WINTHROP – Elliott’s Winthrop Agway hosts the first in a series of semi-annual seed swaps, from 9 to 10 a.m. Saturday, April 2 at the store on Main Street, Rt. 11C.

Organizers will provide tables, seed envelopes, markers, cards, labels and some free seeds.

The event is free and open to the public, and attendees should bring seeds, if they have them, and garden stories to swap.

The organizers, Winthrop resident Jeremiah Curtis and the Sustainable Living Project / Local Living Festival, note that the swap is both for “commercial” seeds that may be left over from last year (no older than that due to the likelihood of poor germination) and for seed varieties that have been saved by local growers working the soil.

“If you keep a keen eye on your garden crops, you’ll notice some plants grow better or taste better than others. Saving the seeds of those plants can be well worthwhile,” said Curtis.

The Seed Swap organizers will show people how to save seeds if they’re not already doing so, and will offer some resources and brief talks to help gardeners learn more.

There will be information on planting a garden and some free heirloom and organic seeds for all participants while supplies last. And there will be a raffle.

Donors and sponsors to date are Elliott’s Agway, providing the location; the Potsdam Food Co-op, providing seed envelopes; and OsborneSeed.com, NESeed.com and Rareseeds.com, who all donated seeds for the event.

More info: Jeremiah Curtis, Jeremiah.Curtis@infor.com, 212-5731, or Chelle Lindahl with the Local Living Festival at SustLivingProject@gmail.com, 347-4223.

A follow-up fee-based workshop, “Starting Seedlings and Transplanting Starts,” will be at Birdsfoot Organic Farm near Canton the following weekend.