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- B was excited we were going to a “seed party.”
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- The welcome wagons for the seed exchange
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- Herb seeds
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- Vegitable seeds
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- Walking across the green
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- Snacking on a bench
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- Snacking
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- Benches perfectly placed throughout the gardens – we sat on most of them
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- Nectarine blossoms out early
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- The gazebo
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- You cannot see my small child running velodrome laps inside the gazebo
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- Driving Hot Wheels on benches saved the day
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- THIS IS IT. Participants choose their seeds in orderly rounds.
Today I attended the Washington Gardener Seed Exchange held at Green Springs Gardens Park.
I had our toddler with me and it became obvious once I arrived that (a) it would be impossible for me to sit through any of the talks and (b) no one was milling about during the talks.
This meant I had about two-and-a-half hours to kill with the two-year-old. This was all laid out in the registration but I didn’t realize how strict the format:
1. Show up, check in and hand your seeds over.
2. Attend the two talks behind closed doors while volunteers divide seeds into categories on the tables.
3. Have a brief snack (crackers, fruit and baked goods provided), look at all the seeds on the tables and make notes as to what you want.
4. Attend Name Tag Contest and Show and Tell.
5. Calmly go make your seed selections when your group is called. There are multiple rounds so everyone gets a fair selection.
This is how the seed exchange was experienced by me:
1. Same as above - Check in and hand seeds over.
2. Notice no attendees are milling about outside the conference room. You are half an hour late. Someone eyes you and the child, shushes you as you quietly approach the seed tables and conference room.
3. Go walk the garden grounds for an hour with your small child you now realize you perhaps should not have brought.
4. Thoroughly enjoy walking the garden grounds with small child as she says “Hi, pansies!” to all the pansies and drives her Hot Wheels on every bench.
5. Come back in during break time.
6. Go back outside during Name Tag and Show and Tell time. Keep an eye through the windows for when the seed selection begins. It’s raining a little but you and the child are having a great time.
7. Come in during seed selection, choose two common flowers and realize you’re doing it all wrong because you weren’t in the conference room to get assigned a group.
8. Decide it’s best just to leave since small child is losing interest in staying by your side after three hours of hanging out.
9. Say bye to the awesome gardener you chatted with during the break.
I am so glad we went, this was my first seed exchange. I seemed to have broken a major code by bringing our child, but that said, I knew signing up that wandering the gardens was our backup plan. B, the small child, helped me prep the seeds for the “seed party” and, as far as she is concerned, things went exactly it they should. It was a great to be out in chilly weather.
Rooting DC is in two weeks – has anyone been?
Hi Martha – glad you and an energetic toddler came :-)
What others have done in past years, if they had a small child in tow, was similar to you – drop off seeds/get registered then take a break and come back for the sharing session and full participate from that point on. The expert speakers we bring in are one of the most valuable parts of the day for our attendees and folks take copious notes and don’t want to miss a second of the speaker’s words.
Small babies have come in the past and slept right through the program. Sometimes, I’ll see both parents attend and switch off baby-walking-outside-duties (if the child is fidgety), while the other parent gets to stay to listen take notes, participate, and ask questions.
Usually, older kids of school age only come if they are interested gardeners themselves and those have been some of our most delightful attendees!
As for RootingDC, I go every year and am on the planning board – there is childcare and some sessions for child-gardeners to participate in, I recommend pre-registering as it fills up fast.
Hi Kathy – Thanks for your comments – I should be registering for RootingDC within the next few days. We have a potential calendar conflict but will know for sure by mid-week.
I should have asked more questions when I checked in to ensure I was included in the workings of the exchange. I didn’t want to seem as though I was just there for seeds, but I knew attending the talks wasn’t really feasible when I registered. I was looking forward to talking to folks after the exchange but it just didn’t work out. I now know what to expect for next year.
Do you have any idea if online registration will be available for future seed swaps?
We may do an online reg this next year, but honestly, each host I look at charges a ridiculous fee on top of the credit card processing and for our low #s (100 at each swap), it has not been feasible. I’ll keep on exploring options and welome any suggestions.
Hey Kathy,
We own a record store here in DC and can sympathize with the card processing fee issue.
Have you looked into Eventbrite? We haven’t used it but quite a few friends who have organized events the last few years use it and like how easy it is to promote with it.
http://www.eventbrite.com/
Even if only the only online registration payment option is through paypal, it might broaden the audience a little.
Enjoy the weather today! Martha
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