[Michlib-l] Michigan seed libraries grow food resilience

[Noah Lenstra]

Michigan seed libraries grow food resilience
By Kayla Nelsen | 8 hours ago

https://greatlakesecho.org/2021/11/30/michigan-seed-libraries-grow-food-resilience/

More than 650 public libraries, garden and community centers across
Michigan will receive packets of Boston Pickling Cucumber seeds next spring
as a part of a seed saving and swapping program.

Seed saving is the practice of collecting and storing mature seeds for
planting in subsequent growing seasons. As with books at traditional
libraries, seed libraries contain seeds that circulate among community
members. Once the original seed is planted and matured, the new seeds from
the fruit are harvested and returned to the library to restart the cycle.

The program, called One Seed, One State, is organized by the Michigan Seed
Library Network. The program unites the state in a learning experience,
said founder Bevin Cohen.


Michigan Seed Library Network founder Bevin Cohen promotes seed libraries
at a seed swap in Midland, Michigan. Image: Michigan Seed Library Network

“Hopefully we’re giving people a chance to get their foot in the door to
see what seed saving is all about,” he said. “Everybody’s growing the same
plant, so it’s a shared experience.”

The Michigan Seed Library Network was created in 2018 with only about 30
seed-swapping locations, Cohen said. Now Michigan has more than 100 of the
400 seed libraries in the country.

“I realized that I was teaching the same concepts and ideas, answering the
same questions at each library that I visited,” Cohen said. “So I thought
we needed a network, an umbrella, if you will, a hub for resources.”

It is the only seed saving network in the region that functions as a
state-wide alliance. Cohen said he hopes the network will lead the region
in making seed saving more accessible.

The network launched as a website, then became a nonprofit organization in
2019, said board member Pam Quackenbush. The network functions as a
resource for independent seed savers and newly-started seed libraries. The
website provides a seed library locating map, how-to guides and promotional
materials.


Michigan has more than 100 of the 400 seed libraries in the United States.
Map: Michigan Seed Library Network

The growth of seed libraries is due to increasing recognition of seed
saving as a way to combat the loss of crop diversity from
commercialization, said Deborah Lynch, the director of the Grosse Pointe
Grows seed saving program and a librarian at the Grosse Pointe Public
Library Ewald Branch.

“The loss of diversity puts us at a disadvantage when things go wrong,”
Lynch said. “If we have local communities conserving the genetic material
of different varieties, that could actually be a saving grace for us.”

Cohen said seed saving is at the root of food security, as conserving
genetic material increases the nutritional quality of crops.

“When we save our seeds from our own gardens, they adapt to our local
climates and that’s going to ensure more vibrant plants, which is the
cornerstone to food security,” Cohen said. “Food is only as local as the
seed it grows from.”

The Michigan Seed Library Network is profiling seed libraries on its
website. With further development, the network hopes to become a nationwide
seed library-planting resource, Quackenbush said.


Seed packets in the seed library cabinet at the Herrick District Library in
Holland, Michigan. Image: Michigan Seed Library Network

“Baby steps is where we want to start with this,” Cohen said. “When we do
things we’ve never done before, it can seem daunting.

“But really, people have been seed savers since the dawn of agriculture. If
you wanted to eat food, you had to grow it. And if you wanted to grow that
food, you had to save your seeds,” he said.

Noah Lenstra
Assistant Professor of Library and Information Science
University of North Carolina Greensboro
njlenstr at uncg.edu
noahlenstra.com
@NoahLenstra
Author, Healthy Living at the Library
<https://www.abc-clio.com/ABC-CLIOCorporate/product.aspx?pc=A5725P>
Director of Let's Move in Libraries <http://letsmovelibraries.org/>
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