Seed Swaps

Seed Swaps / Seed Interchanges /
Seed Saturdays

Interested in hosting a seed interchange or seed swap? This guide will help you organize your swap while educating people about the basics of seed saving and the structure of your seed library.. Seed exchanges or swaps are a great way to bring the community together. It's a time to connect with other gardeners, share stories, and find a new plant to fall in love with or share an old one with new friends.

Questions to Consider 🤔

When is a good time to have a seed swap in your area?
Are there other groups who you can co-sponsor the event with?
How will we organize it to make it easier for people to find and share seeds?
Do we want people to have to check in with a table before putting donated seeds on a table? If so, what would we want them to know or do before putting seeds on the table?
How will we identify knowledgable seed savers so folks know who they can ask?
Do we want to provide any literature or signage about seed saving?
Do we allow commercial seeds to be shared? If so, do we allow hybrids? Should people take the entire packet or take what they need from the envelope?

Organizing a Swap
These resources are flexible and can be tailored to suit the unique needs of your community. The focus is on bringing people together to exchange seeds. Not all of the suggested structure may be necessary, but it provides a menu of things you may consider including.. Feel free to adapt these guidelines to fit your event's scale and vibe. The main documents linked on the How to Organize a Seed Swap are:
- Seed Swap Table Signs
- Seed Swap Participants Guide
- Seed Sharing Guidelines (also useful for seed libraries to access donated seeds)
- Check-in Table Tasks
All of our resources are in the Public Domain. You can use them in any manner that best serves the needs of your community. You can also download or make a copy of at all of our resources in our Seed Swap Google Drive folder. If you have resources to share or suggestions, please email to us at [email protected].

Preparing Community Members
It is helpful to share some information with community members before the event about how to prepare for a seed swap. This includes a list of materials to bring, seed exchange etiquette, explaining what are appropriate quantities, as well as how to bring seeds to share. Here is the Seed Swap Participants document that you can edit and share with members to support seed exchanges at the swap.

Swap Signage
We offer a variety of table signs (Portuguese) to help your event run smoothly. Feel free to use or customize these signs as needed. There are signs to organize tables as well as signage about what crosses and appropriate quantities to take. The vegetable signs are organized by plant families, with additional information to make it easier for participants to evaluate seeds. We understand that some people may have specific preferences, while others are simply looking for a crop to grow and are less concerned about the variety. We embrace the diversity of seeds shared within our community. The key is ensuring that all seeds are clearly labeled. These categories are designed to help attendees select the seeds that best match their needs and preferences. Vegetable seeds are marked with one of three categories:

Very likely as labelled
Possibly diverse
Very likely diverse

If you want to encourage people to include the scientific name, here are lists of common names and scientific names (listed by family) for a variety of annual food crops.

Download these table signs (Portuguese) and more!

BASIL (Bay Area Seed Interchange Library) identifies seed saving level of difficulty by having green signs for super easy (extremely self-pollinating) species like peas and beans. They also have a star that says "Super easy" on the table sign.

Setting the Tone

It is helpful to have an opening circle before the seed swap begins. This sets a respectful tone for borrowing seeds and allows time for people to connect with each other and the seeds.

Here are some things that people often do at the beginning of a seed swap:

Participants can briefly share about special seeds they've brought - this sets a tone of storytelling and community rather than just collecting seeds. If you have a lot of seed savers, then you may just ask people who brought seeds to step forward or raise their hands.
Ask an experienced seed savers to start things off by sharing a story.
Give gratitude to the seeds and the seed keepers.
Offer a land acknowledgement if on stolen lands.. (This often occurs in the United States and Canada. Learn about Native Lands.) Identify an action people can do beyond the acknowledgement.
Read a poem honoring seeds, plants, community, or cycles.
Provide information about appropriate quantities and how to interact with the seeds.

Create Space for Stories

Briefly identify seed keepers who prefer to stay with their collections and introduce them to the group
Let everyone know these stewards have deep connections to their seeds and welcome questions
Consider designating a storytelling corner where seed keepers can share longer histories

This approach helps transform what could be a rushed "seed grab" into a meaningful exchange of both seeds and knowledge. Make sure to introduce seed keepers who have unique or culturally significant varieties. Their stories often inspire others to start saving seeds themselves.

Becky Webster (Oneida name: Kanyʌhtake·lu̲) explains indigenous seed exchange etiquette. To learn more about or to donate to Ukwakhwa, which is a nonprofit organization growing traditional, heirloom foods with an emphasis on Haudenosaunee varieties of corn, beans, and squash, visit ukwakhwa.org.

