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ericabraun

UPDATE: Spooktacular Halloween Swap (part 3)

EricaBraun
9 years ago

Halloween will be here before we know it! I don't know about you guys, but I love Halloween. Us GardenWebbers might be too old to go trick or treating, but what could be more of a treat to a gardener than a big bag of seeds!

It's time for a Halloween Seed Swap! Fun! Fun! Fun!

Here's some interesting facts about Halloween that I only recently became aware of:
"In England and Ireland, Halloween lanterns were originally carved out of turnips and large beets. Faces of demons were cut into the vegetables then a glowing coal was placed inside. People carried these lanterns around the village or left them burning on doorsteps to frighten away evil spirits.

When the Irish immigrants arrived in America, they found pumpkins abundant and much easier to carve than turnips. And thus, the tradition of turning pumpkins into jack-o-lanterns began.

The custom of decorating with apples, pumpkins, cornstalks, and autumn leaves has its origin in an ancient Druid autumn festival called Samhain (pronounced SAH-win). The festival celebrated the end of summer and a successful harvest." - By Lisa Halvorsen, University of Vermont

This will give us a great baseline to get started!

RULES:
Qualifying plants come in three catagories:
1) Anything that can be carved into a Halloween lantern: turnips, beets, winter squash, pumpkins (please no NoID pumpkin seeds), or anything that you can reasonably argue can be made into a lantern.
2) Any plant with a Halloween themed name. Here are a few examples: "Ghost" Pepper, "Goblin" Gaillardia, "Witch" Hazel, "Blood"root etc. You'd be surprised how many there are!
3) Halloween colors. Anything with orange or black fruit, flower, or foliage. Examples include: Amana Orange tomato (orange fruit), black hollyhock (black flower), orange cosmos (orange flower), Black Pearl pepper (black foliage and fruit), Rustic Orange coleus (orange foliage), etc.

Only three packs of the same type of seeds are allowed. If you send in more than 3, the extras will be considered bonus and will not count towards the number of packets sent in.

Minimum of 15 seeds per pack (10 will be sufficient for large winter squash seeds). No seeds older than 2013. Anything older than 2013 will be considered bonus and will not count towards the number of packets sent in.

Send in however many packs you'd like, maximum of 100. Whatever you send in will be the amount that I return to you. Use a bubble mailer, as this is what I will use to return your new seeds. Include a return label with your address on it, as well as the postage it cost you to send, plus one additional stamp. This will help account for potential differences in weight/bulk, bonus seeds, prizes, etc. If you choose to send cash, rather than stamps, I will supply you with a PID number when I ship.

Include a list of what you have sent me so that I make sure to send you different seeds. If you have a preference as to what you get back, include it on this list. Please no more than five items on your request list. It can be specific, ie "ghost peppers", or general, ie "I prefer flowers." I will do what I can to fulfill your requests.

When I have all of the seeds, I will divide them up to send back to you. Any additional seeds welcome.

Deadline to get the seeds to me is Oct 22nd. I will get your new seeds out no later than Oct 27th. This will give the post office a full five days to get your packets to you, so that you receive them by Halloween.

Please respond here if you are interested. Remember, the more unusual or rare, the better!

Send seeds to:
Erica Braun
1894 Lindo St
Benicia, CA 94510

And since Halloween is a time for "tricks" as well as "treats," keep your eyes peeled for games I will be hosting throughout the month. Winners will get additional goodies added to their packs! Oct 1st we will start our first game: Bobbing for Apples.

Wishing you all a spooktacular Halloween!
Erica

Comments (149)

  • cottonwood468
    9 years ago
    last modified: 9 years ago

    Erica, thanks for the update. I'm amazed that it is mostly done and ready to mail.
    Mary E.

  • EricaBraun
    Original Author
    9 years ago
    last modified: 9 years ago

    Ok, ladies and gents, I have returned from the PO. I don't know how long it will take them to get the packages in the system, but they will be in there some time today (do remember that I am on the west coast -- it's still bright and early here).

