Rotary Starts Seed Exchange

Boorowa Rotary’s new Seed Exchange program combines two great things - community and the garden.

Operating from the Boorowa Community Op Shop from Thursday to Saturday, the seed exchange allows community members to access seeds for free. Community members may borrow small amounts of seeds.

Basically, a selection of seeds will be collected from which residents may take small amounts to take home and plant in exchange for seeds from their own collections.

Seeds can include locally saved seeds, excess purchased seeds, seeds brought home from another region or country, or excess seeds donated by a seed company. It is anticipated that a portion of the freshly grown seeds will be donated back to the exchange.

The seeds will be stored and made available to others who continue to contribute to the cycle of taking seeds, growing them, and donating a portion back to keep the collection viable, healthy and fresh.

Using a seed exchange is easy and works by the simple philosophy of:

• Take - visit the seed exchange and take the seeds you want to grow;
• Grow - grow the seeds at home and hopefully enjoy a bountiful harvest;
• Save - save some seeds for next year from the healthiest plants and fruits; and
• Share - return some saved seeds to the seed exchange for the next person to grow.

Borrowa Rotary would love to see the seed exchange support information sharing and preservation, believing that gardening is a localised knowledge, built through experience.

While written guidelines can be helpful, there is something to be said for person to person sharing of localised knowledge when it comes to how to be successful in your own unique gardening environment.

Seed quantities are limited, so the taking of seeds will be strictly first-come, first-served. Donations can be made to the Boorowa Community Op Shop. To date, Bunnings Hardware in Young has donated over 30 packets of seeds to the exchange.

Rotary asked that donated seeds include the seed name and variety, the year they were collected, and any notes or special information that the grower may need to know. Vegetable, flower, and herb seeds are accepted, and all seeds must be dry and in a sealed bag or envelope.

Poisonous, hybrid, or invasive species seeds are not accepted, nor are cannabis seeds.

Check out the collection of gardening books at the op shop while exchanging your seeds.

• Topics:

• Gardening
• Community Groups