This forum reminds me of playing the old game "Telephone", where you whisper something to the person behind you, they repeat it to the person behind them, etc., until you get to the last person who relates the message and you discover that low and behold! It bears no resemblence to what it started out to be. Gardenweb is supposed to be a seed trading site. TRADING. What will happen when the people who want things for free are more numerous than those who are looking to trade? I know a lot of people who have left GW, pulled their lists, because they don't see it as a viable trading source anymore. People join and post for SASBE the very first day, and you can pretty much bet that many of them will never come back, never offer seeds they have collected (though they may 'generously' give away extras they got from others), unless they are looking for another item they don't want to buy. It's easy to be generous when you have not spent a dime, put in a minute's work, for what you have gotten. And I think that because there are so many SASBE offers, people take the value of the seeds for granted. I could use some minor repairs on my car, some shingles redone on my roof, a bit of legal advice for my son, but I don't expect others to give it to me for free. But when it comes to seeds and plants, it's all fair game--ask for and grab as much as you can. This has nothing to do with generosity. I have sent out easily 60 SASBEs this season compared with only about 12 trades, including to a woman who sent me her SASBE stamped with the name of her law firm (she is senior partner). My husband has been unemployed for the past 6 weeks. People don't need seeds of rare ornamental plants to live, or feed their family, yet I get asked for them all the time because they are costly. Some of these seeds I have collected from plants that were expensive for me to buy, that I have taken the time and care to grow, that I have monitored the pods for days if not weeks to collect them at the exact time they are ripe, that I have cold stratified to keep them viable--in other words, they are a lot of work. Yet they are devalued by people who don't realize or care how much I have put into them. Back in the 'old days' of GW, people joined with the few seeds they had, traded, built up their lists, collected from the plants they grew from seed or purchased things to offer, and continued to build up their lists over the years. They realized that to get really rare or cool things they had to offer the same. There was a sense of accomplishment in that and a realization that what others posted for trade had value. Now there are people who have nothing to trade, but they want the best of the best seeds right away--no effort, no thought, and no sense of responsibility to other traders or to this site. As I said, I never meant this to be a thread against generosity.

LOL I just looked at your list again and you updated it since I saw it last, so I guess I can't say it is a newbie list anymore. In my opinion, more wants the better, makes it easier for people wanting to trade to find something they have to trade with you for. Now your organization.........LOLOL. I think I counted 4 times you had dry beans on your list....guess you must really want them LOL. Mine's not so very organized, gave up on alphabetical order during patty's swap LOL, but I do have it seperated as to flowers/veggies/herbs. Makes it easier for me to keep track of what is on it, as well as easier, I hope, for others to read. I have a lot of things from your list and will probably have even more after your next update. Angela

Dale, and anyone else still interested. I still have plenty of seeds left available for SASBE. However, I am away on vacation and I won't return until 7/12. Please send me an email with your seed wishes and I will get back to you the week of the 15th, thank you! -Elizabeth zabecc@hotmail.com

I've emailed annette_1964 and boostar, and have not heard back from either yet.....I don't think there is anything wrong with my email, so if you see this, please email me to make your picks. Hang on everyone, and I'll get to everyone who wants until I run out of seeds. Deb