Cottage Gardening forum: 2014 Seed Swap Chatter #4
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| things will pick up again once boxes arrive, then when everyone starts sowing and seeds are germinating. Terese -- Leesburg, FL & Lake Delton, Wi My Email is my userID at hotmail.com |
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| TCs Perlite will not germinate like the vermiculite will. Perlite is great for using as a way to winter sow when you don't have a winter or temps are freezing frosty at night, but than sky rocket to 70 the next day. You can take a baggy, put some perlite in it. Use a mist bottle and mist the perlite. You just want to get it a bit damp not soaking wet. Toss in your seeds and put in fridge for 4 to 6 weeks, bring out and plant. Take ya bunch of walmart bags or other grocery bags, dig up the plants with some extra dirt around the roots, add a small touch of water if the soil is dry, wrap the plastic pretty much tight around the base of the plant. You can hold plants like that for months, just add a touch of water as need be. If ya happen to get too much water in the bag, just make a few holes in the bottom for drainage. Hey even I have oinking withdrawl.  I get so used to watching and writing down all going on threads it like shock when it all goes quiet, but once all the boxes get here and I see what is in extras and stuff, than maybe I will post stuff up and ya can oink for it. Somtimes somebody will send a package of extra seeds in and it may have 300 or+ seed and no way will I give one piggy all that seed, so I will break it down so a bunch of ya can all have some that want it. |
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Thanks Ella for that tip for us warm season gardeners. That's how I started out sowing seeds years ago, including the blue penstemon. Seeds that needed stratification had a high germination rate. I'll have to start doing that again. Only this time, I won't be able to use the fridge at work. I'll have to hide them at the back of mine, where DH won't find them and fuss.  RisingCreek, I'm like you, I can't stop looking at seeds for sale either. I only wish that I had thought to buy some in large quantities, during the swap and while I was away caring for sick family members, to offer to you piggies. Especially since, I didn't have time to finish cleaning and bagging some of the seeds that I did manage to collect, as I'd left them at home. Since I left suddently, I also had to leave a lot of seeds unharvested. Needless to say, we had several freezes during that time, so some didn't get to mature and the birds had a feast while I was away. Usually they get the leftovers, after I get what I want to save for sharing and planting, I have a lot to learn, but I'll know better next time, as I will start collecting and preparing seeds earlier in the season and be better organized. I'm sorry I wasn't able to offer much, Piggies. I sent Ella the few seeds that I was able to clean and bag after I got back home for good a week ago. The others I may either offer on this thread or save for the next swap. I have the feeling it will be the latter, as I'll probably be too busy sowing.  |
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| Deebie, I'm already planning what to do differently next year as well ! How's a new piggy to know?? |
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Quoting:Deebie, I'm already planning what to do differently next year as well ! How's a new piggy to know?? You really can't until you have experienced a piggy swap cuz usually the first one you are so busy trying to wipe the mud off your face from the other piggies, so you can see what there is to oink. Some folks will have already started buying seed that on sale. Some they will plant and save seed from and some they will get to put away for next year. Some folks will collect seed all year long as they grow it or see it and squirrel it away. But no matter how well you think you might be prepared, it usually all goes out the window once the swap starts. One thing folks can do to while away the time til the packages arrive is while you are busy looking up the seed you are getting and finding information about it. You can take a piece of paper and jot down notes about what you find and add those plants to the database. Even if you don't have a pic of your own to add, maybe somebody else might somewhere along the way. The only thing is in the section to post info about the plant, is to use your own words and not copy and paste from off another site. If you have pics that maybe you posted in your database and don't mind sharing, adding them to the Plants A to Z database would greatly be appreciated. Or is you have pics and you don't want to fill in info, that fine too. Just get scientific name and common name and pic added. Eventually I will catch up at some point and get the rest of the info in. Or if you don't want to mess around with it all but have pics you posted in your database , you can send me cmail or let me know I can use them and I will add them and post that the photo's are copyrighted to you. For those not knowing where the database is, here is a link. http://cubits.org/ellasgarden/db/plantsfromatoz/ It's a chilly frost morn again, but supposed to warm up later today and than we have rain coming in tomorrow , so if it raining and piggy boxes come in they may not get posted til later after the rain all over. I started trying to rake some leaves to start burning. Aggggggggg it will be months and months of burning before I can get them caught up and find my stuff again. Need to get my main working area done for sure. Tired of walking through more than ankle deep of leaves and having spiders up the pant legs. We had that cold spell and then the warm up for several days and boy the baby grasshoppers have emerged. The birds need to get busy and have themselves some snacks. |
