Seed swap

Seed swaps are events where gardeners meet to exchange seeds. Swapping can be arranged online or by mail, especially when participants are spread out geographically. Swap meet events, where growers meet and exchange their excess seeds in person, are also growing in popularity. In part this is due to increased interest in organic gardening and heritage or heirloom plant varietals. This reflects gardeners' interest in "unusual or particular varieties of flowers and vegetables," according to Kathy Jentz of Washington Gardener Magazine (Maryland).

Seed swaps also help consumers who, due to increases in the cost of living or cut down on expenditures, wish to grow their own food. Some events are organized as part of an educational effort, where visitors are taught gardening and growing skills and how to preserve an area's cultural heritage and biodiversity. In the United States, the last Saturday of January is "National Seed Swap Day."

Swapping seeds is of great cultural significance for many of the people involved, because it allows a culture which has become widely distributed, such as Hispanic and Latino Americans in the United States, to continue to grow the food they are accustomed to, foods which often have great significance, and for which seeds are often transported over great distances. Mike Szuberla, organizer of a seed swap in Toledo, Ohio, noted, "Seeds are, in a sense, suitcases in which people can transport their cultures with them...Many families have brought their favorite seeds on tremendous journeys."

In some cases seed swaps are annual events and function as community celebrations (they have been compared to potlucks), such as the annual seed swap (in its eleventh year in 2008) on the Oglethorpe farm near Athens, Georgia, organized by two anthropology professors from the University of Georgia (the university has a seedbank, the "Southern Seed Legacy"). Participants share seeds of heirloom fruits and vegetables grown in their families or communities for generations; for some, the goal of such swaps is to preserve a "dying" heritage. A similar goal is stated for a seed swap in Devon, England, where the North Devon Seed Swap has been held since 1 February 2004.

...
Wikipedia