Announcing Our New Seed Library

Tilth seed library built by Melissa Young.

The seed was planted at our annual meeting in January; Kathryn O’Brien inspired us to consider alternatives to the annual seed exchange, which could not take place this year. Germination didn’t take long, as a team formed spontaneously at the meeting, and was guided in its efforts by Andréa Linton. Melissa Young grew the library from idea to reality using her cabinet-making skills. Pam Nodus, Becky Havekost, and Don Krafft, along with Andréa, worked to nourish the library with a healthy stock of seeds. In two short months, our yield was a working seed library!

The purpose of the library is to lend out seeds so you, as a grower, can save some seeds from the plants you grow to return to the library. By saving seeds, you participate in an age-old practice that builds a more resilient seed stock that is adapted to our local climate and soil. You also help pass on the culture of seed saving, as well as provide seeds to others in the community.

In this startup year, we decided to stock our library with donated seeds from experienced gardeners, companies or organizations. We want to expand into taking donations on a larger scale after seed harvest this year for next spring.

The library is initially housed at the Tilth campus, on the outside of the pump house, possibly moving to the new farm stand once it is built.

We have a self-service borrowing system, requesting that borrowers leave their email addresses so we can follow up. We welcome photos of plants grown from borrowed seeds, and, if safe, will host a show and tell event. For instructions on using the library, and information on growing and seed saving, see seedlibrary.pdf.

Thank you to our initial seed donors: Deep Harvest, Full Cycle Farm, Ida Gianopulos, Anza Muenchow, David Prisbrey, Becky Havekost, Janet Richards and Melissa Young. Congratulations to all those who made the seed library happen.