Washington Street Seed Exchange opens for the season

A little cabinet filled with treasures for those with a green thumb has opened for the season.

The Washington Street Seed Exchange, launched by Elisha Osherowitz Kemmerer, offers seed starts and plants for community members. This is the second year that the cabinet is open. A few years ago, a conversation on social media sparked the idea of a local seed exchange.

“Trumansburg is such a sharing community, and somebody said, ‘Wouldn’t it be great if we had a seed share?’ So I said I would put one out,” said Kemmerer. While the seed share didn’t launch that season, it opened the following year.

The seed exchange is housed in an old kitchen cabinet that Kemmerer repurposed and revitalized through a collaborative effort. Her brother, a plant enthusiast, built the cabinet’s base, and her children and a neighbor helped paint it. 

“It sort of replenishes itself,” Kemmerer said of the cabinet’s seed supply.

“At the beginning of the season, I’ll fill it up with what I have,” she said. “The beauty of it is that it’s a share. On the inside, I’ve got a little sign that says you can take what you need, but the idea is you can take some and leave them.”

Kemmerer explained the thought process behind the share.

“If you buy a packet of tomatoes and it’s got 50 seeds and I’m only planting maybe like six tomato plants, the rest of them either go to waste or you hold on the same seeds year after year,” she said. “That’s not always conducive to seeds – some last, some don’t, depending on how you save them. This way, you’re sharing. So it’s a nice little way to give back to the community.”

Kemmerer recently put some seeds and plants out in the cabinet and quickly discovered it was full, with some extra donations placed inside after a recent event at the Trumansburg Farmers Market, of which Kemmerer is a board member. 

“We’re really ramping up our programming,” said Kemmerer of the market. “We had a collaborative project where we did a seed swap at the market with the community and Fruition Seeds.”

While one may assume she has a green thumb, Kemmerer admits she is good at growing vegetables but is trying hard to grow flowers.

“I actually have a hard time starting flowers from seeds, but what’s been nice about this is people have actually dropped off a lot of flower pots,” she said.

The cabinet also features plants.

When thinning her plants, Kemmerer started putting them into little paper cups and putting them out by the cabinet. She has since received a banana tree and other random plants, including house plants, through the exchange.

When she can, Kemmerer tries to snap a photo of what’s inside the cabinet to share to social media, but sometimes the inventory changes before she sees it. 

“It’s been fun,” she said of the seed-sharing project.

Trumansburg Connection appears every week in Tompkins Weekly. Send story ideas to editorial@VizellaMedia.com or courtney.rehfeldt@gmail.com.

In brief:

Braided Root Waters Healing Sanctuary hosts two events

Braided Root Waters Healing Sanctuary (BRWHS) will host an Earth Healing Fire Circle Friday, May 19, 5:30-8:30 p.m. and the Despair and Discovery Circle Saturday, May 27, 2-4:30 p.m.

RSVP to Betti at e.a.Lambro@gmail.com to express interest and receive additional information. 

There is a suggested donation of $10-20, which supports BRWHS. All are welcome, with or without a donation.

Trumansburg Community Forum event

An expert panel will discuss mental health awareness May 23 at 7 p.m. at 69 E. Main St. 

The event will cover what can be done to promote mental health, review warning signs of deteriorating mental health in close friends and family, explain what actions should be taken during a crisis, cover what age people first experience mental health issues and more. 

Questions will be answered by Rachael Sutherland, Trumansburg elementary school social worker; Karen White, Trumansburg elementary school psychologist; David R. Reetz, director, Counseling and Psychological Services, Cornell; Tiffany Bloss, executive director, Ithaca Crisis Center, 988 Crisis Line; and Harmony Ayers-Friedlander, deputy director, Tompkins County Mental Health.

May Day 5K

The Trumansburg Education Foundation and the Trumansburg Elementary and Middle School Parent Teacher Organizations will host the May Day 5K Saturday, June 3.

The event includes a short Fun Run at 10 a.m. on the Trumansburg Central School campus, followed by the 5K through the village of Trumansburg at 10:30 a.m. 

To register, visit runsignup.com/Race/NY/Trumansburg/TrumansburgMayDay5k. To help sponsor the May Day 5K event, email contact@tburgedfoundation.org. 

All donations are tax deductible and can be mailed to May Day 5&5, c/o Elementary PTO, 100 Whig St., Trumansburg, NY, 14886. 

Donations are also accepted online at Paypal.me/TburgElemPTO. All funds raised will be used to benefit students and teachers in the Trumansburg School District directly.

Trumansburg Porchfest returns

Trumansburg Porchfest returns June 10, noon to 5 p.m.

Scheduled performers include TOiVO, the Dart Brothers, Se Leighas, Ghost Train, George Cook & Friends, the Hula Hut Dancers and Trumansburg High School Modern Bands, to name a few.