    Promise, your new bubble mailer was Becki's old one. Becki sent a brand new one inside of hers, so the one you are getting is only slightly reused. Your old one went where it belonged -- into the haunted depths of the rubbish bin! Lol.

  • flowergirl34
    9 years ago
    last modified: 9 years ago

    Hi all!

    Erica, whatever works for you is fine for me. I do apologize for waiting till the last minute to mail. And since we across the country from each other it probably took a little longer to get to you.

    Thanks for all your doing!!

    Happy Halloween!! :)
    vina

  • Desirai
    9 years ago
    last modified: 9 years ago

    erica, i am glad that you understood my packing. i sincerely hope that the seeds arrived intact and not crushed because i paid extra to make sure it didnt get crushed. :)

  • EricaBraun
    Original Author
    9 years ago
    last modified: 9 years ago

    Desirai -- I was worried when I first opened your pack. I thought sure the seeds would be crush, but everything you sent made it fine. I sure hope the return trip is as safe.

  • Pmb2005
    9 years ago
    last modified: 9 years ago

    Expected delivery is on Wednesday! YES! I can't wait to see what's in there!!!

  • stefaniechamo_gw
    9 years ago
    last modified: 9 years ago

    Thank you Erica! That is an intense day of packing wow.

  • NonnaG
    9 years ago
    last modified: 9 years ago

    Hello all.

    Erica this has been an awesome swap. I am still working on my carving. I am not very good at this but it will be worth a giggle. Thank you so much.

    Have a great evening!

    NonnaG

  • EricaBraun
    Original Author
    9 years ago
    last modified: 9 years ago

    Darrin and Vina -- I received both of your packs today. I will get your stuff situated tonight and have it out in the mail tomorrow.

  • cryptid
    9 years ago
    last modified: 9 years ago

    "WOO HOOO!! - Allllriiiight!! - Yeaaaaah!!" High-fives all around! Gee, in my case, it only took our glorious USPS 4 whole days longer than it actually predicted. Wonder what the big hold up was? Sure wish I'd put a tracking number on it,...but I reeeeeally hate standing in line at the post office with all the coughing, sneezing and antsy young kid-critters bouncing around. Especially this time of year to around mid-spring or so. - Anyway, that's totally fab news! Thanks, Erica! :) - Nice to actually still be a part of this swap (don't care if the seeds come after Halloween). Wish I could participate in the Jack O'Lantern carving contest, but it's just not the way things are going these daze, alas. Too bad, too, as I totally do love carving/sculpting pumpkins, et al. We have lots of kewl templates.

  • EricaBraun
    Original Author
    9 years ago
    last modified: 9 years ago

    Vina and Darrin -- Your packages have been taken care of. You will see tracking numbers at the top of this thread, however they will not be active until processed by the PO tomorrow. And there's a good chance you'll get your packs by Halloween!

  • EricaBraun
    Original Author
    9 years ago
    last modified: 9 years ago

    Darrin and Vina -- I just got back from dropping your packs off at the PO. Your tracking numbers should become active once they are processed through the system.

  • garretds7
    9 years ago
    last modified: 9 years ago

    Erica,
    it's been fun. Thanks for hosting and I'm looking forward to the Package! I'm hoping to carve up something too. But we'll see what happens. Gotta work on that van again today!!! Grr!

    This post was edited by Garretds7 on Tue, Oct 28, 14 at 18:23

  • flowergirl34
    9 years ago
    last modified: 9 years ago

    Erica thank so much!!! :D WOOHOO!!

    Happy Halloween!
    vina

  • Pmb2005
    9 years ago
    last modified: 9 years ago

    Today's the day! Spooktacular should be in the mail! Soooo EXCITED!!!!!!!!!!

  • cottonwood468
    9 years ago
    last modified: 9 years ago

    Promise, thank you for the rose photos. My real favorite and I don't have any here.

    Erica, I'll be off line today. I hope to bonchi some peppers for overwintering. It's going to frost over the weekend.

