Seed library

The Seed Library of Los Angeles: checking out seeds at a monthly meeting.

Seed library shelving, USA

A seed library is an institution that lends or shares seed. It is distinguished from a seedbank in that the main purpose is not to store or hold germplasm or seeds against possible destruction, but to disseminate them to the public which preserves the shared plant varieties through propagation and further sharing of seed.

Function

Seed libraries usually maintain their collections through donations from members. but may also operate as pure charity operations intent on serving gardeners and farmers. A common attribute of many seed libraries is to preserve agricultural biodiversity by focusing on rare, local, and heirloom seed varieties.

Seed libraries use varied methods for sharing seeds, primarily by:

• seed swaps otherwise known as seed exchanges, in which library members or the public meet and exchange seeds
• seed "lending," in which people check out seed from the library's collection, grow them, save the seed, and return seed from the propagated plants to the library

Seed libraries may function as programs of public libraries, such as the programs of the Richmond Public Library in California (the "Richmond Grows" program is the "unofficial spiritual center of the [public library seed library] movement") and the New Port Richey Public Library (Florida) college libraries, such as Hampshire College's seed library; museums, such as the Hull-House Heirloom Seed Library, a program of the Jane Addams Hull-House Museum. or as membership based online programs like the Hudson Valley Seed Library. Some have developed as programs of botanical gardens, such as that of the VanDusen Botanical Garden, or from gardening associations and research institutes, such as the Heritage Seed Library of Garden Organic. Other seed libraries have evolved from community sustainability or resilience efforts, such as the Bay Area Seed Interchange Library (BASIL) (the United States' oldest seed library, which developed from the Berkeley, California Ecology Center); and still others from the Slow Food movement, such as Grow Gainesville's seed program.

While "lending" is straightforward, "returning" or re-depositing seeds presents a challenge, since the new seeds are not necessarily well-described, and may be inadvertent hybrids.

Seed libraries complement the preservationist activities of seedbanks, by collecting local and heirloom varieties that might otherwise be lost, and by collecting new local varieties. In theory, lending and returning seed libraries will also promote local agriculture over time, by growing collections of seeds locally adapted to the region.

See also

• Heirloom plant
• Seed saving
• Navdanya

Further reading

• A Seed Library Thrives, New York Times
• The Seed Library Movement from Roots to Bloom
• Sowing Revolution: Seed Libraries Offer Hope for Freedom of Food

External links

• Seed Library Social Network
• Seed Library Locator Map
• Valley Permaculture Alliance Seed Library, Phoenix, Arizona
• Bay Area Seed Interchange Library, Berkeley, California
• The Seed Library of Los Angeles, Los Angeles, California
• Richmond Seed Library, Richmond, California
• Hudson Valley Seed Library, New York
• BFPL Seed Library, Vermont
• Seed Library of Pima County Public Library, Tucson, AZ