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New: November FOTESS Swap - Solstice

sandlapper_rose
12 years ago

November Friends of the Earth Simple Swap - Solstice

This swap is for members of the FOTESS group on GardenWeb. If you are not already a member, but would like information on membership, contact me or Shirley.

Do you know about winter sowing? I love it! This will be an even simpler swap than last month and can get mailed in a small padded envelope. You will send 4 packs of seeds to another member using the list of Remembrance, Life, Mother Nature, and Leap of Faith. Send one pack of seeds for each theme. I do not begin winter sowing until January, but many winter sowers like to plant these four seeds on the winter solstice. The Winter Solstice this year is on December 22nd. Plant then or save the seeds for a bit later in the winter. The choice is up to you. Do the best you can on selecting your seeds. It's hard for me to select something for Seeds of Faith based on a warmer zone because it is pretty warm here, but you can select that seed based on the name of the variety or why it represents a Seed of Faith to you. In other words, feel free to improvise as long as you explain how the seed relates to the category.

I heard about the special meanings for the winter solstice from Winter Sowing references here on GardenWeb and through wintersown.org. (See http://www.wintersown.org/wseo1/Solstice_Celebration.html)

Trudi Davidoff who has been very instrumental in explaining and publicizing winter sowing said the following about the seeds relating to the solstice:

The Winter Solstice, its initials the same as Winter Sowing, is a celestial and natural event that ages past became entwined with religious ceremonies all over the world. The Winter holidays allow us to express love and concern through tradition, illumination, shared memories, food and gifts. Sowing the four sets of seeds is a gift to both the planet and ourselves. We give back to the land and its creatures and by doing so we give to ourselves an emotional caress; we have faith in Mother Nature and faith in ourselves.

Seeds of Remembrance

Seeds of Remembrance should be seeds of flowers that remind us of someone we knew and loved but is now gone from our lives forever.

Seeds of Life

Seeds of Life should be seeds of plants that make fruit or nectar and invite birds and butterflies to our gardens.

Seeds of Mother Nature

These seeds are sown to honor Mother Nature. Plants (you�ll see trees listed on the winter sown site, but you can substitute anything else that sounds like it would honor Mother Nature) will help clean the air we breathe, reduce excess sun on the soil, and provide shade for our heads on a hot summer's day.

Seeds of Faith

Seeds of Faith should be seeds for plants from a zone that is beyond ours in warmth. It will help us to remember that we accept the "Leap of Faith" in our hearts and know that Mother Nature is capable of miracles.

Okay, so we are not going to get into a discussion of religious significance here or do any strange dancing in the woods or anything, but let's swap some seeds! Just add a posting by November 15th in order to join in and I will designate swap partners later that week. Please mail out your seeds by November 22nd. If you have some special meaning to the seeds you are sending, share them with the person to whom you send. For example, perhaps your Seeds of Remembrance are seeds given to you by a neighbor who has passed away, but you remember her by planting them every year.

Meanwhile we will have fun discussing winter sowing and anything else that you like relating to gardening, recycling, etc.

Comments (45)

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