Swapping Seeds

Dear Friends and Fellow Bloggers. Thank you so much for your lovely kind words and comments on my last post, some of which were delivered privately or personally. Thankyou! There's nothing quite like blogging to make you feel as if "it's not just me" and the kindness of this community never fails to amaze and delight me, bringing a smile through the darkest of days. I know that most of us have experienced this lovely warmth in times of need.

Special and huge Thank You to Pomona, who sent me the lovely package pictured above which arrived today. The lavender pouches (which I photographed before unwrapping the lovely pink paper) are scenting my whole house as I type, with their delicate fragrance. Lovely! There's nothing quite like lavender to lift the spirits and relax the mind, and it's arrival seems like a perfectly appropriate moment to resume my seed swapping plan.

I have made a button

copy this code:

<em>&lt;a href=&quot;http://marmaladekiss.blogspot.com/2009/09/swapping-seeds.html&quot;&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3525/3923038627_821454251a_o.jpg&quot; width=&quot;300&quot; height=&quot;300&quot; alt=&quot;seedswap&quot; /&gt;&lt;/a&gt;</em>

And so far the following lovely ladies have expressed an interest in taking part:

Dottycookie

Fan My Flame

Pomona

SweetMyrtle

Twiggypeasticks

Angharad

A couple more have also left tentative comments but I don't want to push, so if you are one of those ladies, please do let me know if you managed to find some seeds to swap.

How I dislike rules, but I guess they are necessary, so here are some (lets make it easy) - I am sorry if they sound overly officious!:

1) Participants should swap 2 variety of seeds which have been collected this summer/autumn either from their garden, or from the hedgerow around their home. They must be labelled clearly with instructions if appropriate.

2) Swap package should include a recipe for 'preserving summer', perhaps a chutney or a jam, or a pickle, ie: a recipe designed to preserve the summer harvest for the dark days of winter.

3) Posting deadline is by 30 September - I guess we'll all have seeds by then!

4) Seeds can include flowers or vegetables, the more unusual (ie: heritage seeds) the better.

5) You can send more than 2 varieties, but this is the minimum.

I'll leave the creativity of the packaging up to you!

So as to give more people a chance to enter, I will announce swap partners on Sunday 20 September. Please put the button on your blog and leave a comment here to confirm participation!