Pulling into the parking lot at the Ogden Preparatory Academy, I was surprised by the cars there. I was almost half an hour early. And yet, so was a parking lot full of cars. Then it hit me: This was a seed swap. These cars belonged to people who get up early to take care of their gardens, to make hay while the sun shines but before it gets too hot, people seeking relief from this winter’s snowy onslaught by gathering to trade gardening knowledge — and seeds. It made perfect sense they … we … were early.

Walking into the large, crowded room, I felt an immediate kinship. These were MY people, brought together that morning by seeds — itty bitty orbs full of potential if they fell into the right hands. I had a feeling that room was full of the right hands.

In my own hands was a box lid converted into a tray filled with small, marked envelopes of saved seeds. The ogdenseedexchange.org website set the rules: Only locally grown and saved seeds would be accepted at the event. The website said you didn’t need to bring seeds to participate. But this seed swap was the answer to a question I’d been quietly harboring for years: What to do with all the seeds I’d collected and saved?

I deposited my seeds at an already overflowing “for free” table, then started the rounds through the rows of tables, studying the tidy rows of seed packets for sale for a dollar or two, some for free. I was astonished at the fervor of the seed sellers and other vendors who enthusiastically explained the benefits of certain kinds of tomato or bean or okra plants to the large lines of eager buyers. Every seed in that room came from here — from where we live. The genius of the seed exchange is that what is grown here and collected here will grow here again.

The seed exchange started 13 years ago when Gregg Batt and David Wolfgram sponsored one in a local Grounds for Coffee store. About 50 gardeners showed up. Clearly the next venue needed to be larger. The exchange moved to the Ogden Nature Center, then on to the academy. This year’s crowd of 500-plus suggested maybe another move. So said Anna Cash, an organizer for the past eight years. Anna lives and breathes the entire food production and preservation loop. As a master food preserver and a master gardener, her passion is core. “At a seed swap, you look into the face of the person who saved a seed grown in the area, one that knows how to survive and adapt in our growing conditions. You can buy wimpy seeds grown in a gorgeous valley in Washington that won’t be as hardy as ones grown in our desert region,” she explained.

The nonprofit Ogden Seed Exchange declares its mission is “Providing seed sovereignty through education, seed saving and sharing.” “Sovereignty” being the key word means self-governance. As Anna put it, “It’s vital to acquire the skills necessary to close the loop of your food security — where your food comes from, how you grow it. It could be a necessary skill in the future. Small, simple activities now lead you to becoming more self-sufficient.” She noted that in the pandemic of 2020, panicking people suddenly wanted to produce and preserve all their food. “It’s not a sustainable practice to do 100 percent of these things up front. Starting small is a better option.”

The seed swap was a huge success. There’s more to come from this dedicated, visionary group. They’ll hold a seed saving workshop later in March, and another in the fall. They also respond to requests to present at schools and other community events. Community participation is vital to the whole purpose and intent of the seed exchange. Anna observed, “It takes a community to build a seed swap. … I think there’ll come a time when people laughing about this now will come to us and say, ‘Please help me. I’ve got no food in the pantry. How do you do this?’ And we will gladly help.”

I’ve never grown parsnips before. But I now have a packet of locally grown, collected and saved parsnip seeds. I can’t wait to get them into the ground. That thought keeps me and all the other gardeners out there sane even as the snow continues to pile up.

Swapped seeds also grow hope.

D. Louise Brown lives in Layton. She writes a biweekly column for the Standard-Examiner.

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