl up in bed with our pets, a warm cup of tea, and browse through seed catalogs, dreaming about and planning for next year’s crop.
So, we buy all these seeds from seed catalogs, and we have all these seeds we have saved from our own gardens. But we only need a few of each variety for next year’s garden. What do we do with all the rest of the seeds? We trade them with other gardeners. We organize seed swaps.
For me, this began in earnest after I retired in 2005. I joined a group of about a dozen local gardeners who were interested in permaculture, and we met for breakfast every week at Morning Glory (which has now closed for business). We talked about all things to do with gardening, especially on the subject of permaculture and ways to reduce water usage. We learned from one another, and we shared books and resources. One day towards the end of January, we agreed to bring our collection of seeds and spread them all over the tables (we had to put three tables together) for everyone to look through and to help themselves to whatever seeds they wanted. That year, I was able to grow 15 varieties of tomatoes! Thus began the first semi-organized community seed swap.
We needed a larger venue and to reach out to more people the next year. There were 5 of us who were members of the Unitarian Church, so we approached the Board of Directors and requested sponsorship of this event, calling it a community outreach, under the umbrella of Social Justice.
How is a Community Seed Swap a social justice event?
There are many facets that fit into our mission and charter – community building, promoting species diversity, reducing waste, greening of Mother Earth, growing food and reducing our carbon footprints, promoting economic equity, sharing and giving. We have been sponsoring this event without a break ever since, even during the Covid pandemic lockdown from 2020 through 2023. The 2020 Community Seed Swap happened in February that year, just before Covid hit. In 2021, we held the event outdoors at the Los Alamos Cooperative Market, and since then, when the lockdowns became a little more relaxed, the event returned to the Unitarian Church and was held outdoors on the patio, with the option of moving into the foyer should the weather turn bad.
We have tried various combinations of dates, times, and frequencies. Finally, we settled on the first Saturday in February (which is closest to Groundhog Day, the Old Farmer’s Almanac’s recommendation as the day to start seeds indoors) from 9 am to noon. The event is listed in the Los Alamos Activity Guide, and publicized weeks before in local gardening FB groups and email lists so that gardeners can get prepared. To reach a wider audience, we publicize it again in local newspapers about a week or so prior to the event. Attendance is typically between 50 and 100 people. We let people know that the event is free, and if they don’t have seeds to swap, to please come anyway and bring back seeds the next year. We often get people who have recently moved into town looking for seeds to start new gardens. Our volunteers are typically well-established and passionate local gardeners who love to talk about their gardens and share their knowledge about gardening in this climate. We often have people from neighboring communities attend this event.
In addition to the Community Seed Swap, two additional garden-related events are also being held annually at the Unitarian Church. The Community Plant Swap is held every year on the Saturday before Mother’s Day, and the Community Iris Swap is held the first Saturday after Labor Day weekend. This year, we are adding a Seedling Transplant work party the day before the Community Plant Swap, inviting people to bring in their seedlings (usually the result of their Winter Sowing project) and transplant them into small pots, ready for the plant swap the next morning without having to move seedlings around from one location to another. These events are free and we provide supplies like labels, containers, pots, soil, and other tools.
Two additional groups have emerged from community engagements around these Seed Swaps. In 2022, I was approached by Jessie Emerson, who had just given a presentation about Seed Libraries to the Environmental Sustainability Board. She asked that we consider starting a Seed Library to be housed at Mesa Public Library. I had been thinking about this for years, but I didn’t know how to start one. Her presentation was very helpful in getting us started. We got together a group of seven people and formed the Seed Library Steering Committee. We got to work right away, meeting monthly and laying the groundwork. In March 2023, the Los Alamos Community Seed Library officially opened. We now have three locations for people to check out seeds – Mesa Public Library, White Rock Branch Library, and the Los Alamos Nature Center, operated by the Pajarito Environmental Education Center (PEEC). We are coming up on our second anniversary celebration on March 1st, 2025!
The second project to emerge is THIS – Bee City Los Alamos. I had heard rumors about a Bee City project when I joined the Los Alamos Environmental Sustainability Board in 2022, and that a small group of people were interested in having Los Alamos County be certified as a Bee City affiliate of Bee City USA. I was initially given the names of three people to contact. Out of these three names, only Kristen O’Hara from PEEC responded favorably when I began recruiting members to form the Bee City Committee. And now here we are! A committee of eight volunteers and a part time paid coordinator. Bee City Los Alamos became a reality in February 2024.
Since working with this amazing group of people, I have learned a lot more about native bees and native plants and their importance to our planet’s survival. My favorite quote when talking to people about “Saving the Bees” is this: “To save the bees by raising honeybees is like saving the bald eagles by raising chickens.”
The Community Seed Swap, which offers seeds sorted by different categories, now features a new category labeled “Native” all by itself. We hope to bring more awareness of this special category and encourage more people to grow native plants.
If you are interested in participating in seed swaps on a larger scale, there are many FB groups you can join where you can swap seeds with others around the country for the cost of a postage stamp and some envelopes. Small seeds can be sent in an envelope with a regular greeting card; larger seeds require the extra cost of a padded envelope so that they can pass through the postage meter without being damaged. The sender and receiver exchange mailing information privately and send each other a picture of the prepared envelope as proof of exchange. Free Seed Swap (USA Only) is such a group. Seed Swaps across international boundaries are not recommended due to horticultural restrictions. The best seed swaps are local ones where you can obtain seeds that are well suited for your location. So please come to our annual Community Seed Swap on Saturday, February 1st, 2025 from 9 AM to noon at the Unitarian Church.