Seed Swap blooms Thursday
By Scott Nicholson

The annual seed swap has a new location but the same local variety, taking place in Valle Crucis on Thursday, March 26.

The free seed swap will be held in the Apple Barn in the lower-level space that is home to the Appalachian State University Agro-Ecology lab. The lab will be open from 8:30 a.m. through 6 p.m. All growers, gardeners and seed savers are welcome to bring what seeds they have to share and browse what others are swapping.

The seed swap is a rite of spring in which no one is required to bring seeds to participate, with the idea that seeds sown now will result in more seeds to share later. The event is held in conjunction with the High Country Food Summit and participating in the seed swap is free and open to the public.

Also in conjunction with the event will a special keynote presentation that evening at 7 p.m. at Farthing Auditorium on the ASU campus in Boone.

Joel Salatin, a national figure in the sustainable-agriculture and local-food movements, will present “Ballet in the Pasture,” a theatrical performance mixing humor and food-system analysis. Salatin says he defends small farms, local food systems, and the “right to opt out of the conventional food paradigm.”

Salatin is a third-generation farmer from the Shenandoah Valley in Virginia, where he works on the Polyface Farm. The farm has been highlighted in national publications for its plant-animal symbiosis.

Admission for “Ballet in the Pasture” is free and presented by the Goodnight Family Sustainable Development Program at ASU, with support from Mazie Jones Levenson.

For more information on the events, call (828) 262-7248.