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Our tree came with something very special inside, a real bird's nest! We decided to keep it there and just decorate around it. The finished tree has several shells that I picked up in California, including some special shell ornaments from Solvang. We're watching the cats closely as this is the first time we've used these ornaments with them.  Grazie a tutti, Julianna |
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| This is pretty far off topic but I have a question for anyone who has an opinion or advise--- What is acceptable for giving food to a local church? I have some expired canned good and such just sitting in my pantry. I know we'll never get around to eating it so I thought maybe I should put a box together and drop it off at the local church. Most of it says 'best by date' and the cans are just fine, not damaged or anything like that. But, are there rules for giving expired food, is it a bad idea or okay? Shine Your Light |
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| I remember my first piggy swap. Tuinkabouter said that she'd like as many muskmelon seeds as I could spare. So I sent her around of a pound of seed, more than 10,000 seeds. Woulda liked to have been a fly on the wall that day to watch Star's eyes bug out in astonishment!!! They ended up coming back to me with a couple of nails so that I could pin my ears to the wall. The seeds are still kicking around somewhere. Corn and beans are the hardest for me... Because they are big seeds, and to properly share a genetically diverse population I really aught to be sharing several hundred seeds, but then postage gets too pricey. So I've settled on about 50 seeds for beans, and 100 for corn. Then I think of it as a "sample". If there are 80 types of beans in my dry bean landrace, and I only share 50 seeds, then I am not sharing almost half of the varieties.... Author of Mother Earth News Blog about Landrace Gardening: http://www.motherearthnews.com/search.aspx?tags= Lofthouse |
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I didn't even know that canned food had "Best by" dates on them... As a chemist that measured those types of things for medicines, I'd say that those dates are arbitrary and capricious. Author of Mother Earth News Blog about Landrace Gardening: http://www.motherearthnews.com/search.aspx?tags= Lofthouse |
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| Star, you might be getting the rain system we had come through here last night. It rained heavy much of the night and it's pretty soggy outside right now. Hmm, Joseph, that's a good way to explain... and that's why my hubby said the cans are good as long as they're not bulging or something like that, and because he's smarter than I am in matters of science and chemistry. Shine Your Light |
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| Expiration dates on cans doesn't need the food isn't good after that. It's really more for the stores selling it. If it was me, I would go ahead and donate the food and let them decide if they want to use it or not. There's really probably nothing wrong with it |
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wildflowers wrote:This is pretty far off topic but I have a question for anyone who has an opinion or advise--- Canned food will stay good for years after the expiry date if the cans are not damaged. I suggest you ask the local church how they think about it. If there are really people in need, they will be happy with your cans. |
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Thank you all for your good advise.  I've donated food and clothes in the past, so I know there is a need for many in the community. I'll just let them know some of the canned goods are expired. Shine Your Light |
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| I do volunteer work at a county home and we have to toss the expired food because even if it is good ''IF ''some one gets sick they could blame the food and with the society we live in people want to sue over every thing in hopes of getting rich. |
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| Starlight wrote: "But no matter how well you think you might be prepared, it usually all goes out the window once the swap starts." LOL, things did get pretty furious there for a while... but what's a little mud in exchange for all those beautiful SEEDS !! Mostly I just found out how fun the swap is and am really wondering why I never joined before! Joseph wrote: "I remember my first piggy swap. Tuinkabouter said that she'd like as many muskmelon seeds as I could spare. So I sent her around of a pound of seed, more than 10,000 seeds. Woulda liked to have been a fly on the wall that day to watch Star's eyes bug out in astonishment!!! They ended up coming back to me with a couple of nails so that I could pin my ears to the wall. The seeds are still kicking around somewhere." uh oh... Tuink asked me for extra bean seeds if I had enough so I sent her about 6x as much as the normal packets... (definitely nothing like 10,000 seeds, but still  Well, I guess Star will either (1) send them on to Tuink, (2) divide them up and send to other piggies, (3) send them back to me and I'll get my ears pinned to the wall! I was kind of thinking of getting a couple more pierces in my ears anyway... Or, Star, you could just cook them up into a nice pot of baked beans or bean soup ! (and I'll know better next year - maybe)Juliana Getting a tree with a real nest like that seems like a sign of good luck or something ! (can't hurt to think that way, at any rate...) |
