This month I moved into a new house, in a new state, with a new zone. I was excited and hopeful, but also a bit overwhelmed, as my old homestead was less than 1/4th the size of my new one, and not only I am having to start beds, etc. from scratch, but I have to learn to garden in a brand new climate.

Last night overwhelm turned to despair as I finally had a chance to unpack my garden hoard after 1.5 years of being in storage while I was displaced. Some had been in a paid unit, the rest in the sheds of very patient friends.

1/3 of my seed stash is obviously ruined with mold throughout. Half of what is left is expired, and w/ the obvious humidity damage, I'm not optimistic about the health/germination success of even the seed I purchased or carefully saved from my old gardens just before having to pack it away.

While exploring how-to sites for my new garden zone this morning I landed on a link to garden.org to get my new frost dates, and bunnytrailed to the seed exchange, which landed me here.

I've never been in a seed swap, and don't know when I'll be put together enough to participate in one, but wanted to peep at the message boards and figure the process out.

What I found here was a BUNCH of folks with HUGE hearts being very generous and supportive with their time, energy, and seeds. I also found a few who were starting fresh and out of sorts from the changes, yet were boldly plugging onward with hope.

When I say reading through y'all's interactions brought me to tears today, I mean it literally and joyously. Thank you to those of you being vulnerable, anxious and hopeful. Thank you to those of you boosting up the newbies and the empty handed. Both camps have made me feel like I'm not alone, and that my situation isn't impossible.

Expect me to be lurking in the future. ;-)

Tea4Me, you are welcome to sign up and join in the SWAP called the 2nd Early Spring all Seed Swap that starts March 17th! It will be a great SWAP and you can get many seeds! That will be the last seed Swap before this summer I think, and then you can join in many starting next fall too! So sorry about the loss of seeds you experienced this year. That must be so hard. God bless, and welcome aboard!

@Tea4Me we have a great seed tribe on this site and the swaps are awesome. This is my 2nd year and its a blast. I have an extensive vegetable, fruit and medicinal seed library with tons of extra stock. I give free seeds to anyone in need people, seed banks, community gardens, etc. Not sure if your into edible plants but if you are please send me an email address I will send you my spreadsheet list of available stock and would be more than happy to send to you any seeds of your choosing to help get your seed library started again. You can send to me at [email protected]

@Tea4me what area are you located? There are a bunch of us that recently relocated... I went from 1/5th an acre to 2.33 acres.... So that is an increase of 10x for me... Got an orchard planted, but now it's seed starting season and I don't have a growing room setup... I think I'll be doing that this weekend, but I'll have a small operation this year...

But I digress....

If we knew what you wanted or needed we can probably chip in

@Tea4Me: Welcome to your new home, and welcome to NGA!

So glad you found us! So far, I am having a wonderful first time participating in this seed swap. Reading up on past swaps helped me to get on board with this one, and the ones to come!

I can only imagine what it's like to lose one's seed stash. You've come to the right place. We're here to share the love.

I have retracted my dib on the white carrot

@tea4me, welcome! I was new last year and one of the ones that went away with far more than I offered. Now I offer and send in more than I take as a way to pay it forward. Most of us have more than we know what to do with and would love for you to join in our next swap.
Since we all send our seeds and postage to the host to be distributed, maybe arrangements can be made for you to post a list of what you need and we can see what we have on your list and send them earmarked for you. I can also donate seeds that you can list in the next swap to participate.
I will keep an eye out for your list.
Toni

Add me to the list encouraging you to sign up. I'm not sure what the minimum is to sign up, but go pick up a few packs of seeds, take out what you want to grow this year & package the rest up into swap packs. Now you have something to trade. Most of us were new at seed saving at one time & didn't have much to offer, and the excessive generosity of established gardeners is what got us hooked.

@Tea4me I'm so glad you found us! If you post a list of what you're looking for, I would be happy to facilitate mailing a goody bag from the Tribe. I'll send you a Tree-mail with more details.

I strongly recommend joining the next swap! They are so fun and you won't be disappointed. Like Toni, I too had barely any seeds to share for my first swap in Fall 2020. Here I am a year later giving away more than I take (and hosting!).