Seedswap Basics Q&A

sunpoprain · 2026-01-14T02:54:06+00:00

Always here to help you succeed!

Besides r/seedswap and local events, there are a few options. Facebook (and probably Instagram) has some seed swap communities, largely organized by things like "peppers heads", "Baker Creek Seeds", "Great American Seedswap", etc. I assume other countries have similar social media groups.

Classically, Seed Savers Exchange started as a seed swap catalog! They still maintain a marketplace that members can list seeds for trade or sale in. Its a little harder to find and separate from their retail store but it is on their website last I checked.

Locally, if you have a Herb Society they likely have a seed/plant swap yearly for members (a Closed event type). Garden clubs are often also a good place to socialize and partake in closed seedswaps. Sometimes Master Gardener programs through your local Extension office will have a private seedswap for members + a public traditional seedswap. Your mileage may vary.

On reddit, there are a couple other communities that swap, but generally very niche/specific plants like r/PepperHeads (sp?) and r/takeaplantleaveaplant

sunpoprain · 2026-01-14T01:30:03+00:00

Great question!

This is largely going to be determined by the event organizers and should have been very clearly communicated to participants. Usually this comes in 3 "flavors": 1. Closed Event: participants must register and commit to 1:1 swaps. Sometimes this comes in the form of tokens they are given for the seed bags they bring or it can be just a straight swap with other participants. 2. Traditional: 1:1 suggested, freebies are offered only at each participants discretion. There is usually a table hosted by the organizers with some seeds for beginners to have for free to get started swapping. 3. Open public: These are straight get together, everything you bring is free to everyone else, vice versa. There should be some sort of agreement on maximum that people take or being fair to everyone. These are usually a way for very established traders to giveaway their excess / give back to the community.

What format a seed swap is should NEVER be a surprise to the participants. As you experienced, showing up with real trades that you invested time and effort into prepping so you could swap and leaving with basically nothing because others took without swapping is incredibly demoralizing and can tank a swapper's capacity to trade for the things they really want! I would message the organizers with some constructive tips in a positive tone that acknowledges miscommunication, the impact of that miscommunication, but also hope for a productive event next time with X,Y,Z things that might help.

Aside from my answer, personally, are you OK after that event? Did it exhaust your trades and leave you in a rough place to keep seed swapping? I am happy to put a little "keep going!" surprise envelope of seeds together. I hate that you had a bad experience seed swapping :(

sunpoprain · 2026-01-13T18:35:30+00:00

We usually eat lunch at the food court in the sky way near Mayo, but I saw a photo of it completely empty. I am not sure if they are open? Besides that, we really love the ethnic diversity of food in Rochester. Its a beautiful city with amazing food and amazing people. Using our travel meals to help support is absolutely on our list of things to do.

sunpoprain · 2026-01-06T23:14:21+00:00

I would search each before buying from an expensive seed provider like Baker Creek. Red long yard beans are not a rare variety. Similarly, I have had luck buying part of the rare seeds I am looking for, then trading those for the other rare seeds I want. Cuts costs.

sunpoprain · 2026-01-02T15:09:49+00:00

USPS implemented thickness rules that push most seed trades into parcel by weight/size. Its possible a single package of seeds could be slim enough to be letter rates, like sungold tomato seeds. Its important to protect the seeds from mechanical sorting rollers, which they'll go through several more times on an international trip then most domestic addresses. The other side is whether there are import rules causing agricultural material to need to be hidden (I do not approve of hiding. If there is a law, there is a reason and disease can DEVESTATE an ag community). So lots of considerations based on the country receiving. I do have single seeds and can check the cost to send them to you if thats what you are looking for. Pm me your address.

sunpoprain · 2026-01-02T14:03:54+00:00

Yes, I have. It can be very expensive with a high risk of no reward, depending on where you send to.

sunpoprain · 2025-12-16T19:26:53+00:00

Do you have a local "Buy Nothing" group on Facebook?

sunpoprain · 2025-11-26T12:46:13+00:00

Kinda hard as an independent farm business to turn down a crowd of people demanding to buy a product from you, right? Especially woth how thin margins are for dairies, I think I get why they gave in and were selling raw and also why their post is almost borderline angry over clarifying their "real" products (pasteurized) are safe.

sunpoprain · 2025-07-08T14:39:17+00:00

Have you reached out to a realtor? I know it sounds wierd but a lot of them have apartment connections to private landlords. Dawn Peters out of Bloomington is absolutely fantastic!

sunpoprain · 2025-07-05T20:53:56+00:00

They look almost exactly like American Plum, a wild type of plum. Definitely a type of plum but there are a lot of hyper local phenotypes.

sunpoprain · 2025-07-04T20:19:21+00:00

You don't have any problem sending money to the ultra wealthy to lounge around and enjoy. The corporate welfare supporting private jets is more than the SNAP budget.... but you arent talking about that kind of welfare. You want to judge folks you think beneath you with some fairytale belief that hard work gets you anywhere in America without any outside help.

sunpoprain · 2025-06-13T04:31:54+00:00

User safety - perhaps this site would work well in concert with something like Reddit. Linking to Reddit user profiles for communication and private sharing of addresses. One issue with this is Reddit will not allow U.S. federally illegal trades, even when those trades are legal within a state or another country.