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| For the expired date canned goods: I agree with GardenGus. I used to work at the soup kitchen and homeless shelter. There is a liability issue and they are not allowed to distribute food which is past its sell-by date. You could give it directly to the people in need and keep the church or other agency out of the loop and it will be all good. I regularly empty my cupboards twice a year to avoid having things get 'old' and carry everything to my neighbor who can use it all. |
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There are tons of different jurisdictions. Every one has different rules. Every city, every state, every nation. Each bureaucrat has a different interpretation even if they work in the same jurisdiction. Churches may not be subjected to the same type arbitrary and capricious opinions that 501C3 organizations are... A lot of people and organizations care more about helping those in need than they do about politics, ever changing laws, labels on cans, or liability. There is a vast population of people that pretty much ignore government at every possible opportunity. They would welcome the food regardless of any law of bureaucracy. Author of Mother Earth News Blog about Landrace Gardening: http://www.motherearthnews.com/search.aspx?tags= Lofthouse |
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| Joseph We must be on same wavelength as I was just telling another piggy about you send way to much seed your first piggy swap. My eyeballs about popped out of my head. I had never seen so much beans and corn all at once. The box was like a mini silo. Was about all I could do to even lift the box. Probably could have planted all of AL. and Ga for all the seed that was in that box. I passed bunches to Tuink and bunches to piggies and some to charitable organization and still I swear the seed kept multiplying overnight, so as not to waste it, was better to send it back and let him use for other folks and swaps. Weedwhacker No you did just fine. You got it all right. Sorry, no ear piercings this year from me. With Tuink and Jonna, since they long haulers, instead of sending them seed that they maybe can't use, cuz they usually only grow certain stuff, for a one to one. It is better to let them oink for the extra things that they want. Especially with overseas postage so high, no sense sending them say a bunch of radish seeds if they can't use them , better to have them ask for extra of what they want. I don't know why folks see to be afraid to join.  Maybe it cuz the rules and regs is like 60 miles long to read, but I a motor mouth and try to cover all the bases so that folks know what they are getting into and how things work, so they don't have any surprises. But really I don't think it is all that hard of a swap. I think getting the database up is the hardest part. Once get past the first couple of oinks and the first couple of days, most folks don't find it hard at all. At least I think they don't. Well, now ya can tell other folks about it and tell them no need to be scared or shy. I don't know how much longer my power gonna last here with the server, but bunches of piggies arrived today, so ya might want to look at list to check in case I can't get everybody cmailed tonight. For those who are new. Here is what your piggy buckets look like. This is how they start out. Takes a 12 x 6 ' area to hold all the buckets. Than it takes another big section to hold all the empty boxes and wrappings. I hold on to everything til way after the swap done.  What I don't like is cans that just have a number on them, than I have no idea how old they are. With cans that may have so called "expired" a good place to take them to is somebody who is working with the homeless on the street. Those folks don't care if a can expired or not as long as it not damaged, cuz food is hard to come by and anything they get is appreciated. |
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| Ok, who else has sent something ion their box that gonna make my heart go crazy. AGGGGGGGGGGG!!!!! Poison, I started lifting stuff out of your box and looked down and said oh heck and moved away from the box. When I looked down I seen something strange. I thought at first it was a giant glob of mold with some sort of brown stuff around it. It looked alive. Went and put me on some gloves and grabbed a can of bug spray in case whatever it was tried to move out of the box. There was some other baggies over it, so couldn't see it all real good. I got me a long knife and started very carefully to pull the seed packets I had dropped back in off first. Than I started removing the ones on top of whatever this whiteish/tan thing was. Had me a trash bag already to toss into and out the front door before it could get me. When I finally got it out of the box, I breathed a big sigh of relief. What set me to panicking? Cotton bolls. Whole ones. Boy did they scare the bejebbers out of me.  Totally was not expecting to see the whole thing.  |
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