(cross-posted from https://github.com/ContinuumIO/conda/issues/298#issuecomment-25666539)
You can add my binstar repo to your .condarc (see https://conda.binstar.org/asmeurer). Note that I only build the packages for Mac OS X, which is the platform I use, so if you don't use that, then that won't help you. If that's the case, the easiest way to get things then would be to just build them yourself (or else try to find someone else who has them on binstar).
I think you're confused about how recipes work. Conda doesn't pull "recipes" from anywhere. It pulls built packages. A recipe is exactly that, a "recipe" that tells conda how to build a package, generally from source, which can then be installed later.
By default, conda only knows about the packages on the Continuum servers, which are basically those packages that come with Anaconda. The conda-recipes repo shows examples of recipes that you can create to build your own custom packages, which you can then upload to binstar for anyone to use (as long as they are on the same platform as you are). binstar.org is basically a free package hosting site (not just for conda packages), so the things there are really for and from anyone (at least as far as the public site is concerned).
Also, most of the recipes on binstar are nothing more than conda skeleton pypi with no modifications of packages that I needed at some point or another. A handful (like qt) are for binary packages that are actually quite hard to get right on your own.