Happy New Year, Gardeners!
With January brings our annual seed swap, Seedy Saturday, and every year my husband gets a giggle out of the name and has to say something to me about it. Seems he’s not the only one to wonder about the name and chuckle at it. This year, I discovered the answer to his question, well part of it anyway.
Everything You Want to Know About Seedy Saturdays
Turns out, we get our name from a movement that started in Canada in 1990!
Seedy Saturdays (& their sister event, Seedy Sundays) is a concept that started in British Columbia, Canada in the 1990s and these seed exchanges quickly spread across Canada and beyond. They remain a vibrant and essential part of the community gardening culture, offering a way to celebrate biodiversity, support local food systems, and promote sustainable, organic gardening practices. - Seed Library Network
So why do we always hold it on the 4th Saturday in January? In 2006, the editor and publisher of Washington Garden Magazine, Kathy Jentz, applied to have that day known as National Seed Swap Day. As the enthusiasm to participate on this declared day grew, folks from all over the world decided they would ignore the “national” in the name and just call it Seed Swap Day.
If you would like to learn more about seed swaps and organizing them, check out these links:
How to Organize a Seed Swap - SeedSavers
Upcoming EventsJoin us for our 7th-annual seed swap and keep the tradition alive! January 31 is National Seed Swap Day, and we would love for you to join us and members of the community as we celebrate the preservation of heirloom seeds, foster food security, and promote biodiversity. Bring any seeds you might have saved or have leftover from seed packets you purchased in the last couple of years to share with others. Having seeds to share is not a requirement to attend, so if you're interested in participating, please still join us. Bring what you can, take what you'd like, and connect with fellow gardeners and special guests. Special Guests will include, but are not limited to: Food Hero, OSU Extension Service Master Gardeners, Echo Valley Natives, and Sandy Community Gardens/Bee City USA. When: Saturday, January 31, 2 - 4pm Where: Hoyt Community Room (Sandy Public Library) Donation Labels -- for the folks that would like to fill out their seed information ahead of time! Food Hero Gardening Calendar -- according to the calendar, January is a good time to organize your seeds by month they will need to be started or planted. 2026 Seed Library Class Survey!Every year I put in a request for OSU Extension Service Master Gardeners to come and speak for us. I thought it would be nice for Sandy Seed Library members to have a say on the subjects that are presented. So I came up with a simple survey with two questions: What presentations are you interested in me requesting, and would you like to see additional garden-related swaps? Click on the Icon below to take the survey.  What I've Been ReadingAfter learning a bit about Kathy from my seed swap reading, I found out that she has co-authored a couple of books, so I decided to pick one up. I really like how this book is laid out. It is to the point and offers some great ideas with some good picture examples. I remember reading about herb spirals in another book I recommended and really enjoyed, and in this book they give you some practical information if you’d like to construct one for yourself. Something creative that I never thought of, they mention using mirrors to increase light to certain spaces. And then I really appreciated the vertical and horizontal growing ideas, especially the practice of espalier to woody shrubs and trees. Rick's Corner Winter Notes Over the holidays, I often revisit the book Winter: Notes from Montana, by Rick Bass, where winter is a time of deep snow, hard freeze, and a near endless preoccupation with firewood–a season you endured, survived. When Bass first moved to the book’s remote Yaak Valley, the locals didn’t ask him if he was staying the winter; they asked him, “So, are you going to try to winter here?” Even though winters in the PNW are frequently more of a between space than a season unto itself–the garden here slows down, but it doesn’t hibernate–Bass’s book lulls me into what I consider a proper winter mindset: contemplative, sheltered, snug, looking forward to spring but in no particular hurry for it to arrive. My garden tasks are equally unhurried: a little tidying (leave it messy, but not messy enough to overly annoy the neighbors), a bit of winterizing (draining and coiling the hoses), some leisurely planning (lots of seed catalogues) and daydreaming (heaps of gardening magazines*), along with a few basic but important chores. Which brings me here: the annual cleaning of the gardening tools. In the PNW we sometimes get these clear, brisk winter days with just enough weak sunshine to coax you out of doors with the intention of getting some work done in the yard, and these are the perfect days for giving your gardening tools the proper care they deserve. Below is a basic outline of garden tool tasks perfect for a slow winter afternoon:
In the spring, future you will look back and thank past you for your efforts. For more, see this info sheet from Oregon State University: Care and Maintenance of Garden Tools. Or this article (with pretty photos) from Homes and Gardens: How to Store Garden Tools Over Winter. *Bonus Tip: Visit the Friends of the Sandy Library Book Nook in the Sandy Library for back issues of gardening mags for sale. As always, thank you for being here, |
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