Uh oh! I forgot to do prize winners yesterday! Thanks for the reminder. I will get them posted here shortly. I just walked in the door from work.

We have winners!!!!

First up is the "Oh Baby You Got What I Need" award. This went to the person who sent in the most things that I could match to "want" lists. In this case there was a tie! Leila and dm_kelly both had 15 direct matches to people's "want" lists.

Please choose 8 packs of seeds from my trade list. You will also receive some extras!

Next up is our "Glutton for Punishment" award. I contemplated calling it the "Valued Customer" award, but I think this winner has enough of a sense of humor to be okay with "glutton for punishment." This went to cryptid because out of the 4 round robin swaps that I've hosted, he has participated in all 4! Thanks for coming back for more, Darrin!

Please choose 5 packs of seeds from my trade list. You will also receive some extras!

And last but not least, the "You Make My Life Easier" award. This goes to those people that emailed me a list of the seeds they sent in.

*dawn1972

*Wild Haired Mavens

*coolbythecoast

*akiraana
Pleasechoose 3 packs of seeds from my trade list.

For all winners:
Please note that seed requests are on a first come, first served basis, so please include a couple alternative choices just in case someone gets to something you want before you.

Congrats to all the winners! :) and woah your trade list is a mile long and so organized, so many great seeds. Do you have a huge garden or just collect seeds? haha.

akiraana -- A little of both. :P

Erica, Your such a genorous person; im sure it all comes back to you. Thanks

Ahhh so lucky. My family is currently staying with relatives and its a huge property 70 acres but the garden area is pretty small. Plus the soil around here is basically rocks... If I owned this place....all the plants I would grow :D

Oh hell, my garden is nothing like that. Lol. I too wish that I had acreage to work with. Even though it is fairly small, it produced a good amount of seed last year.

Yea mine isn't eaither, it is actually the relatives garden but they "gave"it to me this year becusse they felt they put to much money and time into it and didnt get anything. The deer and blossom end rot took the tomatoes so all they got were peppers as that is all they planted. The garden last year was split 3 ways so now I get all the responsibility haha. I'm going to try and plant some self sufficient plants outside the garden and see how they do.

erica -youve got a good style, thanks for hosting this swap and making it fun =) i am sending you a message with my requests =)

@everyone, i have seen mother nature do that with the yarrow in her garden. yarrow loves our climate here and its native, and really common. well i am in the deep woods, so theres not much lawn here....only the little areas where theres been people for a while have lawns....but in some spots its solid yarrow on the ground. theres even some interesting/different varieties growing feral, not introduced...i dont know what they are tho i try to identify them when i can. they have slightly fatter leaves, a little different shape, but still all frilly and soft. =) i collected some seeds...but i dont know what they are....

Just want to update everyone...

Packages are ready to go out (Connie, I retrieved your pack from the PO today). As soon as I hear back from all the winners and get the prizes packed up, I will be mailing them off. The last possible day to request your seeds from me is the 1st, since I promised that packs will be mailed out no later than that day.

I have received everyone's request.

What seed request? I sent you a message regarding the bonus packs. Do we need to send requests for the swap?

akiraana -- Yeah, I was talking about the bonus packs. I'm glad you said something. I somehow missed your message. I have all your first choices packed up for you now, though.

dawn1972 -- I found a message from you, as well. Apparently Houzz didn't alert me to everyone's message. I have all your first choices, as well.

dm_kelly -- I got your email. I have the seeds you requested. For the rest, I'll take a look at your trade list and see what I can do to match some of the stuff you're looking for.

Okay glad you found it :)

Erica,...LOL! I am totally honored! Sent you my preferences a few minutes ago. _ Holy carp, I should be checking back here way more often. But, y'know, family stuff just sorta happens sometimes.

I'm super impressed that everyone got their requests to me so quickly. I was able to put the last finishing touches on packs. I'm on my way to the PO now. If you sent cash, here is your tracking number:
dm_kelly 9400109699939879170347
dawn1972 9400109699939879194053
akiraana 9400109699937534442587

Leila -- Your pack will go out on Mon. in a priority bubbly. I don't want to risk shipping yours this close to the weekend.

Edible Flower of the Day:
Alyssum (Lobularia maritima)
The
young leaves, stems and flowers are sometimes used as a flavouring in
salads and other dishes where pungency is required.

Edible Flower of the Day:
Trailing Abutilon (Abutilon megapotamicum)
Flowers
- cooked. Used as a vegetable. A pleasant sweet flavour, we find
them delicious to eat raw. The flowers are produced from mid spring
until the autumn - they produce nectar all the time they are open so,
assuming the plant is grown indoors and is not visited by pollinating
insects, the sweetness increases the longer the flower is open.

Just a heads-up... There were many packs of the very common herbs (parsley, cilantro, lemon balm, etc), so pretty much everyone will be getting a pack or two of those back, rather you sent them or not. I did the best with what I had to work with. Hope you all end up with some things that make you smile!

Aha, that's what I was wondering before. What not to send at the end. Mary E.

Well all I have of those "common" herbs is lemon balm so I'll be good lol. I kust got a packet of some lemon balm and a few other herbs yesterday from someone on this site, so nice.

hey coolio =) that was fast =)

anywho i like common herbs, though i am already growing most of them, but i dont mind having extras....

and about this...do you need me to send some extra postage?

or even...rather a small trade? a cutting, or something like that? i have some interesting berries and perennials for cuttings....

quote ----> Leila -- Your pack will go out on Mon. in a priority bubbly. I don't want to risk shipping yours this close to the weekend.