Reading a poem or taking time to give gratitude for the seeds and the people who saved them is a great way to start a swap. Community Seed Exchange, Sebastopol, California, USA

Check-in Table
Have a table at the entry with a large sign saying "Sharing Seeds?" where people who have brought seeds need to check in. At the table, have some experienced seed savers. Here is a Check-in Table Task Sheet. Some of the things that can be done at the Check-in Table include:

Provide forms or stickers to make sure that all shared seeds have the minimum information: common name, variety or description, year harvested.
Identify seeds that a diverse so that people have a positive experience. For example, if someone did not hand-pollinate squash, it may not come out as labeled if someone said it was a specific variety and the person specifically wanted that. However, if you mark it "diverse" then people can choose to grow that knowing that the mother plant was a specific squash, but that it may have been pollinated by something else.
Mark seeds that are old "Low germination?" Reference the Seed Viability Chart.
Have copies of the Seed Sharing Guideline. It helps people identify if the seeds are Very likely as labelled, Possibly diverse, Very likely diverse or if they need to Discard.
Have a list of common garden plants that are invasive in your area, if any. Make sure these are not shared.

Promote Seed Saving
Make sure folks understand that this is not just a taking event and that the intention of the swap includes creating local resilience around food and seeds. Thing you can do to promote this:
1. Start the swap by explaining that seeds are labeled by seed saving level and that you are encouraging everyone to start with the "super easy" plants, which are labeled "Very likely as labelled."
2. Have plenty of "super easy" seed saving brochures available. Have people pass them out as folks enter the event or have them on the table. Here are the English, Spanish & French "super easy" plants to save brochures. Feel free to put your own contact info on the brochures.
3. Have people who are seed savers wear a badge that says "Ask me about seed saving" or some type of identifier. Let folks know in the beginning of the event that there are folks who can answer questions about seed saving. If you have a seed lending library, have folks who volunteer at the library have badges too so folks can learn about the library.
4. Let folks know that if they are bringing cucurbits they need to write "hand pollinate" on the package if they did hand pollinate or mark as "Diverse". If you don't have a check in table, volunteers can check in with folks putting seeds on the Squash Family table and ask them to identify "hand pollinated" or "diverse mix." They can write that on the packet. If they say "hand-pollinate" ask if they taped it shut. Some people hand-pollinate to increase production, but don't take measures to exclude insects from bringing pollen from other varieties. Those folks should mark as seeds as "Diverse."
5. Have an experts corner where people can ask questions of experience seed savers. Maybe they give a short presentation on seed saving such as explaining how to process tomatoes or hand-pollinate squash. Depending on the length of your swap you could have this as an ongoing activity or a short presentation built into the schedule as an option for people to participate in.
6. Every 20-30 minutes remind folks about the super easy plants and encourage them to ask someone with a badge about seed saving.
If you have a library and it's in the same building give tours at regular intervals throughout your swap.
7. It's also helpful to have volunteers remove any sweet peas (Lathyrus odoratus) from the pea and bean family area and put them with flowers instead. or make it clear that these are not edible peas.
8. Have fun!

Hands-on Seed Cleaning
Another thing that some groups do is have a space for people to process seeds. This allows people who haven't had time to clean seeds to bring them and get them cleaned and provides others with the opportunity to learn more about seed saving. Note that this can be messy and you will need to compost the plant debris. Additionally, you will need space to process the seeds and will possibly need to bring seed screens. One option is to have organizers bringing some beans or lettuce to provide some hands-on learning.

Seed swap flyer with schedule, materials to bring, and sponsors. Boulder County, Colorado, USA

Handmade badge for seed savers to wear so participants know who can answer questions. BASIL, Berkeley, California, USA

Enlarged seed packet poster with parts of the seed packet identified. NOPL Seed Library, Cicero, New York, USA

Enlarged back side of seed packet poster with parts of the seed packet identified. NOPL Seed Library, Cicero, New York, USA

Here are some other sites and resources about hosting a seed swap:
- How to Host a Seed Swap PPT (video) (North Carolina Community Garden Partners, Black Seed Saving Collective, & NC A&T Cooperative Extension)
- How to Organize a Seed Swap (Seed Savers Exchange)
- How to Host a Seed Swap (Southern Exposure Seed Company)
- Cool Beans! 🫘 Seed Swap Issue - July 2021 (New platform! Subscribe to Cool Beans! 🫘 on Substack)

Seedy Saturdays

Seedy Saturdays (& their sister event, Seedy Sundays) is a concept that started in British Columbia, Canada in the 1990s and these seed exchanges quickly spread across Canada and beyond. They remain a vibrant and essential part of the community gardening culture, offering a way to celebrate biodiversity, support local food systems, and promote sustainable, organic gardening practices.

Check out Seeds of Diversity Resources: Everything You Need to Know About Seed Saturdays

Seed Exchanges: Organizing, Promoting, & Connecting

Presenter: Bevin Cohen, Small House Farm, Sanford, Michigan, USA; Founder, MI Seed Library Network; Saundi Kloeckener, Native Women's Care Circle, St. Louis Missouri, USA

Seed exchanges have been a means of coming together in community to celebrate the harvest, connect with others, and share stories. In this session, we’ll learn about this time-honored tradition and learn the nuts and bolts of how to organize a seed swap from getting seeds to promoting the event as well as connecting with each other and the stories of seeds.

Organize a Virtual Seed Swaps During a Pandemic
Presentation by Mike Riesterer and Abbey Palmer; Co-founders, Queen City Seed Library, Marquette, MI, USA at the 10th Annual Seed. Library Summit, April 17, 2021. View the Slide Presentation .