{"id":55511,"date":"2015-04-04T00:09:08","date_gmt":"2015-04-04T07:09:08","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.raisingjane.org\/journal\/?p=55511"},"modified":"2015-04-04T00:09:08","modified_gmt":"2015-04-04T07:09:08","slug":"seed-libraries","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.raisingjane.org\/journal\/55511","title":{"rendered":"seed libraries"},"content":{"rendered":"

\t\t\t\tHave you ever visited your local library to check out \u2026<\/p>\n

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Photo by Craig Dietrich via Flickr<\/p><\/div>\n

seeds?<\/p>\n

It’s a new trend that’s “going fungal,” according to Rebecca Newburn, who started the Richmond Grows Seed Lending Library<\/span><\/a> in California in 2010.<\/p>\n

When Newburn launched her library in collaboration with the Richmond Public Library, there were about five such seed lenders in the nation\u2014now there are over 300.<\/p>\n

“You may be asking, ‘How can you borrow<\/em> seeds?’ The basic is idea is that you take seeds home (for free), plant them, let some go to seed, then return some of these next-generation seeds to the library for others to borrow,” Newburn explains. “Don\u2019t worry. We don’t have fines if you don’t return seeds.”<\/p>\n

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Photo by Jonathan McIntosh via Wikimedia Commons<\/p><\/div>\n

It makes perfect sense to merge seed-lending with book-lending, don’t you think?<\/p>\n

“[It] is such a lovely fit because public libraries are about providing access, and they are a commons of the community,” said Newburn. “Our mission and their mission just seemed like they dovetail beautifully together.”<\/p>\n

Plus, she says that the document storage conditions within libraries (dark, cool, and dry) are also conducive to seed preservation.<\/p>\n

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Photo by Scott Bauer, USDA, via Wikimedia Commons<\/p><\/div>\n

In addition to serving the community of Richmond, the library is excited about helping others establish their own seed-lending services. They offer detailed start-up ideas on their Create a Library page<\/span><\/a> and support in the form of a Seed Libraries\u00a0Social Network<\/span><\/a>.<\/p>\n

Here’s a little video that illuminates more about seed-lending and borrowing. But before you watch, take a minute to sign the Protect Seed Libraries petition<\/span><\/a> to prevent seed libraries from being “regulated out of existence due to misapplication of seed laws by several state departments of agriculture.”<\/p>\n