Seed Network

[envelope]

If I've missed this (or a similar) topic already, or if this is something already established within the community, pardon the repetition.

I would like to establish a seed network with interested individuals who seasonally collect, store, and regrow food, medicinal, and other crops, herbs, or trees. Rooted cuttings would also be of interest (though more difficult to transport and exchange between distant locations). The general idea would be:

- Establish a list of regular seeds you plan to grow
- Post the list to the network thread or site (I can set something up)
- When a batch of seeds becomes available, post for excange for something that someone else is growing that you would like
- Arrange mailing and exchange with any interested parties
- Repeat as the season calls for it


Would anyone be interested in working with me to set up something like that? We can have wish lists, planned seed or cutting lists, and then a list of 'it worked, and I'm ready to ship this out' items. No monetary exchange would be expected or facilitated, and the terms of exchanges (how many seeds, of what) would be in the hands of anyone making a trade. No guarantees could be expected, but we can share our successes of different seeds on the site.

[Selene]

Hi, envelope,

You might find more takers for this topic in our Greening Gaia forum, which is frequented by gardeners, herbalists, etc. If you like, I can move it for you.

Blessings,
Selene

[envelope]

If you like, I can move it for you.

Yeah, that'd be great, thanks Selene!

[Selene]

All done! Good luck with the project!

[Elhonna]

What a great idea !
I can't help you with the seeds, but if you plan to do a website, or use a back-up that you have to complete, I can help a bit. Just tell me and I'll see if I may be of some use.

[skydove]

Yes I'd be interested, I passed round Agrimony seeds last year and when I think of it I could probably harvest more seeds from my herb plants though of course the timing would have to be planned more for next year now. I am also very interested in growing tree seedlings to be planted in local communities, on waste ground etc, so yes count me in. Are you in the UK?

[treegod]

Looks interesting. Me and my girlfriend have quite a collection of seeds that we swap with people, usually in Spain. But anywhere in Europe might be good too

[envelope]

Alright, great! One other person is enough to convince me there is interest I'll throw together the framework of a site to support the effort, and bounce back updates to this thread. Any ideas on needed functionality?

I'm thinking, to start, we could use:

• A wiki to build out knowledge on the seeds and plants we will be exhcanging
• An informal how-to on storing, packaging, and shipping seeds, cuttings, etc.
• A database with info on:
  
  • Members + contact info & shipping (private to members of the network)
    
  • A searchable list of
    
    • available now seeds
      
    • to-be-harvested seeds
      
    • wish lists and wanted 'ads'
      

Thinking I could add a 'confirmed viable' stamp a member can place on a listing of seed stock by taking a pic of a sample seed that has germinated (might make people more comfortable trading their own seeds if they can see proof of the viability of a seed stock).

This will all be largely based on trust, so I wanted to add a forum, as well, where people can post back on their exchange experiences with other members.

Any other thoughts or ideas for features that will help this?

[envelope]

OK, I've setup seed.alternality.org for now. This is a domain I own, and can host the site under on my own server for now. You can't hit it just yet (DNS has to resolve), but an under construction page should be up in the next hour or so.

I can add the wiki and forum tonight, but the seed exchange framework will require building, since it will be custom. If anyone has mysql or the Zend PHP Framework skills, I'd love the help (Elhonna, I saw your mention - it's a Linux box, if you're interested, and even just some help with design would be a time saver if the tech isn't your style), but either way, I'll start tonight and keep posting my progress here and on the page. Once it's all up, then we can really dig into the logistics and gather some volunteers to give it a whirl

[envelope]

OK, so I had some downtime today I've added the database tables for the custom app (seed exchange part). Next I'll throw up the forum and wiki (easy stuff - using mybb and mediawiki, so it's a matter of the install and a quick config change, and I'm wiping my hands before suppertime). The app building is going to take a week or two, I suspect, based on my free time, and heavily dependent on bugs. I could definitely use an extra hand on the PHP piece, since this will be the longest part to launch - if anyone is interested, definitely let me know. I'm building it in Zend Framework to save time, but if you are interested in helping and prefer just going from scratch, I can send you the DB table layout (all two tables required for the base features, hehe) and basic plans, and we could divide and conquer.

[envelope]

On the region thing: I'm not in the UK, unfortunately, but I don't think this will be a major hinderance. The network will be centered on the forum, and the seed shipping is pretty easy - I recently just had some shipped to me from England, and it was simple. Standard postage, a couple baggies and some small bubblewrap did the trick for next to nothing. Cuttings will be tricker - I was thinking I would see how the pros do it and try it out myself. Going to order a tree for next spring, and see what hoops they jump through to get it to me alive. I bet for smaller cuttings one of those little corsage clips that keep the flowers fresh would work - I'll see if I can find where to get some (like my local florist, probably), and try it out with some friends a few hours away.

Maybe postal info would be a good resource to add to the wiki, eg. best shipping practices and what works, what doesn't, rough handling measures, etc. Any thoughts or experiences on this?

[envelope]

Wiki is up (though empty, of course), and the forum is up, as well. I'll add an opener and the forum layout tomorrow, and will start indexing on the construction page. The DNS for seed.alternality.org (and seeds., too) is now resolving from my location.

[envelope]

OK, I added the list of remaining items before I can launch the site on the main page (seed.alternality.org). I'll keep it updated as I work through the rest. After I'm done, I'd love to find some volunteers to try out the site with me (I've been storing some seeds I've just harvested this fall, and would love to trade or just try out the site with them!) - anyone wanna help me beta test?