The box arrived today! Thank you @KadenceLunemann !
Will work on it asap and get it out by Monday!
@Taja DM me your address
Did my message work, I can’t see it in the my message inbox! Hope you found so exciting seeds for your garden in the box!
Was going to send the package yesterday but we’re a little snowed in. Will hopefully go out tomorrow or Thursday! @Taja
I also wanted to add that the contents and order inside the box have gone down hill a bit, since last time I saw it. I removed a few unlabeled and old baggies that have been around for a long time with no takers. I also tidied up some by replacing plastic bags that were disintegrating.
Please all, keep it fun and worthwhile by labeling well (marker directly on plastic bag will smudge out over time
and by putting in good quality seeds. If you don’t have any, that’s fine! Better to keep the weight down and quality high than to add too many grocery seeds and such. Just my thoughts…
Also @UnicornEmily please place me to the bottom of the list again. Thanks!
Thanks for the work to the box. I did a little but mostly left it as it was for organizing. The contents had definitely changed up since I had gotten it last. I don’t plan to put my name back on the list until I’ve planted alot of what I have. My seed box is getting a little ridiculous ![]()
Okay, you are on the bottom of the list again! ![]()
Thank you for your efforts in reorganizing the box! The box is always a bit messy by the time it makes it to me, so I always spend a lot of time reorganizing it.
Yes, markers on plastic bags aren’t the most ideal way to label things — I prefer to write my labels on paper, either taped to the front of the bag or tucked into the bag with the seeds, whatever makes sense at the time. I totally understand if other workflows make sense for other people, however.
I particularly like that way of labeling things because that makes it much easier to reuse bags. It often makes sense to transfer remaining seeds into smaller bags, because then less space in the box gets taken up with plastic, which means more seeds can be squeezed into the same space, which means the box will ultimately be cheaper to mail — and I like cheapness.
Transferring seeds out of much-too-big bags and into more-suitably-sized-bags-for-how-many-are-left is something I often do when it’s my turn. It’s not something I expect everyone to do, but if anyone else wants to do it too, nifty — that’s less work for me! ![]()
I occasionally do remove seeds that I don’t think anyone is going to be interested in, but it’s usually only things I’ve seen in the box for awhile that nobody’s taken out, which I’m pretty sure no one will ever be that interested in. Usually this only means ornamental-only species in seed packets. Grocery store-sourced seeds of tasty herbs, cucurbits, or other fruits are often taken (and I sometimes take them myself!), so I would say there’s definitely a demand for those.
This is good to know that doing some organization is welcome. When I had the box last time, I did take several packages of seeds from 2018, 17 and 19.
But I can say that the tomato seed sprouted just fine! I’m working to package up seeds to share, so I can turn that box around quick when it gets here.
Box is on its way to Taja. At the post office I was told it would cost $30 to ship (it’s going across the continent) so I managed to squish it all into a medium flat rate and pay a little less. @taja don’t be surprised if all the bags just explode out of the box when you get it ![]()
I think it was $16.50 to send it out for me. I was told at the post office that if you’re sending to this side of the Mississippi then flat rate is probably more expensive than not. But if it’s the other side of the Mississippi then it’s probably cheaper to send it in a flat rate.
If you go to the post office, you’re always going to pay retail rates. If you have access to a printer, I highly recommend using Pirateship, which gives you access to the deepest discount on USPS postage (often about 40%). If you don’t have a printer at home, your local library is very likely to have a computer you can log into to print out a page, and they’ll only charge you for whatever it costs them to print that page. Just a thought, in case that helps anyone out!
@Naomiupland @LarimarHomestead Box arrived yesterday!! Woohoo! I have a busy couple days so wont be able to break into the whole box and add my seeds until the weekend and will send out by next wednesday! This morning i opened up the box and found the tomatoe section cause today’s My day to sow tomatoes and it was so exciting to have my first promiscuous tomatoes to sow! So grateful for everyone contributions very excited to see what else i find!!
