I have a few more details concerning the Community Seed Swap! March 27th at Edward's Greenhouse. I'm still a little fuzzy on the timeframe, but it's happening at the same time as "Swing into Spring", which lasts all day on that Saturday. There will be classes going on that day with the subjects of containers, new introductions, natives, and soil. I will hopefully be speaking briefly between the various classes, and handing out informational materials.
As I previously mentioned, Edward's has graciously offered their space for the event. Which is great... this means they're going to help me with advertising. And frankly, it's just a great venue for people to get inspired to garden. For anyone who hasn't been out to see their massive greenhouses, massive selection, and overall beautiful grounds, I would highly recommend it! That is, of course, if you aren't planning to head down for the Community Seed Swap! They also have a Farmer's Market with live music every Tuesday evening during the summer. I have yet to attend this, but it sounds awesome. I live right in the neighborhood, after all! On top of helping us so much with this event, they've also offered to act as a drop-off point for produce and canned goods. So bring your extra garden produce to Edward's, and they'll make sure it goes to the right place!
The logistics are still being determined, but my hope is that once gardeners arrive, they will proceed to the informational booth where either I or a volunteer will be sitting. They'll have access to promotional and seed-saving materials, and be asked to fill out a notecard concerning their seeds. My hope is to get people excited and knowledgeable about saving seeds (if they aren't already) and to have a general good time. I hope gardeners will meet each other for the first time!
On that note, I've spent a lot of this week setting up a social network for people involved in or associated with food projects (i.e. community gardens, refugee gardens, donation programs, etc.) in Boise. It's my hope that everyone can talk together, meet, and swap information. There are so many projects going on, and I think they would all benefit so much by being part of a larger community. Kim Metez of the Abundance Project (Another great project to benefit refugees in our area) has helped me out a lot so far. One of the first items on our agenda is to gather these folks for an informal get-together.
So don't be shy... if you'd like to join the network, go to boisegrowers.ning.com and sign up. You don't have to be from Boise at all despite what the name suggests.
In other news, I got the approval today for a concert, fundraising, and promotional event at the Visual Arts Collective (VAC) on May 7th. Keep that date in the back of your mind... I can't tell you much at this point because we are so early in the planning stages, but I can tell you the event is called the Homegrown Hootenanny. With a name like that, how can you go wrong? I mean, honestly?