PORT TOWNSEND — People can trade plants, bulbs or seeds for something they want in their gardens during a plant and seed exchange Saturday.
The second annual exchange takes place from 11 a.m. to 3 p.m. at the Quimper Grange, 1219 Corona St.
“We are looking for any kinds of plants that you no longer want, pots that you haven’t planted or seeds that you haven’t used,” said event organizer Ashley Kehl.
“People can bring what they want to exchange and come away with something they want.”
Plants, seeds and bulbs will be displayed on tables outside the hall or, if the weather is bad, inside the grange hall.
Books available
In addition to plants, books will be available to help answer plant and seed questions, and Mountain Spirit Herbal Co. will provide hot tea.
Kehl and his fiancee, Jennimae Hilliard, adopted the idea for Port Townsend after noting a nationwide trend.
“A few years ago, we discovered a mutual excitement for gardening and bartering which has led us down the path of lots of playing in the dirt, seed saving, food preservation and trading with friends,” Kehl said.
Kehl grew up in a farming family and traveled with his father, Michael Pilarski, to festivals and other events that promoted agricultural sustainability and permaculture.
Pilarski hosted a plant and seed exchange for many years in Okanagan, B.C., and was the main source of inspiration for the upcoming plant and seed exchange, Kehl said.
Kehl added that no money will be used at the exchange.
“Maybe in the future, we will expand and be able to take money, but we haven’t worked that out yet,” Kehl said.
Everyone invited
“But we want people to come, whether they have stuff to trade or not.”
Kehl said seed exchanges happen every spring in small and large towns across the country.
“The seed exchange encourages plant diversity,” he said.
“I think a good practice is: ‘Food, not lawns.’
“People spend a lot of time maintaining their lawns, which isn’t very useful when they can spend that time growing plants they can eat,” he added.
For more information, phone 360-821-1092.
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Jefferson County Editor Charlie Bermant can be reached at 360-385-2335 or at charlie.bermant@peninsuladailynews.com.
