GREEN BAY, Wis. — Inside the Brown County Central Library in Green Bay, non-librarians recently restocked a valuable resource, packets of seeds placed inside old card catalog drawers.
The volunteers from the Northeastern Wisconsin Master Gardeners stressed the importance of locally grown food.
“Especially with everything that’s happened in the last couple of years. You go to the grocery store and there are all these bare shelves. It’s pretty scary. If the food is grown here, we have a lot more control,” said Melissa Wass of N.E.W Master Gardeners.
The Seed Library is accessible during regular library hours.
“You don’t have to sign up or anything,” said Wass. “You just come here and look through the drawers and take a packet, or you can take up to 10 packets. We ask that you don’t take more than that, so there’s some for everybody.”
Wass said she wanted to make sure there were enough seeds to go around. She said they already ran out once.
The seed library opened in early March, with 700 people in attendance. The successful launch wiped them out of product.
“We knew it would be popular, but we didn’t know it would be that popular,” said Sandy Kallunki, Brown County Central Library Manager. “It was pretty, like, ‘wow!’”
Their supply of 3,000 free packets of seeds soon disappeared.
“It’s pretty amazing. That’s the power of partnerships. All these groups working together to not only plan it but also to get the word out,” said Kallunki.
Six other organizations banded with the library to make it happen: Brown County Community Gardens Program, Green Bay Botanical Garden, New Leaf Foods, Inc., N.E.W. Master Gardeners, University of Wisconsin-Green Bay, and University of Wisconsin-Extension Brown County.
After the initial seed supply ran out, volunteers got together and sorted more packets.
The library also provides support for inexperienced growers with links on their website, and QR codes for specific plants at the Seed Library.
“It will bring you to an Extension website that will give you some good information on it,” said Wass.
Most seeds given out this year were purchased, but the goal is to have a self-sustaining Seed Library.
The One Seed, One Community initiative encourages gardeners to grow dragon tongue bush beans and harvest some seeds from those plants to stock the library for next year.
“By doing that, we’re going to be building up a stronger, better seed for our area,” said Peggy Loritz of N.E.W Master Gardeners.
She said 30 people have already signed up to collect seeds and donate them back. Loritz said she believes these local seeds have many benefits.
“It means when you go and plant, you’re probably going to have more fruit growing on it, less issues with disease, less issues with bugs,” said Loritz.
By assisting the community with the relatively simple process, the volunteers said they hope to provide the area with a sustainable supply of healthy food.