That rocks! What perfect timing for you. Yay! ![]()
here is a photo of what I’m adding, lots of reused seed packets, and two of my zines folks may photocopy and share for there community! noticed there was really only cow peas vigna species in the beans so I added 5 kinds of phaselus species including my favorite white runner bean! @LarimarHomestead I’ll be going off my island tomorrow and sending it out on the mainland so it arrives faster, the box is ridiculously full now!
@Naomiupland mentioned there being a lot of grocery store seeds and I second that, I can appreciate the idea of saving and growing with grocery store seeds and I do appreciate how well labeled some were and I can get behind the seeds saved from farmers markets more than grocery stores for sure but it was a bit disappointing to find so many bags with little info and just grocery store seed this or that, it felt like a solid majority of the weight, I personally don’t think this is something we want to be spending money on to send back an fourth, perhaps I’m wrong and more people will take them…but I was half tempted to take them out so I could fit more cool known varieties and grexes. Perhaps @UnicornEmily gets the box again soon and can do a purging. Would love to hear if other people find the grocery store seeds useful to there breeding projects?!? For me not knowing the genetics or possible crossings is a bummer, I’m all about diverse mixes but I like to at least know a bit about the potential!
I assumed that people were more interested in them given the amount in the box. I personally am interested in seeds that other people grew that survived their garden conditions, or are grexes and landraces that they’ve started. Whether it’s first year or many years in.
For me, this is also why I didn’t put my name back on the list. I want to wait until at least winter, when I will have seeds from my garden to share. I have sooo many seeds. I’m starting tons and I’ll be planting stuff all year just to try it and see what works.
Yes, that does sound like you saw more grocery store-sourced seeds in there than I would have expected! I think the most I’ve ever seen that was grocery store sourced was . . . about a third of the box’s weight? Or a quarter? Not a concerning amount, in any case. Especially since sometimes seeds that were grocery store sourced are unusual species from ethnic grocery stores that are a treasure to have any germplasm from. I know I was jumping up and down and squealing when I found Indian-grocery-store-sourced bambara beans one time, for instance. ![]()
I’ll keep an eye out for that when I next receive the box, which should be quite soon.
If there seems to be an excessive number of heavy seeds that are grocery store sourced that don’t seem like anything special, why don’t I plan on taking most of those out and running them through the gauntlet of my very hot, dry, gardener-sure-is-stingy-with-water growing conditions? I suspect anything that survives to make seeds in those conditions is something a lot of you guys would be interested in. That’s my favorite way to use bulk quantities of meh seeds — occasionally I hit the jackpot with something, and then I can share that jackpot’s offspring. ![]()
Hi! Just wanted to introduce myself and say that I’ll be asking to join the list later this year and I’m really excited about the seed swap! I will start setting aside seeds just for the box and visiting the seed libraries to see what else I can contribute… seeing the photos of all those packets of adaptively grown seeds from all over the country is so inspiring
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Hello, Heather! It’s a pleasure to meet you!
While you’re keeping your eyes out for seeds, you might also enjoy studying a bit of foraging and seeing what interesting wild plants volunteer near you. Quite often edible wild plants that are local to one ecosystem are of great interest to gardeners in others.
That’s particularly nifty because sometimes your common garden weeds are way more interesting as crops than you might think. Purslane, blue mustard, shepherd’s purse, salsify, and lambsquarters are all delicious, for instance. Of course, you may still want to pull them out to make room for crops you prefer, and that’s totally fine . . . but if you know they’re edible, then weeding can become the same thing as snacking!
Which makes it way more fun to pull weeds.
A browse around iNaturalist to see what tends to grow in your city may give you a starting point of what wild plants to keep a casual eye out for. In fact, if you become really obsessive about it, like me, you might even start keeping a few small ziploc bags in your purse at all times just in case you notice an edible wild plant going to seed, so you can nab those seeds and bring them home to plant or share! ![]()
Box sent out today @LarimarHomestead
@UnicornEmily I’ll ask again when I’m ready to be added to the bottom of the list! So grateful you organized this and keep it going, such a special opportunity for us all!



