47. I N P E R S O N :
J O U R N A L I N G F O R
W E L L N E S S
T U E , J A N 1 0 ,
11 : 0 0 A M - 1 2 : 3 0 P M
O N Z O O M : J O U R N A L I N G
F O R W E L L N E S S
T U E , J A N 1 0
6 : 0 0 P M - 7 : 3 0 P M
56. VALUE OF SEED LIBRARIES
Challenges and Threats
• Zone 10b
• Loss of diversity
Solutions
• Seed banks
• Plant breeding
• Local effort
• The public library
57.
58.
59.
60.
61. SEED LIBRARY PLANNING
Research/Legal
Can we give away:
Must we register donors so sources can be tracked?
Contacted: Shaness Thomas, Seed Control Officer, Florida Department of Agriculture & Consumer Services.
Ethical Concerns
• Invasive plants – patron donations
Air potato
Old World Climbing Fern
71. THANK YOU
H T T P S : / / T I N Y U R L . C O M / P C S E E D L I B R A R Y
booke@mdpls.org
Notes de l'éditeur
Introductions
A photo taken in 2019 in Scottsdale Public Library when I was on vacation visiting my relatives.
I was awed by how much thoughtfulness and caring went into this display.
My challenge to your garden club today is to imagine the possibilities of being the startup with the Pinecrest
Branch Library and creating such a practical and yet lovely seed sharing library.
Hello, I’m Ellen Book, the Manager of the Pinecrest Branch Library one of 49 libraries making up MDPLS.
Before we get to the meat and potatoes of the program I love to show off library offerings.
It’s easy to sign up for a library card and get immediate access to our online library. A vast collection is available with your library card like eBooks, eAudiobooks, movies, music and more! Go to M-D-P-L-S ‘dot’ org to learn more.
Remote library resources
This app is your library on the go with 24/7 access for downloading and streaming eBooks, eAudiobooks, movies, music and magazines, search the catalog, find your nearest library branch and hours, request and renew books, search events and much more!
Have titles mailed directly to your home through Libraries @ Your Door our free one direction Home Delivery Service. Just log in into your library account online or calling us to make requests. Once you're ready to return your items, simply drop them off at any library location, use the book drops or pay return postage to mail them back.
Take home Mobile Device Lending Program is Part of the award the Emergency Connectivity Fund Program so Borrow a tablet or Wi-Fi hotspot to take home for 30 days, Our Mobile Device Kits can be used just about anywhere for work, school and personal browsing.
On the front page of the MDPLS website, click on the young couple sitting and viewing a laptop. The box is labeled Databases. Trusted for decades. Trusted reviews on appliances, cars, and household devices.
11/9/2021 “Grow and dry your own. That might be a particularly good idea if you use a lot of basil, oregano, and thyme; in our tests all or almost all the brands tested were high in heavy metals. Read more about how to grow and dry your own herbs and spices.”
Get a daily link.
Get a three day link
For Local news, you can search the Miami Herald back to 1904
This article is from Wed., 4/27/2022. A major reason for this class is to keep 20-40% of your kitchen waste on your property as something beneficial for your plants. The MD Dept of Solid Waste
Management has purchased composters that you can receive after this class to offset the tonnage
Of wasteful waste.
Take 16,000 free college level courses.
Overdrive is the website & Libby is the app. Thousands of ebooks, eaudiobooks and
Magazines.
733 ebooks and audiobooks on gardening.
About 300 issues.
30 downloads or streams a calendar month.
Hoopla’s audiobook offerings are terrific!
Interesting opportunities to collect community service hours
Email companionil@mdpls.org
In our meeting room every Tues night.
In person and Informal, no teacher, bring your own supplies.
Every Thursday from 11-2
By date…
Register: https://mdpls.org/event/7083459
the Miami Pioneers and Natives of Dade present the history of Mr. Gaston Drake, a Miami businessman and social fixture for over 50 years. He created Drake Lumber, based in Princeton, the South Dade town he named after his alma mater.This is a hybrid meeting so walk in or Zoom
restarting in Fall 3pm-5pm
Two conversation circles…
Weekly walk-in program. A conversation circle for Spanish language learners.
And now let’s talk about Book Clubs. We have a variety! Seven at the moment..
A partnership with Kristi House with 2 sessions every 2nd Wed. Book readings, interactive scenarios, and fun role-playing activities, enabling children to easily identify and assert personal boundaries without feelings of shame or guilt for children ages 4-10 years of age.
Two hybrid library clubs: 2nd Sat Great Books (discussing ideas from great books that span through the 19th century & 3rd Sat Great Conversations (works and ideas of the 20th and 21st century that are of enduring value.)