    My harvest fair Cinderella coach type pumpkin started rotting, not sure I'll have a carving entry.

    Mary E.

    This post was edited by cottonwood468 on Wed, Oct 29, 14 at 8:35

  • Melinda Hagen
    9 years ago
    last modified: 9 years ago

    I'm trying to do a carving, but I am not any good at this for sure! My children and grandchildren always did this at my house, but no ones here and I'm trying something simple! But I will have a little something to add. Should get done today, I hope!
    Amazed you have everything all sent back out already! Yeah, you are amazing! Melinda

  • EricaBraun
    Original Author
    9 years ago
    last modified: 9 years ago

    Promise -- I imagine that quite a few of the packs should be arriving at their destinations today!

    Mary -- let me know how those peppers turn out. I've been curious about doing that, as well.

    Melinda -- We'll all love to see whatever you end up making. :)

  • EricaBraun
    Original Author
    9 years ago
    last modified: 9 years ago

    Reminder: Your carvings are due by Fri, Oct 31st.

    In case you missed the rules and the prize you're competing for, here they are again:

    Halloween Lantern Carving Contest

    Here are the rules:
    1) Carve a Halloween lantern out of any fruit or vegetable. To qualify as a “lantern” it must be illuminated within.
    2) Take a picture of your creation. The picture MUST contain a physical representation of your GW name. If you photoshop it in, I will not be able to judge your picture.
    3) Post your lantern here, between now and Oct 31st, so that we can all behold your awesomeness.
    4) Winner will be announced Nov 1st.

    And what will you win? Since this is considerably harder than past games, I wanted to make the prize something worth playing for. Other prizes were Halloween themed, but since this will not be mailed until after Halloween, this is a garden-themed prize.

    A Box of Bulbs - The winner will receive a small priority box of bulbs that will include:
    Narcissus ‘Ice Follies’
    Narcissus ‘Tete a Tete’
    Narcissus ‘Salome’
    Chionodoxa Forbesii ‘Glory of the Snow’
    Dwarf Iris ‘Harmony’
    Muscari ‘Armeniacum’
    Striped Squill ‘Libanotica’
    And since everything is better with a friend, you will receive two of each.

  • Pmb2005
    9 years ago
    last modified: 9 years ago

    Erica, my package arrived safe and sound! Thank you so much. It was like a Halloween Christmas. Better than I could imagine. This is the first big swap I have received and this whole experience was great. Happy Halloween!

  • Melinda Hagen
    9 years ago
    last modified: 9 years ago

    Well I am done with my simple little carving! And I have to say even though it was simple it was hard! I've never done one before. But I don't do scary Halloween things, so even though I like Halloween, It's mostly because of all the kids dressing up (I used to dress up and go with them), and the fun everyone has! So my carving is not Halloween themed.
    And I took pics with flash and you couldn't see the illumination in it and I took several. So took one without the flash and you can see the illumination but nothing else. Hope that still works! I tried.

  • Melinda Hagen
    9 years ago
    last modified: 9 years ago

    Ok, so now is my pic without the flash and you can see the illumination in it. It was very dark in the room, don't know why didn't work the other way. And this theme is one of my favs as I beat breast cancer, so only thing could think of.

  • becki25msmolly
    9 years ago
    last modified: 9 years ago

    oh my! what a wonderful package of goodies I received today. Thank you again for doing this swap.
    You should get my envelope of forgotten ones in a few days.
    These last couple of weeks have been CRAZZZZY. My friend had her twins- 3 weeks early, her water broke up at the campground- an hour from her hospital ��" babies are healthy and gorgeous, threw a bday party for my daughter, am in the middle of planning a scrapbook retreat, lost ALL my meds, our hi-ranger caught on fire..the brake line burst and ..no brakes, fire, careening down the road…AHHH…no one was hurt ..THANK GOD!! 2 sick kids ��" bronchitis/ strept throat AND did I mention we own 2 businesses…Sweet Jesus…

  • EricaBraun
    Original Author
    9 years ago
    last modified: 9 years ago

    Our very first "Halloween lantern" entry! Great job, Melinda!

