The Local Harvest Community Seed Library

Part of Local Harvest’s mission is to build a local food community. All of the food we eat- from fresh produce, to grains, meat, and even dairy- can eventually be traced back to seeds.  So what better way to promote our St. Louis food community than to save and share seeds? We are excited to announce the opening of the Local Harvest Community Seed Library.

Seed libraries are popping up all over the country. They act as local seed banks, saving seeds from plants that thrive in their own communities and promoting biodiversity. You may have heard of seed banks like the Svalbard Global Seed Vault, which preserve vast amounts of seeds in case of future calamities. A noble cause! But instead of locking our seeds away, the Local Harvest Community Seed Library will allow us to continue to cultivate and develop strong plants that produce well in the St. Louis area and pass them along to future gardeners.  Saving our seeds as a community frees us from the grips of powerful commercial interests, allows us to truly personalize our crops to our climate, and promotes biodiversity on a large scale.

So how does it work? The seed library is a completely free community resource. Anyone can “borrow” seeds from the library, with the promise that they will return as many seeds (or more) for the next season. The library is broadly organized in three sections: edibles, herbs, and ornamental plants. The edibles section is the largest and is categorized by plant family. Don’t worry, we have a guide to some common plant families posted, as well as a comprehensive index of all seeds available in the library.  Complete directions for checking out seeds will be posted for your use.

Through generous donations from Gateway Greening and Baker Creek Heirloom Seeds, the Local Harvest Community Seed Library is chock full of seeds that will thrive in our area. Of course we welcome any seeds you may wish to donate, too! Seed donation directions will also be posted.

The Local Harvest Community Seed Library will debut at the Tower Grove Farmers’ Market this Saturday, June 8. Stop by the Local Harvest booth to learn more about it and check out some seeds! After the market, the Library will be based at Local Harvest Grocery on Morganford, with plans to expand to our Kirkwood store as well.

Feel free to contact us with any questions, comments, or suggestions you may have here on the blog, at the market this Saturday, or in person at our Tower Grove store. Thanks, and happy seed saving!