R.S.V.P. for Spring SEEDSWOP Sept 2023 (2hour speed swop)
… Soooo?! get with the #puzaPERMABUZZ ‘n KHOEKHOEGOWAB programme?!?
*If you want a great crop ensure that everyone around you has the best quality seed to cross pollinate with your prize winning crop! *
Our Plantup-za urban seed swop is a meet up to share and exchange surplus home grown seed, plants, soil fertility news, organic & traditional skills.
It’s a social get together for urban home food grower hobbyists.
~An opportunity to better appreciate your neighbours.
~ Aim to cultivate long lasting friendships >> slow sipping PUZA permaculture.
>>Hone your social skills to co-create community, wellbeing, respect and appreciation of individual differences and varied lived experiences /opinions /boundaries >> spice of social life.
Where to find the Seedswop
Autumn Speedy Seedswop at my home’s private nursery a.k.a Plantup-ZA.
date: Saturday 11th March 2023
venue: Franz Square, Steenberg, Southern Suburbs (Muizenberg end of peninsula) Cape Town
(Use googlemap location pin below)
What happens at a seed swop?
Meet and chat to different people with a similar passion for growing plants.
You will be able to share, gift, trade, swop & buy for your own use.
So seize the day! … there might not be a next time.
Registration on arrival?
Check-in with seed librarian host:
- Arrive early.
- Sign in: Supply your full name, street & suburb where you garden + your Whatsapp #.
- Have your stock list ready to be checked in:
Your stocklist is your list of organic garden goodies for others to look through.
(use your best clear bold most legible handwriting for young & old tired eyes to enjoy easy browsing.) - Brink a camping chair/ yoga mat, find a space, set out and display your surplus seed, plants ‘n garden goodies if you brought a lot of stuff.
- Then go forth to Meet & Mingle == gift, share, swop & exchange.
- Have fun, ‘kletsing’ and sharing garden stories; both successful achievements and laugh together at your garden challenges & collectively brainstorm solutions.
Appreciate, appreciate, appreciate …
Seed Library Admin will need to either photograph your handwritten ‘swop-list which has your homegrown stocklist & wishlist of what you’re looking to trade.
and/or
Please, Do send us your pre-typed list
(use google sheet template link >>click here<<)
Excel/Google Sheets column format =
Seed -common name | Date harvested | Cultivar name | original source | source suburb/district.
Privacy and confidentiality assured.
Data collected is for seed swop library purposes only.
Who will you meet at a Seedswop?
- Experienced seed savers and growers who are willing to share.
- New gardeners and seed savers from the area who want to learn & co-create.
- Only friendly neighbours; who are garden enthusiasts.
- Be sure to invite neighbours, friends, family and people you look up to in urban gardening.
What to expect at a seed swop?
Expect to find happy people willing to share and gift their home grown seed, plants, soil fertility teas & garden produce …
depending on what fellow seedsavers bring along to share.
So bring your best.
Usually you will walk out with more than you brought in >>> good vibes investment.
Hou vir jou lekker!
Don’t be “that unpleasant person” who takes more than they need in one season & passes out old unwanted seed duds or who spreads disease.
What can I bring to exchange?
Spread the seeds of awakening in a sleeping world – Come with an attitude open to curiosity
Aim to learn more than “instruct others”; be accommodating of diverse opinions and lived experiences. Co-creating companions instead of unpleasant competition.
- Preferably seeds & plants you have personally curated (grown and seed saved and/or propagated rooted cuttings.) >> Homegrown + multiple generations already tried tested as true to type and acclimatized to our local biome.
#FoodSovereignty - Typically ‘ethically organic’ grown. Aim for resilience and easy to grow resulting from natural selection. Open-pollinated, is preferred (as nature intended & not licenced and trademark commodified under Intellectual Property Rights.)
- Non-GMO; say “NO” to genetically manipulated organisms and choose cultivars not dependent on toxic synthetic pesticides and over fertilization (refer to : curated & acclimatized)
As wasted fertilizers adds to stinking problems in our aquifer + waterways and ocean shallows; disrupting cycles in our fish breeding grounds.
Remember to:
- Clearly mark your seed packets with as much useful info as possible ; Plant names + date harvested + area harvested from (suburb & city.)
use google sheet template link >>click here<< -
Be sure to exchange contact info (Your details & Whatsapp contact #)
Keep in touch by sending feedback.
What to bring along;
- Seeds: bring the current growing season’s vegetable, flower or herb seeds.
Bring indigenous and exotic allies:~ autumn planting seasonal annuals.
Long lived perennials are also welcomed.
Winter rains favour root establishment for trees & shrubs.
- Already acclimatized home curated seed is preferred, but bring excess from last season well before expiry date; your commercially bought seed. If you’ve already split packet into ‘single servings’ remember to bring it’s branded packaging (to share the information on packet.)
Ensure your successes are attached to your reputation here.
Be clear whether you have already ‘road tested’ commercial/ heirloom/seedsaver seeds; untested that you bought or traded elsewhere.
>> Have you grown it this past season?
Was it an easy success?
Or;
were the plants challenged?
Are these already adapted to our specific soil, weather conditions and/or other issues?
What goes around comes around.
- Bring sprouting root /tuber slips you’ve harvested and propagated.
- Grafted fruit scions (master level fruit tree artistry)
Rootstock proven to thrive in our climate with exotic fruit-cultivar grafted. - Bulbs –well preserved; be sure to share directions on how to store to keep alive (hibernating/dormant) until the correct planting seasonal conditions sparks quickening for growth.