  • cottonwood468
    9 years ago
    last modified: 9 years ago

    Becki Yipes!!! but I like the twins part.

    (just got home from food pantry volunteering, I'm eating dinner)

    Erica, you rock!! Awesome job sorting!! Loved everything, loved the game prizes! Spooky friends, thank you for sharing wonderful seeds!

    Melinda, I'm impressed!! But I bought a new pumpkin today!
    If I carve it tomorrow and get a photo up Friday? Because I won't see the photographer until after midnight Thursday night.

    Did only three people get their Spooky envelope today? Where are they, watching the World Series? Or waiting for the Breeders' Cup Saturday? Or out buying Trick or Treat candy? Ghoulish makeup?

    Mary E. she who dies with the most seeds wins


  • EricaBraun
    Original Author
    9 years ago
    last modified: 9 years ago

    Becki -- Holy hell! That's some crazy scariness. I'm certainly glad you're ok.

    Mary -- I think you're right about " she who dies with the most seeds wins." I'm on a never-ending quest to get seeds.

  • garretds7
    9 years ago
    last modified: 9 years ago

    Hey now - What about the "HE" in all this? HE who dies with the most seeds wins? Come on now. ROFL! I guess we can have two departments on that Haha!

    I did get my package today. And I see I am the second person into which this was their 1st Seed Swapping Package in the mail! Lets hope we weren't spoiled on our first. Erica did an Excellent job on everything. I Loved everything about it! For a first Seed Swap, I might have just gotten spoiled. Thank You very much, Erica. So... how many DAYS - yeah, Days, will it be before you Host the next one? Hee hee!!! I'm sitting here looking at my seed pack and wonder, and scared, to host one myself... the seeds I have X 20+ people. That's a whole lotta mind boggling, "Where the hell do I start?" kinda work. Haha!!! Thanks Erica... For a Superb and Fantastic Job!

    Man Oh Man, Becki!!! Good thing we don't live too close together. The town might be in complete chaos between the two of us, Rofl! Not doing so good with car issues either. I just hope the darn thing doesn't fall on top of me before I'm done with it! Glad to hear nobody got hurt.

  • EricaBraun
    Original Author
    9 years ago
    last modified: 9 years ago

    Garret -- Lol. I don't think you stand a chance against all us girls. I think Mary knew that our seed hoardingness is greater than yours!!

  • 🌱 ~ 🌿 ~ 🍅
    9 years ago
    last modified: 9 years ago

    Received my seeds! Thank you so much, this was fun to participate in. Happy Halloween!

  • Melinda Hagen
    9 years ago
    last modified: 9 years ago

    I rec'd my seed today! What a great selection and many of my wishes! Thank you so much for your special little contribution! Very much liked!
    Been fun! And great seeds and can't wait for next year and wintersowing@!
    Hugs to all, Melinda

  • skyblue52
    9 years ago
    last modified: 9 years ago

    Hello Got my seeds. Thank you for the different kinds to try. I respect you for all the work[fun] you had. Susan

  • stefaniechamo_gw
    9 years ago
    last modified: 9 years ago

    I recieved my seeds today i love the prizes and your extra seeds, i love all the seeds i reieved thank you erica for your thoughtfulness and great care into making this happen

  • poisondartfrog
    9 years ago
    last modified: 9 years ago

    I received my seeds. Thanks Erica.
    Alana

  • cottonwood468
    9 years ago
    last modified: 9 years ago

    Ha, no band practice tonight! Mary E.

  • primrose1x3
    9 years ago
    last modified: 9 years ago

    Thank you Erica - my seeds arrived.

  • smitties
    9 years ago
    last modified: 9 years ago

    Great pumpkin Melinda.

    Erica, I received my seeds and thank you. I appreciate the addition you put in as well. Thanks for hosting.

