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What Is A Seed Library?

A Seed Library serves a community by providing seeds to gardeners, allowing them to learn more about gardening, seed saving, and the value of seed saving in preserving biodiversity.  The basic idea is that you "borrow" seeds from the seed library and grow them in your garden. Then, you'll let some plants go to seed, save some seeds for yourself for next year, and have some to "return" some to the library! Does that sound complicated?  Don't worry: If you are a seed saver and have open pollinated seed you'd like to donate to our project, that's awesome!  But even if you don't, we have lots of seed that we'd like to distribute to our neighbors here in Brattleboro and surrounds! So, come on in and take home some seeds!

More information on seed libraries can be found here and here!

Our Mission
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  • Educate members in ways to save seed
  • Reclaim seed as a public resource; preserve seed as a sacred trust
  • Develop a source of open pollinated seeds that are specific to our locality
  • Foster a community of resilience and self-reliance; have a safe alternative to GMOs
  • Support genetic diversity and community sovereignty
  • Support local gardeners; support transmission of knowledge from one generation to another
  • Strengthen community, meet new friends

How Does It Work? 

1. When you come in the library, if it's your first visit, we'll make you a library card.  This will enable you to check books out, as well as become part of the seed library.

2. You'll fill out a form which we'll store in a binder, to record what you've taken from the seed library, as well as what you've brought to the library.  It's not necessary to do both!  You can just donate seed, or just "borrow" seed. It's not necessary to return the same seed you borrowed (although it's nice!  Learning about seed saving is a step toward independence from the agricultural industrial complex!)

3. You can browse our seed collection, and decide what you'd like to grow.  You can decide how much to take, although we request that you don't take all or the last of any one type of seed.  We are in the process of compiling planting instructions and seed-saving instructions to go with each type of seed.  We hope to make those instructions available both in print as well as online.  We are also compiling online seed saving resources that you can consult if you're not sure what to do with a particular kind of seed.

4. If you plan to save seed, it's important to follow the instructions regarding planting distances from other similar plants, etc.  When you bring seed that you've saved to the library, we'll record it in our database, and start to compile planting and saving instructions, if it's something new to our library, and then make the seed available to our community.

So, that's it!  
Donate Seeds to Our library!
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  • If you are an experienced seed saver
  • If you've learned about seed saving from our library
  • if you know farmers who grow open-pollinated seed they'd like to donate to our library
What's Available In Our Seed Library?
(check back frequently, as this list is likely to change.)

  • Zea Mays Flint Corn
  •  6 kinds of Herbs (Borage, Cilantro, Dill, Parsley, Feverfew, Summer Savory)
  • 3 kinds of Flowers (Calendula, Portulaca, Cosmos)
  • 9 kinds of Green and Shell Beans (Scarlet Runner, Soldier, Yellow Eye, Marfax, Jacob’s Cattle, Provider, Cannellini, Garden of Eden, Early Bird Garden
  • 2 kinds of Soy Beans (Envy, Black Pearl)
  • 7 kinds of Squash (Butternut, Golden Scallopini, Table Queen Acorn, Waltham Butternut, Bennings Green Tint, Tuffy Green Acorn)
  • Sunrise Orange Sweet Peppers
  • Crimson Sweet Watermelon
  • Many kinds of Tomatoes (Arkansas Traveler, Bellstar, Black From Tula, Black Krim, Crnkovic Yugoslavian, Cosmonaut Volkov, Hillbilly Potatoleaf,  Pantano Romanesco, Red Zebra, Rosso Sicilian, Siletz, Trucker's Favorite, Wisconsin 55)
  • Pumpkin Howden
  • Imperial Black Beauty Eggplant
  • Red Meat Raddish
  • And MORE!
Seed Saving Resources and Seed Libraries:

Freewildseed.com
Groundswell Seed Farm
​How To Start A Seed Library: 1 hour webinar
What's a Seed Library?
​Seeds of Diversity
Seed Savers Exchange
​A Seed Saving Guide For Gardeners and Farmers
Seed Saving - International Seed Saving Institute
Start a Seed Library
Get Involved

We are looking for knowledgable gardeners and interested people to get involved with helping to make the seed library a great resources for the Brattleboro community!