- Well rooted cuttings, ready to be transplanted.
Bring photo’s on your cellphone; Create easy to find photo-folders.
To illustrate what your specific variety’s seedlings looks like?
To indicate amount of space and growing conditions a mature plant needs,
Also show flowers and what developing fruit looks like.
The photo dates will indicate expected time-line and growth expectation.
Its a digital garden diary for your future reference;
not just a ‘brag book’.
Use a minimal number of photo’s per plant type. No one truly enjoys flipping through an endless album of “holiday snaps”, really?
- Also bring soil fertility teas, garden produce & ‘home-made goodies’ using garden produce.
Be responsible & don’t poison people or spread soil borne disease.
Which seeds & plants NOT to bring ?
- Bring seeds that you can vouch for and that have not been accidentally cross bred with other types in the same family.
It will be a disappointment for everyone if after all the care & nurturing of growing from seed it results in some inedible mutant veg
e.g. your promiscuous pumpkin-squash-gourd family. - Please do not bring seedsaved from hybrid seeds – crossbred (usually stated on the packet as “F1”)
= Hybrids usually revert back to one side of it’s genetic mix
– i.e. “talent skips a generation” >> where seed grows true to only one half of it’s family tree.
This leads to mistrust, frustration + unwanted plants & poor production and confused unpalatable fruiting results.
- Don’t bring seeds that are really old and/or have poor germination viability. Rather hot compost your old seed that won’t germinate:
Google the lifespan of seeds, seed viability & how to check viability.
Check seeds each growing season by pre-sprouting at least 10 seeds. Then calculate viability %: e.g. 8 out of ten seeds sprouted within two weeks/one month (depending on cultivar)
= 80% viable.
- Don’t bother with Invasives, or even borderline invasive.
Every drop in the ocean adds up – ensure our delicate CapeTown biome thrives in harmony, it has suffered enough “geo-engineering through colonial attitudes.”
Climate change is a huge – and by now plainly obvious – problem in our gardens already.
– drought, floods, unseasonable and extreme weather conditions = erosion, pest invasions and soil degradation … and it’s escalating.
One last thing: Don’t bring the mean ^neighboor^ whom no one likes, and pirates don’t bring along dis-eased clone-pirates.
How will this ‘trading trip’ work ?
Seeds saved; Seed swop = fair exchange.
Free easy flow of goods and ideas; be considerate, friendly, co-operative.
Gift and share else friendly negotiations; and come to an agreed fair exchange for both parties involved. Don’t be a commercial wealth hoarder.
- We encourage old fashion bartering (bless others with a heartfelt gift, trade in kind; seedswop & plant exchange),
- Talent exchange alternative currency (called ‘Talents’) find out more at Cape Town Talent Exchange’s website.
- Some may prefer ZA Rand cash currency transactions – so be it. Don’t sit in judgement; these are desperate times.
Please respect individual’s freedom in preference of currency exchange and read up on the 8 forms of capital favoured by permaculturist – see image below.
Most seedsavers are happy to give away some of their surplus.
However please appreciate and respect that people may place a cash value on their rare or difficult to find/ acclimatize/ homegrown cultivars / many years of painstakingly keeping an heirloom cultivar true to class etc…
Be respectful of individual’s investment of time, honed skills and knowledge, care and attention required to nurture and process seed & plants and offer to you in it’s state of thriving health. Live well and allow others to also thrive.
How often will Retreat-Steenberg Seedswop happen ?
Seedswops usually happen at the end of the growing season; expect three harvest seasons in Cape Town
- Spring
- Summer and
- Autumn.
Lets make this – our second – Retreat- Steenberg seedswop even more memorable and enjoyable.
I'd like to do more for my seed swoppers ?
Many hands make light work.
Volunteer & let us start planning the next Seed Swop well in advance.
Volunteer seed librarians, seed ambassadors and event organizers from within our Retreat-Steenberg community are much needed.
‘>>> use whatsapp button>>>
Offer your assistance & start co-creating for a brighter greener healthier Steenberg-Retreat and surrounds.
Why should I come to my local seed swop ?
It’s a fun way to meet fellow food gardeners, urban farmers and seed savers from your area and visitors from afar.
Share knowledge and ideas.
Make plans to volunteer or clean up sections of your neighbourhood.
Sign up for workshops and training tutorials.
Are children allowed ?
Children of all ages are welcomed if they are accompanied by their parent/responsible guardian.
It helps if they are interested in seed, plants and gardening.
Come with curiosity and an open heart.
Please ensure your under aged children are kept close to you, are emotionally supported and get a well supervised time-out if they ‘become over stimulated by all the excitement.
We encourage kids and responsible parents to enjoy the seedswop adventure and respectfully meet ‘n greet fellow seedsavers and be open to learning.
Will children be there ?
Yes, immature people might attend.
Please be mindful of them and treat them with kindness.
This is a Family event = Joyfully Child friendly.
Please be sensible and kindly bring no “contentious xyz to swop” that means; do not bringing intoxicants;
including cannabis/hemp etc.
Please be respectful of our community and host’s stance.
Will there be recreational xyz ?
No.
The Retreat Steenberg civics association market section will have refreshments on sale.
Rather leave “xyz intoxicant substances” for the privacy of your own home.
Just bring yourself ~ straight ‘n clean for some pleasantly peaceful interaction with diverse and interesting fellow human beings – of all ages.
