Seed packing party

So I have been finding ways to find seeds without spending copious amounts of money (as I so very easily could if I were not careful) and I happened upon a seed packing event for a local seed company.

At first I did not think I would make the event with the times listed, but then realized they had a afternoon and night time event for the three days the event was taking place.

I loved the concept of being paid in seeds to pack seeds.

The event was 4 hours long. I would have gone to the others but I had to work those days. Still, so very happy I was able to make the last night event.

SO many seeds! Oh dear I have never seen so many seeds in one place before. It is pretty awesome. We packed up so many different seed packets I lost count.

Someone brought pie, another person brought soup, and so we got to have some wonderful treats in between seed packing.

The deal was that we would be paid 5-8 seed packets per hour worked, roughly $15-$24/hr when you account for the retail price of the seed packets.

I had an absolutely lovely time, and managed to come out with 32 seed packets. Only one of which I got 2 packs of. I got to pick what seeds I wanted from I think it was something like 175 varieties? I honestly cannot recall the number she said it was.

 
The seeds I ended up taking home with me.

The wonderful thing about these seeds, is all of them are grown locally, all do well here, and I can save seed from all of these.

I hope to get good at saving seeds from any variety I plant that allows for it, so my seed bank will grow, and make up for any bad planting years to come.

I also got a chance to talk with the lady running it about a part time apprenticeship on the farm. I explained a bit about my situation, she explained a bit about the apprenticeship, and how I might apply. It is no for sure thing, but it would be nice to get some experience from someone who knows much more about farming than I, not to mention make some friends who love the same things I do.

If nothing else, they will probably have this seed packing party going on again, and I certainly don’t mind the work.

The funny thing is, only a few of these were on my wanted list. Sometimes it is hard to know what you want until you have a bunch of varieties in front of you. I got things that were on my list first, then added other packets from there. I think I came out with a really good variety if I do say so myself.

Here is what I ended up with:

Armenian Cucumber
Watermelon “blacktail mountain”
Green nutmeg melon
Popcorn “Glass Gem”
Zucchini “Black Beauty”
Soybean “Beer fried”
Aunt Mollys Ground Cherry
Parsnip
French Breakfast Radish
Waltham Butternut Squash
Scallion/Bunching onion
Tuxana Sweet Corn
San Marzano Tomato
Dr Carolyn Cherry Tomato
Red Zebra Tomato
Garden Breadseed Poppy
Mammoth Grey Stripe Sunflower
Blue Flax
Shungiku Edible Chrysanthemum
Motherwort
2pks of Broadleaf Tobacco
Purple Orach/Mountain Spinach
Winter Giant Spinach
Wrinkled Crinkled Crumpled Cress
French Sorrel
Heirloom Lettuce Mix
Smokin Hot Basil Mix
Dwarf Scottish Blue Curled Kale
Salad Party
Arugula
Cilantro


Here is a list of things I still want, minus what I have gained thus far:

 

Fruits:
Thornless raspberry
Wineberry
Salmonberry
Plum
Rainier Cherry
Golden Delicious Apple
Another apple type (Something like honeycrisp)
Muskmelon (Like cantaloupe)
*Other melons I have yet to discover** working on that
More grape varieties. I have 3 now, I want a few more types possibly.
Orange
Lemon
Dew berry
Salal
Porcelain gem vine *Edibility still questionable*
Peach
Nectarine
Asian Pear
Huckleberry
Blueberry (3 varieties)
Elderberry
Honeyberry
Wonderberry aka sunberry
Jostaberry
Mouse melons aka Mexican Gherkins
Lingonberry
PawPaw *Possibly*
Persimmon *Possibly*

Veggies:
Artichoke
Miners lettuce
Snap Peas
Brussels
Asparagus
Mushrooms
Potatoes- fingerling, red, gold, yams/sweet potatoes
Garlic (Has to come from a certified nursery here or it could cause white mold soil rot)
Cabbage
Celery
Banana peppers
Jalapeno
More winter squash varieties
Rhubarb
Horseradish
Sweet onions
Turnip
Sweet yellow onion

Herbs/Plants/Flowers:
Cleavers
Pineapple weed
Lemongrass
Bee balm aka bergamot
Red clover
Aloe Vera
Burdock
Ginseng
Comfrey
Wood Betony
Goldenrod
Vervain
Tea, Camellia sinensis
Passionflower
Damiana
Gardenia
Goldenseal
Jasmine
Day lily
Watercress
Goldenseal
Starry False Solomons Seal