Things are warming up and we’re talking about the first swap of the season, likely the first week in May. More details to come, but start thinking about what you might have in abundance: extra seeds, perennial transplants or seedlings that need a home, garden tools or even compost! 
The past two weekends, the Media Green Exchange was suspended due to rain. We are hopeful that this weekend’s exchange, our last for this fall season, will coincided with cool, bright, fall weather. Please bring your goodies to swap: perennial plants from your yard are an exceptional offer this time of year, as well as any late-in-the-season garden harvest, seeds, canned goods, unwanted houseplants, or even offers of help in preparing your garden for winter. I have mushroom compost to offer, and will bring a sample to the swap. What treasures do you have to share with your neighbors?
Also, we welcome all comers to the next Media Green Exchange organization meeting on Nov. 8 at 7pm. Please contact Shannon at: tatima23@gmail.com for further information about the when, where, and how of the meeting. Come and share your thoughts and enthusiasm about how to make this idea of community building through gardening grow and thrive.
This Saturday will be the second-to-last swap of the season; 10am on the Plum Street Mall. Bring your seeds, perennials and any fall veggies you might still have to trade for other goodies.
On Sunday watch Fresh: The Movie, 7pm at the Delaware County Institute of Science. Hosted by Transition Town Media and Greener Partners, this film explores the sources of our food and the movement towards more sustainable agriculture. Following the film will be a panel featuring local food providers, including a farmer, a store owner and a restauranteur.
The nights are beginning to get chilly, and my worms are not happy about this fact. I’ve spent hours and hours picking thousands of them out of the outdoor bin and placing them into our indoor bin, but now the latter is full and I still have worms freezing their wiggly little tails off.
I love my worms, and want to see them happy. They provide such rich goodness for the garden, turning my kitchen scraps into black gold in mere days. Effortlessly, they provide my plants with the ultimate in nutrition and they do this for free. Have you ever researched what a cubic yard of worm castings costs? A cubic yard weighs about 1100 lbs. If you were to purchase 1100 lbs from this source, you would spend $3300!
So, are there any MGE members who would like to adopt some cold worms and give them a home? Let me know. I’ll bring them on Saturday.
Tomorrow’s meeting, that’s October 4, will be at Amy’s house, 121 Edgemont St. at 7pm. Please email me, tatima23@gmail.com, if you have any questions. We are fans of short, efficient meetings, and we’ll plan to move through our agenda as efficiently as possible.
Last sips of nectar.
We will be deciding how to grow the Plant Swap next spring (and when to end it this fall), what other events and efforts MGE will undertake, such as a January seed swap, sustainable greening efforts in Media, and maybe even a farmer’s market. There are some exciting upcoming collaborative opportunities. Inevitably we will discuss how to organize ourselves. It’s an important meeting, and we hope to see you there.
Marion, what's the name of this beauty?
Today’s swap, what with it being a drizzly October morning, was a small group, but with incredible bounty and great conversation about seeds, butterfly gardens, and community. Marion (of Transition Town Media) brought gems worthy of the envy of a master gardener, Gabe brought his carefully harvested seeds as well as his incredible knowledge about the subject, Barbara brought green peppers, Susanne brought fragrant herbs and other goods from her veggie garden, and I brought the workhorse perennials – bee balm and day lily, as I rearrange things and create new beds. I felt extremely fortunate to walk away with a wagonful of plants.