Do you want elderberry seeds? Google seems to think elderberry is hardy to zone 3. My next-door neighbor has a massive elderberry bush, and she usually shares a lot of the berries with me. I could easily get some seeds for you in fall. There are probably plenty available right now, actually, still on the bush within berries that were too dry for picking in fall.
I would love some! I grew up around the red awful elderberries and have never got to experience more properly edible ones. Then I bought some EFN elderberry seeds, stratified them, and my cat knocked them over. So a replenishment would be very welcome.
Cool! I’ll see if there’s anything to gather for you now, then! The berries are black, and they’re very bitter without sugar, but they make delicious syrup or jelly with lots of sugar added. I’ve heard that red elderberries aren’t tasty! I’ve never tried them. I didn’t even know red elderberries existed until I read about them in a foraging book, actually.
If I hadn’t been stupid and thrown out the seeds from the chokeberries I foraged in autumn, I could have sent you some of those, too. Lesson so learned. Those are supposed to be hardy to zone 3, too, and they grow wild here near the river. They have an unpleasant astringent effect when you eat them fresh, but they make delicious syrup and jam, too.
Oh, I do have one chokeberry seed left that didn’t make it to the trash can because it rolled under the couch. If you’d like it, I’ll send it to you.
And if you want more later, I can gather lots of fresh seeds of both of them for you in August!
Oh, I also have a load of cherry seeds and peach pits from local fruits I bought at the farmer’s market. Those are probably a long shot for you, but I have more than enough, so I’d be happy to send them to you.
Crazy to me how many different ways there can be to grow low input and delicious veggies!
I’m starting this year and have a lot of long term plans that I haven’t begun implementing yet. I think all of my projects will ideally be as low input as possible (direct seed, natural soil, no watering, disease and pest resistant), and grow productively in zone 4a with maximum possible variation.
- watermelon (if possible, I would like good keeping watermelon as well)
- flavorful zucchini at both summer and winter stage
- tomato (I am really excited about Joseph Lofthouse’s work on this already and am excited to see how this will work in my zone! I also bought some frost trial survivor grex seeds from wild mountain seeds that I am really excited about as well!) I will be trying to maximize cross pollination just like Joseph, if possible.
- flour corn, I think the challenge for my area for this will be resistance to raccoons and bears (side note, I would be interested if anyone knows any useful traits in corn for deterring black bears, since the strong and tall stalks might not deter them like it would other wildlife?)
- a light to medium hot pepper
- flavorful eggplant
Just got my c maxima and c moschata winter squash grexes from Going To Seed. I’m going to mix them randomly with the grexes I have been building, and plant them in burn-pits in spring. No expectations, just wait for fall harvest. I’ll report back then…
In the meantime, I’m looking for mustard seed, at least a pound. I have some patches of dead ground that I’m going to try cover-cropping. Maybe my ground is not really dead, maybe it’s just sleeping. Maybe it’s dreaming, and in its dream it is a lush, sweet, world populated with gazillions of happy, busy little critters eating and pooping, eating and pooping, for hours and hour until they die and are eaten by other little critters, all flloding the hungry little hairlets of my plant roots with nutrient molecular compounds.
Grandiose enough?
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I think it’s a beautiful image, and I hope you will see your soil awakened refreshed from its long dream. 
Thanks, Em. Remind me in the Fall if you (or anyone else) wants chokecherry seeds. They grow wild in my yard, in severely alkaline soil. They are so common here, everyone takes them for granted.
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I was very surprised that no bears went after my corn this year - it was pretty far from the house. Having neighbours with ripe apples might help, or a good salmon year.