    Happy Halloween all, Margo

  • NonnaG
    9 years ago
    last modified: 9 years ago

    Erica you rock! I love my seeds! I had to look some of them up online. AMAZING SELECTION! I'm so happy. I wish I could plant the pumpkins now. Oh, by the way did I mention that my seeds arrived? lol Thank you so much. I really needed a pick me up.

    NonnaG

  • cottonwood468
    9 years ago
    last modified: 9 years ago

    Wanna see something REALLY scary? Mary E.

  • cottonwood468
    9 years ago
    last modified: 9 years ago

    This is my carving entry "Seedy". She represents the dichotomy of good and evil. The small gourds are I.S.I.S. and Ebola. The cat planter represents the calming effect of gardening.

    This post was edited by cottonwood468 on Fri, Oct 31, 14 at 21:13

  • EricaBraun
    Original Author
    9 years ago
    last modified: 9 years ago

    Great job, Mary!!

    Just a reminder: Friday 31st is your last day to enter your Halloween lantern. I'll announce the winner on Nov 1st.

  • billingsdj
    9 years ago
    last modified: 9 years ago

    I got my seeds yesterday! Thank you for hosting this fun swap :)

  • dethcheez
    9 years ago
    last modified: 9 years ago

    Might Be Jumping In Here a Wee Bit To Late For a Hell~O~Ween Trade
    LOL

    But Have VooDoo Lily / Corpse Flower Corms
    Available For Trade

    Please See Link For More Info.
    http://forums2.gardenweb.com/forums/load/explant/msg1003584816071.html?2

    Hope You Have a Happy & Safe Halloween

    Happy Gardening
    Eric
    gaffenstein@gmail.com

  • cryptid
    9 years ago
    last modified: 9 years ago

    Yo-Yo-Yo!! My uber kewl package of Spooktacular seeds arrived today, just before "All Hallows Eve (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Halloween)"! And to think, even though our fantabulous USPS, for whatever reason, delayed the delivery of my package, I was yet included with the rest of you in this totally fun swap,...thanks to Erica! So glad I didn't miss out. :) - "Major thanks, Erica!" - As for everyone else who so generously participated, don't forget to thank Erica personally on her "Rate & Review Exchanges" forum thread, here:
    http://forums.gardenweb.com/forums/load/raterev/msg011420128659.html

    Happy Halloween, everyone!

    -Cryptid

  • cottonwood468
    9 years ago
    last modified: 9 years ago

    Corpse flower? To attract flies??

  • dethcheez
    9 years ago
    last modified: 9 years ago

    Corpse flower? To attract flies??

    They Attract Flies Carrion Beetles & Other Misc. Stink Loving Critters
    LOL

  • grdngramma
    9 years ago
    last modified: 9 years ago

    Got my seeds today, great selection, thanks very very much.

  • garretds7
    9 years ago
    last modified: 9 years ago

    Cryptid,
    How in the heck did you add color to your text? Lol!!! I've seen where some have pictures of their plants in their "Have" list and other posts like you. And for the life of me, cannot figure that out. Haha!

    Dethcheez,
    That Corpse Flower looks pretty cool. I wonder if my landlady would be attracted to it? If you knew her - you'd know where I was coming from =)
    Looks like something that came out of Star Trek. It is impressive. Without checking it out thoroughly, which I will... Does it draw these bugs in and consume them?

  • garretds7
    9 years ago
    last modified: 9 years ago

    The science behind that plant is really cool. Didn't realize flowers were so enormous millions of years ago. Check link below...

    Here is a link that might be useful: The Bizarre, Putrid Beauty of the Corpse Flower

  • EricaBraun
    Original Author
    9 years ago
    last modified: 9 years ago

    !!Happy Halloween Everyone!!

    Halloween Lantern entries are due today.

    A big thank you to everyone who participated in the swap! It was great to see so much interest and so many spooky seeds!

    Enjoy a bit of Halloween music (below picture) while you carve your lanterns.

    Here is a link that might be useful: Witches Brew

  • EricaBraun
    Original Author
    9 years ago
    last modified: 9 years ago

    Just realized that this thread is almost full. Starting a new one.