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Prescott College’s Wolfberry Farm and Crossroads Café will host the first annual Prescott College Seed and Seedling Swap on Sunday, April 10, from 11 a.m. to 2 p.m. in and around the new Crossroads Café. View map »
To participate, bring a minimum of 25 packets of homegrown seed (25+ seeds/packet) of one or more plant varieties or a minimum of 25 homegrown plant seedlings. Seeds and seedlings of vegetables, flowers, and natives are equally welcome, however, perennial natives dug from the wild are excluded from the swap, as are commercially produced seeds and seedlings.
If you do not have anything to swap, you are welcome to show up at noon and purchase any unswapped seeds for $1 a packet and $2 for six-packs, four-packs, or large individual seedlings.
10 to 11 a.m.—swapper registration and set-up
11 a.m. to noon—seed and seedling swap for registered participants
Noon to 2 p.m.—swapping between participants continues, but the event will be opened to the public, which can purchase any remaining seeds and seedlings.
The Crossroads Café will be open for lunch serving delicious soups and salads made from the finest regionally grown ingredients. To learn details on how the swap will be organized, please go to Prescott College’s web page (www.prescott.edu) and click on Seed and Seedling Swap in the news section. If you plan to bring seeds or seedlings to swap, or if you need more information, please pre-register at (928) 778-2090, ext. 2292.
Pre-Registration: Please call (928) 778-2090, ext. 2292 to inform swap organizers of your plan to participate in the Seed and Seedling Swap, Sunday, April 10. The voice-mail message will request specific information required to pre-register.
10 a.m. to 11 a.m.—Registration and set-up. People with seeds and/or seedlings to swap should show up at the Prescott College Crossroads Cafe to register, receive a table assignment, and spend a few minutes checking out what other growers have brought before the swapping begins.
11 a.m. to noon—Seed and seedling swap between participants. Upon registering, all participants (regardless of how many seeds or seedlings they bring) will receive 10 green “swappers,” which are swapping certificates. When swapping begins at 11 a.m., participants exchange one swapper for any packet of seeds or two swappers for seedlings (either a six-pack, a four-pack, or two large individually potted seedlings). As people exchange their seed packets or seedlings they accumulate more swappers, which allows them to acquire more seeds and seedlings for themselves. Ideally, two people will register together so one person can be handing out seeds or seedlings for swappers, while the other person is off trading swappers for seeds and seedlings. However, individuals can participate alone—they will simply have to divide their time between handing out and acquiring plant materials.
Noon to 2 p.m.—Public shopping. At noon, people who do not have seeds or seedlings to swap will be allowed to purchase remaining seeds for $1 per packet or $2 for seedlings ($2 will buy one of the following—a six-pack of small seedlings, a four-pack of medium seedlings, two individually potted large seedlings, or one very large seedling). Swapping of plant materials by registered participants using swappers is still encouraged after noon—there will simply be more people present and some will be making purchases with dollars.
Please Note: The intent of the Seed and Seedling Swap is to exchange regionally adapted, open-pollinated plant materials for free. Participants should not come to this event with the goal of making substantial amounts of money. However, the sale of remaining items after noon will both serve to disperse regionally adapted plant materials to the public at large, as well provide some gas and lunch money to the registered participants. Seed and plant growers will be allowed to keep 100 percent of their sales.
Bring a minimum of 25 seed packets with a minimum of 25 seeds/packet, or 25 seedling units—in other words, 25 seedling six-packs, 25 seedling four-packs, 25 sets of two large seedlings, or 25 large seedlings. IT IS ESSENTIAL that you provide written descriptions for your seeds and seedlings, including where the plant came from (e.g., great grandmother), its aesthetic, culinary, and/or ecological characteristics (e.g., attracts pollinators), where the plant has been successfully grown in Arizona, and whether the seed or seedlings were grown organically. The descriptions can either be printed on the packets or on slips of paper to hand out with the packets or seedlings. Please do not bring purchased packets of seed or seedlings to swap.
The Crossroads café will be open at 11 a.m. serving delicious soups and salads featuring the finest regionally grown ingredients. In addition, Wolfberry Farm and Prescott College Agroecology will be unveiling and demonstrating a new web site dedicated to seed swapping year round.
The Crossroads Café is located in the new Crossroads Center, which is directly behind 220 Grove Ave. on the alley.
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