To the Editor:

I’ve recently moved with my family from Colorado Springs, Colo. to Stockholm, NY and am enjoying the hometown atmosphere. As I try to make a go of things here, I’m reminded of the great things my mother taught me where I grew up in rural Vermont.

We always had a great family vegetable garden. We worked hard at it, weeding and planting. I loved the flavor of fresh from the garden veggies and herbs.

As I was preparing my plans for this year’s garden, I was a little short on all the seeds I wanted. I realized I could buy all that I wanted, but why not use this as an opportunity to meet my neighbors and set up a seed swap event?

A seed swap is where people bring extra seeds to share with their neighbors and pick up seeds that they need. It also gives community members the chance to help each other. Even if you don’t have seeds to swap, you can come and get some information about planting a garden.

One of the great things about seed swaps is that locals can share their expertise about local growing conditions.

I’ve spoken with Cindy Niles, the new owner of the Agway that is just re-opening for the season on Rt. 11C in Winthrop, and she has agreed to have it indoors there on Saturday, April 2 at 9 a.m. until 10 a.m. We’ll provide tables, baggies, markers, cards, labels and a few seeds. Attendees should bring seeds to swap, preferably from the past year.

There’ll be a raffle for seeds and a book. The Sustainable Living Project / Local Living Festival (www.sustainablelivingproject.net) is helping out.

This is our first year doing this (but not our last, hopefully) so be patient with us and let’s be friendly when bartering.

Let’s have a good time of it! Please label your seeds with more than just the seed name -- the number of days until harvest (we have a guide to use), type of soil they like, a story about where they came from, anything like that.

If you bring extra seeds you just want to give away, we’ll put them to use!

We invite all people to come by, chat a little about their garden, and share some seeds. We’ll also have a couple of brief presentations about gardens, composting and other good things to do.

Contact me at Jeremiah@Stockholm-NY.com or 315-608-6560 for any questions, or the Sustainable Living Project / Local Living Festival folks at 347-4223 or SustLivingProject@gmail.com.

Jeremiah Curtis, Stockholm