A Library For Your Seeds ONPoint Radio interview
http://onpoint.wbur.org/2015/04/10/seed-libraries-seed-exchanges
Seed libraries sprouting all over. We’ll dig into the populist push
to preserve diversity – and flavor — in our gardens and diets.
In this Dec. 18, 2014 photo, Betsy Goodman handles seed packets at the
Benson public library in Omaha, Neb. Goodman established a seed library
at the library branch in 2012, and patrons checked out nearly 5,000
packets this year. Seed exchanges have sprouted up in about 300 locations
around the country, most often in libraries, but the effort has created a
conflict between well-meaning gardeners and state agriculture officials
who feel obligated to enforce laws restricting the practice.
(AP)
In this Dec. 18, 2014 photo, Betsy Goodman handles seed packets at the
Benson public library in Omaha, Neb. Goodman established a seed library
at the library branch in 2012, and patrons checked out nearly 5,000
packets this year. Seed exchanges have sprouted up in about 300 locations
around the country, most often in libraries, but the effort has created a
conflict between well-meaning gardeners and state agriculture officials
who feel obligated to enforce laws restricting the practice.
(AP)
We all know what a library is. But do you know seed libraries? Not the
corporate seed catalogs that plenty of people have already been scouring
this season, to get their gardens going. But a seed library, where
ordinary citizens – gardeners – check seeds in and out. Check them out
when it’s planting time. Bring seeds back when you’ve harvested. To keep
and celebrate the local, the regional, in veggies and more. To keep and
celebrate diversity – bio-diversity – at a time when Big Food pushes
toward monocultures. This hour On Point: the populist push in local seed
libraries, to save the world.
– Tom Ashbrook
Guests
Ken Greene, owner, Hudson Valley Seed Library. Set up the nation’s first
seed library in Gardiner, NY. (@seedlibrary)
Belle Star, co-founder of the Seed School, a seed educational company.
Co-founder of the Rocky Mountain Seed Alliance.
Dan Barber, chef and co-owner, Blue Hill Restaurants. Author of “The
Third Plate.” (@danbarber)
Johnny Zook, seed program supervisor for the Pennsylvania Department of
Agriculture.
From Tom’s Reading List
Boston Globe: ‘Seed libraries’ The Wall Street Journal: Gardeners
on Alert as Pennsylvania Targets Risks of Seed Exchanges — “In June, the
Pennsylvania Department of Agriculture told a public library in
Mechanicsburg, Pa., that it couldn’t distribute homegrown seeds. The
agency said a planned seed-exchange program would run afoul of a 2004
state law requiring anyone who distributes seeds to conduct certain
quality tests, adhere to labeling and storage rules and acquire a
license.”
Mother Earth News: Seed-Sharing Snafu — “The creation of seed libraries
to facilitate seed sharing and preserve seed diversity has been
spreading, with an estimated 300 libraries now operating nationally.
Officials in several other states are now saying that the libraries can’t
give away or exchange seeds unless they first obtain a permit and comply
with the numerous requirements of the seed-labeling law.”
http://onpoint.wbur.org/2015/04/10/seed-libraries-seed-exchanges
(805) 962-2571
P.O. Box 92156, Santa Barbara, CA 93190
margie@sbpermaculture.org
http://www.sbpermaculture.org
P
Please consider the
environment before printing this email