I’ll trade you!

Some Ark of Taste seed varieties on offer at this weekend’s seed swap

Yesterday was a chilly one. Sunny, at least. After we strung up a decorative snail banner, my fellow board member and master gardener, Mark, and I got to setting up a table at the Wangari Gardens seed swap. We laid out a variety of seed packets, including some Ark of Taste varieties we had left over from Slow Food USA’s Plant a Seed campaign, plus lots of fun Slow Food stickers and postcards. Then the wind picked up and blew our display across the grass….

We were not deterred and though we had to shift our wares to a bin that folks could rifle through, we were delighted to have a chance to chat with — masked and from a safe distance, of course — a few dozen avid seed enthusiasts. Some were Wangari Gardens plot holders, while others were neighbors, beginning gardeners, Mutual Aid workers, or Wangari board members.

It was a great opportunity to share some extra seeds that we all had around with others looking to grow new varieties and some old favorites. It was a nice mix of seeds from various companies, collectives, and homegrown seed savers. The event gave Mark and I a chance to introduce a number of new folks to the international Slow Food Ark of Taste efforts and also spread the word about our local Snail of Approval program (of which Wangari Gardens is a proud member) while we swapped seeds and gardening tips.

What’s the Ark of Taste, you ask? It is a living catalog of delicious and distinctive foods facing extinction. By identifying and championing these foods, we keep them in production and on our plates. It’s an international effort, and anyone — even you! — can help to preserve culturally significant foods by growing, cooking, and eating them. (You can learn more about the Ark of Taste, and maybe even nominate a contender here. One of our favorite Chesapeake Bay A.O.T. representative foods is the fish chili, which some of you might have tasted at our event with Common Good City Farm awhile back.)

It was a nice excuse to get outside on a sunny day, though I will admit that my fingers and my toes were frozen through after about two hours even wearing my warmest gloves and socks! I brought home a few new interesting seed varieties myself, and can’t wait for warmer weather to arrive so I can start growing!