by Jim Boyle
Editor
On the heels of a remarkably mild winter and nestled in between a pair of spring snowstorms that took place the day before and the day after, the Oliver Kelley Farm visitor center found itself bustling with activity on Saturday, March 23, with the 40th annual Seed Exchange.
The free event attracted more than 300 people, and organizers were ready for them following last year’s breakout exchange that saw more than 450 people who had grown weary of being indoors during COVID and were eager to prepare for the growing season with some fresh options.
Anna Ruel, of Zimmerman, was there last year and was enthusiastic about making it back this year.
“I think it’s fun,” she said. “There’s so many different seeds I wouldn’t normally buy and I can give them a shot.”
The annual event is free and open to the public and offers people a chance to access a variety of rare and uncommon heirloom seeds. With a mix of master gardeners, Kelley Farm staff and a range of gardeners with various levels of experience and no shortage of passion, there’s plenty to learn.
Lance Tlusty, an interpreter at Kelley Farm, likes that the free exchange gives the general public access. He’s been attending the annual seed exchange for more than 20 years.
Melanie Larsen has been coming to the Kelley Farm with her family for more than 20 years, too, but had never been to the seed exchange. When she heard about it, she decided to bring some of her own seeds to share.
“We appreciate history, but also nature,” Larsen said. “I love all these things — plants, nature, history all come together here.”
She and her family live on a parcel of land on the other side of the Mississippi River that has plants on their property that have probably been there for hundreds of years, she said.
“Prairie flowers, perennials,” she said. “Other people need to benefit from this and keep things going for the bees and the butterflies.”
Larsen had already planned to share seeds she collected in the fall and share them with friends and post them on Facebook to share with others.
She said she started with one plant from the store and it made 30-plus baby pumpkins. She ended up making all kinds of pies, giving many of them away and selling some others.
“It was the best pumpkin pie, if I do say so myself,” Larsen said.
She sees the seed exchange as good way to spread her love of nature.
Lauren Riedel, a Ramsey County woman whose grandfather was a soil scientist, has been gardening for five years. She suspects she’ll be making homemade pumpkin pie this year for Thanksgiving. She was also there to collect other seeds, including some for beets that she plans to grow.
She got some of those from Cultivating the Commons, a fledgling seed-growing company in Wisconsin that stockpiles seeds for various vegetables, grains and herbs to make them available for sale, for education and for community.
“Through seedwork we hope to inspire new gardeners, young and old,” said Clint Freund, of Amery, Wisconsin.
The Oliver Kelley Farm has been saving seeds for decades. The living history farm also keeps the world of 1860s agriculture alive. Visitors can visit the site from June 12 to Aug. 31 to see what life was like back on the farm all those years ago and attend special events on May 11 (Springtime on the Farm), July 4 (Farmer’s Fourth), Sept. 28 (Prairie Sugar), Oct. 17-19 (Harvest Days), and Oct. 26 (Halloween). Keep an eye on the Around the Town section of the Star News for further details on these and other events.
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