[New post] Start a Garden Party! with help from the Ukiah Library
Jody Martinez posted: "The wooden drawers of the antique library card catalogue that once held cards organized by way of the standardized Dewey Decimal System, long repurposed, now house hundreds of packets of flower and vegetable seeds, from A-Z, free to check out at the Ukiah" The Ukiah Daily Journal
The wooden drawers of the antique library card catalogue that once held cards organized by way of the standardized Dewey Decimal System, long repurposed, now house hundreds of packets of flower and vegetable seeds, from A-Z, free to check out at the Ukiah Library.
Jen Lyon, library technician and Keeper of the Seeds, coordinates the seed library and a group of volunteers affectionately dubbed the Pod Squad, who have been meeting weekly in some form since about 2018 to separate out seeds using sieves, the wind and their fingers, organize processed and unprocessed seeds by season into 5-gallon buckets; and package and organize the completed packets that conveniently fit into the catalogue drawers, readied for the public's perusal.
Tim Hemlock, a new member of the Pod Squad, considers gardening to be crucial for people's well-being, both for their mental and physical health. "I want to support this and it seems like a natural fit for me."
Hundreds of seed libraries have been sprouting up (ahem) throughout the country over the past decade or so, with all sorts of positive end goals in mind: getting people outside, involving children in gardening, addressing and combatting food insecurity, encouraging biodiversity and building community.
Lemon cukes, a Mendo favorite.
As part of the seed program, Lyon organizes seed planting parties, like the one that happened on Tuesday afternoon in honor of May Day that was sponsored by A Book to Action Grant: Mendocino County Reads supported by the U.S. Institute of Museum and Library Services.
"This is for all ages, for those who want to plant seeds to germinate for food for their gardens," she says.
There's a table set up with an array of well-developed plant starts: tomatoes, cantaloupe, eggplant, sweet bell peppers, hot peppers, zucchini, winter squash and basil, available free to those who visited the library that afternoon.
Bags of soil, small spades and an assortment of seeds are set out on other tables for people to choose, fill their egg cartons with soil, plant their seeds, label the cartons and bring them home for their spring gardens.
Free seed libraries are all about resiliency, equity and sustainability.
Lyon says, "Resiliency is something the county is trying to cultivate; if we can grow at least a small amount of food for ourselves, it makes us more resilient and self-reliant for our nourishment. The quality we grow can be higher than the food we purchase, nutritionally and emotionally better for us.
Planting Marigold seeds.
"Equity is about making sure that everyone has food. Some folks need to grow food because of the cost; if I go to the Co-op, a head of lettuce is $4-plus right now so I'm growing lettuce in my garden, saving about $15 a week. Plus, I'm eating a really fresh product."
At one point Lyon felt it was more expensive to grow her own food with the cost of potting soil, compost and water to pump from her well. But now, with the high cost of food, when she considers these inputs to her garden, it's not that much.
"It's more sustainable if we can grow a crop, save some of the crop for seed and then be able to replant some of that and not have to rely on seed companies. Many of our seeds here are locally grown by myself, by Caroline Brown at the college ag department and by other members of the community. If a seed is grown out over time, it becomes more adapted to our local ecosystem."
Danilla Sands watches as her two children, 8 and 12, fill their egg containers with soil, decide what to plant and label them for future identification.
A Pod Squad member at work.
Her family is vegan and she says they grow everything fresh in their big, beautiful garden boxes that her husband and kids have built over the years; they use their own compost and have a greenhouse.
"It's super important to know where your food comes from and we love growing all that stuff. The kids really get involved; my son will pick yellow kale flowers and snack on them. I love being able to come here and have fresh plant starts and seeds."
Sarah and James Acevedo stop by with their older son Harvey, who immediately digs into the dirt with the little spades provided and starts filling an egg carton with soil. They check out some of the available seeds — lemon cucumbers, giant pumpkins, carrots, greens, melons, basil, amaranth.
Already an avid gardener and only in second grade, Harvey decides on giant pumpkins and lemon cukes for starters. He carefully plants the seeds, smooths over the soil and labels his cartons. Living right around the corner from them, I'm looking forward to bearing witness to the fruit of his labor — and maybe a lemon cuke or two.
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