That great! we are getting some common herbs, I am going to make a parsley and lemon balm salad with mine. Cilantro will continue to star in my tomato smoothie.

fyi: I was down to my last 8 cilantro seeds, and I really need to extend the amount of parsley I grow. The young tender leaves make the best salad.

Leila -- Nah, you don't need to send postage or anything. I might take you up on your offer of cuttings next time we do a trade, but for now we're good. After I get your pack sent tomorrow, I'll post your tracking number.

Edible Flower of the Day:
Wild Hyacinth (Dichelostemma pulchellum)
Corm
- raw or cooked. A sweet flavour, it may seem
rather flat at first, but the taste quickly grows on one. A slow
baking develops the sweetness of the corm. The corm can be dried and
ground into a powder then used as a thickener in soups or mixed with
cereal flours to make bread etc. The corm is usually harvested in
the spring. Flowers - raw. A nice decoration in the salad
bowl.

Leila -- Your pack is on its way. It's expected to arrive on the 29th. Tracking number: 9405 5036 9930 0044 7668 17

^^^i wish i could like that post twice =) ^^^

double like =)

Tracking says I should get my package tomorow yay :)

Erica, thanks for letting me play along. I think I will be referring back to it, the photos and info and recipes. Mary E.

Mary -- Thanks for stopping in to chat with us, and thanks for the generous donation of commercial seeds. They got split between Leila, dm_kelly, and crypid -- our last 3 main prize winners. And I did end up snagging one pack for myself.

Edible Flower of the Day:
Citron Daylily (Hemerocallis citrina)
Leaves
and young shoots - cooked. They must be consumed when very young
or else they become fibrous. Flowers and flower buds - raw or
cooked. The flowers can be dried and used as a thickener in
soups etc. The slender trumpets vary from 12 - 17cm long. There can
be from 7 to 65 buds on a flowering stem. The flower buds contain
about 43mg vitamin C per 100g, 983 IU vitamin A and 3.1% protein.
Root - raw or cooked. The flavour is somewhat radish-like but not
so sharp.

dig-into-some-delicious-daylilies

I eat the flowers after the day is over and they are geting gummy; they taste like sweetest similar to honeysuckle, the texture combines the fresh crisp part and the gummy center. Great garden snack.

Bump!

Erica, your envelope made it here today and was filled with all sorts of wonderful goodies! Thank you!! I have some reading to do now with the new herbs and maybe some replanning for my herb gardens! Thank you!!!

Edible Flower of the Day:
Narrowleaf Cattail (Typha angustifolia)
Edible Parts: Flowers; Leaves; Oil; Pollen; Root; Seed; Stem.
Roots
- raw or cooked. They can be boiled and eaten like
potatoes or macerated and then boiled to yield a sweet syrup. The
roots can also be dried, ground into a powder and then used as a
thickener in soups etc or added to cereal flours. Rich in protein,
this powder is used to make biscuits etc. Young shoots in spring -
raw or cooked. An asparagus substitute. Base of
mature stem - raw or cooked. It is best to remove the outer part of
the stem. Young flowering stem - raw, cooked or made into a
soup. It tastes like sweet corn. Seed - cooked. The
seed is very small and fiddly to harvest, but it has a pleasant nutty
taste when roasted. An edible oil is obtained from the seed. Due
to the small size of the seed this is probably not a very worthwhile
crop. Pollen - raw or cooked. A protein rich additive to flour used in
making bread, porridge etc. It can also be eaten with the
young flowers, which makes it considerably easier to utilize. The
pollen can be harvested by placing the flowering stem over a wide but
shallow container and then gently tapping the stem and brushing the
pollen off with a fine brush. This will help to pollinate the plant
and thereby ensure that both pollen and seeds can be harvested.

Dawn -- Great to hear that your package arrived safely!

I got my package today! I sent in 8 packages and got back

sage- coolbythecoast

lavender- dm_kelly

borage- dm_kelly

lemon balm- coolbythecoast

spearmint- Leila

oregano- Cryptid

dill- dawn1972

and parsly from dm_kelly

This was my first seed swap event and I really enjoyed it :) Thanks Erica for hosting and for everyone who participated.

20% off from Park Seed, now through 4/30. Use code: ALLISGOOD

My seed were amazing just what I needed at the right time. Thanks

I'm trying to find out if I can get away with planting the ground cherry I got. I REALLY want to try it :D

Yes Akiraana, its just in time.

The seed come up faster in warm weather. Try planting some in the ground and start some in pots. Use a heat mat, and let it get some rain water. Two months from now we'll be sharing pie recipes

I'm glad that packs are arriving!

wowie!!! got my package. so awesome erica =) you really styled me out...great selection. thanks a million !

most of the pack went into the must plant now pile =)

Leila -- Super! Glad it got there safely!

yeah, got it =)

and very happy with the seeds. i am so ready to plant some more seeds, got some freshy beds all made up and squared away...ready to go. so now i know what i am doing tommorow .

and thanks everyone else who participated, you all rock =)

Hopefully most of you have received your packs. I just want to thank everyone for participating. If you had fun, don't forget to leave a comment on the Rate & Review forum. Thanks again, everyone!
EricaBraun's Rate & Review Thread

posted up a review for you ...sorry i am rather scatterbrained in general about rate and reviews. i intend to do them...but often forget or dont make the time to....but ..your reminder got me to actually do it!

Leila -- Thanks for the kind words. :)

Hip-hip-HOORAY! My totally fab package arrived today!! Seeds-n-seeds and a thoroughly wonderful *prize* packet!! Erica, as always, you totally rock!! :) Actually,...all of you do! My sincerest thanks to all who participated! - Fun-fun-fun! :)

Darrin -- So happy that it arrived safely!