From 1-3 on First Weds. An in-person meeting of Miami Poets who celebrate all things poetic by bringing personal poems to read or those by favorite poets. They share publishing ideas, contests to enter, and new formats to explore. from 1- 3pm
ExPat – 3rd Thursdays every other month beginning Nov 2022
Tertulia – 4th Tuesdays
My own baby is this one. It’s this coming Thursday - Hybrid walk-in and Zoom.
Benefit of attending is we have a library copy waiting for you.
For readers who are also writers, an in-person local writer’s group to
Offer encouragement and insights.
Register: https://mdpls.org/event/6778402
Five sessions: Tuesday, January 17: 6:00pm - 7:30pm ( 18 Seats remaining ) Tuesday, January 24: 6:00pm - 7:30pm ( 18 Seats remaining ) Tuesday, January 31: 6:00pm - 7:30pm ( 18 Seats remaining ) Tuesday, February 07: 6:00pm - 7:30pm ( 18 Seats remaining )sessions
Journaling that helps track the cycles of your life, giving a voice to your wishes, hopes and dreams. Get your pen moving to discover the benefits of reflective writing.
42 people each visit, call for an appt.
2-3 people every 15 minutes.
How it works: https://mdpls.org/museum-pass
First come, first serve, 1 pass for four people once during a 7 day period
Deering Estate thru 9/1/22
Zoo thru 9/23/22
Vizcaya thru 9/30/22
Frost Museum of Science
History Miami
Fruit and Spice Park
Perez Art Musuem
Bass Museum
By date…
A babka is a sweet braided bread or cake which originated in the Jewish communities of Poland and Ukraine.
Its rich, buttery, brioche-like crumb, woven with ribbons of chocolate or cinnamon is unfussy and approachable.
You can eat it as dessert or breakfast, as a brunch side or a quick snack.
https://mdpls.org/event/7610534
Phoenix
Seed libraries across the country encourage residents to grow no-cost/low-cost nutritious food at home by providing seeds to individuals.
Seeds from locally grown plants are better suited to our local soil and climate and can be more resistant to local pests and disease.
old varieties are left behind by the need for speed to market – similarity in size and weight and unblemished for factory packaging.
Seed library chronology: BASIL (Bay Area Seed Interchange Library), Gardiner Public Library (NY), American Libraries article (2014)
Why seed library: Genetic diversity, food security, and local adaptation (BASIL, Richmond Grows, Cleveland Seed Bank statements)
Why the public library: lending, education, outreach, non-traditional collections, local focus.
Other mainland areas with zone 10b are in southeast Texas, and coastal southern California. So, there's less information. Why IFAS is such an important acronym Institute of Food and Agriculture Sciences
Statements of seed libraries: BASIL, Richmond Grows, Cleveland Seed Bank.
United Nations, Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) quotes:
* Since the 1900s, some 75 percent of plant genetic diversity has been lost as farmers worldwide have left their multiple local varieties and landraces for genetically uniform, high-yielding varieties.
* Today, 75 percent of the world’s food is generated from only 12 plants and five animal species.
Women--users, preservers, managers of agrobiodiversity: https://www.fao.org/3/x0171e/x0171e03.htm
Mentioned in notes of downloadable publication on this page: https://www.fao.org/publications/card/en/c/b68fd87e-908f-5695-a192-11ea129707de/
Definitions landrace, open pollinated, hybrid, heirloom
This is the Svalbard Global Seed Vault (opened in 2008) in Norway. USDA network of seed banks. Cold storage with low relative humidity; for research, and to start over after a disaster.
“Most experts agree that the United States has lost 90 percent of its food plant biodiversity over the last hundred years, and the figure of 80 percent for Europe is only a little better. In the same period, it is thought that more than half of all food varieties have been lost worldwide. This matters because the need for food security can only increase as the world's population expands at an inexorable rate. Open-pollinated seeds are genetically variable and, thus, have adaptive traits--they can be developed in response to changing environmental conditions. The sterling work done by gene banks across the globe is vital, but stored seeds are not a long-term substitute for growing crop in the field or garden, where they can interact with and adapt to the varying needs of site, climate, and human cultivation.” Heirloom Plants by Lorraine Harrison, 2015, pp 11-12.
Planting one variety in a huge area is efficient but quicker build-up of pests and disease. Smithsonian Magazine (2021) “Plant diseases …
Threats to agriculture as a result of low diversity: 1840s Irish Potato Famine (“water mold” like a fungus)
1950s Gros Michel banana, Panama disease, replacement Cavendish banana now threatened by newer strain of same fungus.
1970 Southern corn leaf blight in the United States papaya ringspot virus - now most Hawaiian papaya GM since 1998
citrus greening, millions spent, recent hope from Australian finger lime, a rainforest native fruit
https://royalsociety.org/topics-policy/projects/gm-plants/what-is-gm-and-how-is-it-done/
Plant breeding over 10,000 years, then hybrids took over starting 1930s, then genetic modification started taking over in 1990s.