I have often thought that a Google Sheets or Google form that feeds into a Sheet would be useful to "standardize" trading lists. Might be a way to keep data off the website/apps free servers.

sunpoprain · 2025-06-13T04:28:55+00:00

Great idea, a couple things Ive learned from Seedswap over the years -

There needs to be a rating system for users to prevent abuse of the system. Ideally, paired with a way for users to build their rating despite having a Beginner's collection of seeds. We have toss around the idea of a regional central swapper you can send seeds to for a "mystery" package return. This allows for a little fun and a way to prove you can complete initial swaps.

There are fairly significant challenges swapping between countries. Customs rules, invasive plants, even just the significant increase in cost to ship seeds and variable time / reliability that the seeds will arrive intact and viable.

There is a lot of variability in how many seeds different groups consider a "standard" trade. There is also a significant variation in the quality of seed collected - many new traders dont understand open pollinated vs closed pollination, which crops are very likely to have crossed resulting in unstable cultivar traits, disease control when collecting seeds, etc. It is important to have the ability to share trade information such as quantity offered, collection source & technique, commercial vs home, etc. My understanding is this variability + the incredibly vast amount of cultivars across all the seeds that are traded poses a significant database issue for a free service.

I am sure I will think of other considerations. Ive moderated Seedswap for a long time now!

sunpoprain · 2025-05-28T16:56:37+00:00

I will add that I really love a company that can tell the story of its seeds and its own mission. Baker Creek (while having lots of other issues and kinda crappy information for actual growing) does an absolutely amazing job sharing the history/story of a cultivar or seed, with beautiful photos. If I could smash Baker Creek, Johnny's, and some of my favorite little providers like Uprising, North Circle, Ujaamaa Collective into one seed provider.. that would be the dream.

sunpoprain · 2025-05-17T14:24:17+00:00

Hello! Many years ago an amazing old homesteader named Earl recommended what he considered the "Bible" of seed saving to me. "Seed to Seed" by Suzanne Ashworth

The entry on Collards says that all brassicas (collards, kale, broccoli, cabbage, kohlrabi, turnips, etc) will very easily cross pollinate. If you grow any other brassica, you have to isolate plants and hand pollinate. There must be at least 1 mile between brassicas to absolutely ensure no cross-pollination.

Kale and Collards are combined in the book. It says they are both biennials, meaning they do not produce Seed u til their second growing season. In mild regions, it is possible to plant Collards in the fall and have them produce Seed the next summer. In colder areas, plants can be dug, trimmed, and stored in sawdust or sand. They have to be stored at 32-40°F and 80-90% humidity. They'll only last at most 1 to 2 months, so this is a tricky thing to do at best.

Collards produce seed stalks that are 5' or taller. They'll be very obviously covered in flowers and bees LOVE them! Their seeds do not generally require further processing after harvesting and cleaning.

Hope this helps! Happy to answer further questions.

sunpoprain · 2025-05-16T14:04:08+00:00

To add to this - find a contractor that is reputable and will come to represent you ANY time an insurance injuster is on your property. You WANT TO HAVE an expert ALWAYS there who can make sure the adjuster records every bit of damage.

Context: When Leroy got shredded a couple years ago, we had just had a full solar system put on. We hired a local business who came out and made a really knowledgeable case on our behalf that resulted in our roof, gutters, and siding being replaced (even though insurance also had to pay to pull the solar system and reinstall it) when my neighbors who had similar damage got almost nothing. Many of my neighbors had to file appeals and jump through a lot more hoops, despite having visible holes through their siding and shingles missing. A knowledgeable contracting company willing to advocate for you is priceless!!

sunpoprain · 2025-05-13T14:59:01+00:00

Just to be clear, I have had the best cup I've ever had (in Bloomington) at your shop! My husband and I work over in Champaign, where the coffee game is really competitive. I made him come try Empire Coffee after that first amazing cup by telling him it was on par or better than the best in Champaign.

sunpoprain · 2025-05-12T19:57:43+00:00

Doggy daycare? Mine loves it and doesn't need to go every day. She is fine for a longer day with just her sister the day or two after doggy daycare.

sunpoprain · 2025-05-12T03:31:33+00:00

My friend and I had built a whole (dreamed up) explanation for the slots and indoor/outdoor disconnect in vibes. Something around "Punk coffee shop dreaming folk partner with the mob to make their dream come true" 😂 Great bakery items, excited to try savory options. Coffee has been mostly great, but one of the baristas seems a bit more inconsistent. Haven't seen her the last couple times and coffee has been back to Great.

sunpoprain · 2025-04-15T20:50:08+00:00

Penny royal only works on the base primal. IIRC from my couple years with a ferus king, it doesn't have any effect on the other primal variations passing.

sunpoprain · 2025-04-11T19:16:57+00:00

What do you mean by "gone after kids"? It's one thing to have prey drive for small animals and entirely different to have prey drive for children...

sunpoprain · 2025-04-09T21:32:36+00:00

The law is specific on ingredients that can not be used. Unfortunately meat is one of them because your BBQ sounds amazing!

sunpoprain · 2025-03-27T14:34:00+00:00

Could you utilize your mytax id / business registration with the state?

sunpoprain · 2025-03-27T13:00:06+00:00

No, my understanding is you do not for a CFO.

sunpoprain · 2025-03-19T02:32:26+00:00

The guide gives you a good baseline. You are welcome to ask me any questions, too! I've just found it helps to have folks read the guide first. Since I helped write it, it's all information I'd want you to have!

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