The cafeteria at Pike County Central High School is typically crowded with hungry students grabbing a bite between classes. But on the first Saturday of this past April, the main event was the Appalachian Seed Swap.

The room was full of vendors. One booth sold jam and baked goods. Another had hand-labeled packets of seeds laid out on a white, plastic table. Another booth sold locally harvested honey.

Joyce Pinson and her husband Charlie helped start the Appalachian Seed Swap back in 2011.

“We started out the first year with just four or five tables and we’ve grown up to about 40 vendors,” Pinson said. “We’re one of the largest seed saving swaps east of the Mississippi River.”

While seed swapping happens during the spring planting season, seed saving is a fall activity. It’s a practice where growers select the seeds from their best crops, and then save them over winter to plant the following spring.

The story of The Appalachian Seed Swap started with a disaster and a cushaw—a type of winter squash.

“We had a flood here about eight or 10 years ago, up on Harless Creek, and we nearly lost what is called the Farmer Brown white cushaw,” Pinson said.

The Farmer Brown cushaw was a variety cultivated by the Brown family of Harless Creek in Pike County, Kentucky. The Browns lost a lot of their heirloom seeds in that flood.

“It’s something that this community is real proud of, that we have this specific cushaw. And we nearly lost it during the flood,” Pinson said, regarding the Appalachian Seed Swap. “There was only a few seeds left.”

That’s because the Browns hadn’t really shared their cushaw seeds with anyone outside of their family. The experience showed the Pinsons how vulnerable their own seed collection was by not sharing them more broadly. And so, the swap was born.

The Appalachian Seed Swap takes place annually on the first Saturday in April. To honor the history of its beginnings, each seed swap kicks off with a ceremonial cutting of the cushaw, where someone cuts open a cushaw and shares the seeds with attendees. Charlie Pinson was the emcee this year. And well, there was a little change of plans:

“We have our opening ceremony here. We’re gonna do the cutting of the pumpkin today. All of our cushaws rotted through all the bad weather,” Pinson explained to the crowd.

Read the full article about the Appalachian Seed Swap at The Daily Yonder.