Research and development takes 10-15 years. Old method (selection) takes 7-8 years to get a stable variety.
Brad Gates, California tomato grower, breeds new strains to withstand climate change (Wild Boar Farm, Baker Creek, Fedco).
Don Abbott, Mother Earth News "reader contribution"
https://www.motherearthnews.com/organic-gardening/save-hybrid-seeds-zbcz1602/
40% vegetables in US grown in victory gardens 1943 and 1944.
Proposal took 10 months between submission, revision, approval; two months to prepare for launch event.
Because the requirements for seed dealer registration are based on the sale of seed, exchange programs and seed libraries are exempt from registration provided that no sales are involved. Additionally, since the labeling and associated germination-testing requirements specified in Chapter 578 FS, apply specifically to seed that is sold, seed that is provided through exchanges and libraries at no cost is exempt from these provisions as well.
Surprised, and still concerned with proper care in lending seeds that could be invasive.
Started with the idea of sticking with purchased or donated commercial seeds just to be safe. Partners in our launch event volunteered to give us some seeds Patron who has been growing only natives for years gave a huge donation Want to trust in people that are invested in the program to provide us with only safe seeds.
Office of Sustainability
Allen’s Place – Community Garden at Pearl City
Boca Raton Community Garden (Junior League)
CJ McCartney – Master Gardener, why open pollinators are important for butterflies, birds, bees, etc.
Loads of possibilities for programming, for all ages. All stages can have participation: sorting, packaging. Pending approval from our administration,
The library could use the delivery system to transport to 50 branches upon request.
Edibles, butterfly & hummingbird attracters,
Full page flyer, website banner, IG post. All shown with same design to exhibit ease of duplication for various purposes
Press release , Partners are your best promoters!
Got seed donation from Seed Savers Exchange, bought three summer varieties from Hudson Valley Seed Company (herb summer savory, Malabar spinach, Hungarian hot wax pepper); staff and patron donations. Other sources: nurseries, Home Depot, seed swaps, farmer’s market, local farmers.
Sign on front reads: Show your library card, Take 3 packets per month, Donating seeds? Please fill out the donation form.
The green gourd is a chayote (or mirliton); plant the whole thing, prolific.
Card catalog interior structure is awkward so it’s more for show; cardboard box convenience; now wooden apothecary cabinet from Amazon.
Stored on Check-Out Desk, visible, not self service; repackaged few seeds per packet.
Organize: Super Easy, Easy, and Difficult (or Advanced); seven categories: Vegetables, Legumes, Herbs, Grasses, Flower, Native Plants, Miscellaneous (BASIL)
Count use by tracking additions, then monthly count what remains and subtract. Divide by 3 (packets per person) to get “program attendees” for (state?) reporting.
Purchased small coin envelopes, plastic bins; brought jars and silica gel packets from home; cold dry dark.
Had mailing labels. Pour seeds onto paper plate, divide into groups, scoop with envelope, use wooden stick (coffee stirrer) to get last seeds out of packet.
Squeeze moistener for gummed flap (not the best—dries and gets gummed up).
Gloves for dirty seed heads.
How Phoenix distributes packets using a qr code for more detailed information about each plant.
Cleveland Seed Bank packaged by High Mowing Organic Seeds (in Vermont) info for seed saving: how pollinated, isolation distance, population size.
Our seed packet label: plant, source, date, batch number; importance of Plant family, Genus and Species, if you have it, for pollination (seed saving).
Batch number from seed donation inventory form; can do sprout test if patron reports no germination, for example.
Label on back with logo and friendly “Thank you for saving/donating seeds!”
How many seeds per packet from Seed Savers Exchange website “Seed Saving Guide” (Viability, Variety Maintenance, Genetic Preservation)
We do roughly 5 large, 10 medium, 15 (or a pinch) small.
What to grow when, seed table 1 from:
https://edis.ifas.ufl.edu/publication/vh021
Hope to add these local varieties:
Cachucha pepper from Latin America and the Caribbean.
Seminole pumpkin grown by the Calusa, Creek, and Miccosukee peoples.
Grow the seed library – maybe card catalog someday!
Continued work with partners
Statistical reporting
Get more partners
Brenda: "seed steward" model: network of community gardeners planting enough seeds to replenish stock, and to preserve local varieties, like BASIL, Richmond Grows, and Cleveland Seed Bank (“Join our Seed Steward Program and help us address the fundamental gap in the local food system: a regional, bio-diverse, and community-stewarded seed supply”)
So as I began my talk, I’ll repeat my challenge. A steady and reliable supply of seeds will be needed.
Consider this partnership and let’s inspire new and even old gardeners across the village and across the county to plant, to harvest and to share!
Mustard seed and southern pink eyed peas
