Homegrown peas from her family’s garden are 5-year-old Esther Kahly’s favorite.
Nancy Edmonds Hanson
When spring thoughts turn to planting, Moorhead residents can browse and decide on this year’s blooms and veggies in the Seed Library at the Moorhead Public Library. Like the tens of thousands of books, the computer time and weekly events that occupy the rest of the library, the seeds they choose are entirely free. Not only that. When they check them out, they don’t have to be returned.
Jenna Kahly of the Lake Agassiz Regional Library, which oversees the local book haven, explains that Moorhead’s is one of several that added a selection of annual seeds to its offerings over the past decade. “A group of Moorhead women brought us the idea ten years ago, and it seemed like a valuable addition that was easy to duplicate,” she says. Enthusiastic about the idea brought forward by Jamie Holding Eagle, Kailyn Allen, Sara Watson Curry, Heather Nesemeier and Amy Rice, the Moorhead library was launched in 2013; today it’s one of about a dozen and a half library-based programs scattered across Minnesota, along with freestanding efforts hosted by several community gardens.
The concept is simple: Anyone who wants dirt beneath their fingernails – novice gardener or seasoned pro – is welcome to peruse the drawers of seed packets and take what suits their fancy. While the seeds work well for hard-pressed gardeners under the banner of food equity, the library is available to all. No paperwork is needed, not even a library card, and all seed stock is free.
Some of the seeds are harvested by gardeners themselves at the end of the season, then donated back to the library. Others may be left-over retail stock. “Sometimes gardeners bring in their extra seed after planting their gardens,” Jenna observes. The Growing Together Community Garden program has also contributed to the inventory.
As a devoted gardener, Jenna is enthusiastic about sharing the opportunity to grow food and gather blooms to brighten households. The Kahly home near MSUM sports a front yard bedecked with both flowers and vegetables; the backyard is packed with raised beds soon to be planted with her three children’s favorites. “They help me garden,” she says. “They help choose what we’re going to plant. I want to make sure we’ll actually eat what we grow.” Her 8-year-old favors Yukon Gold potatoes. The 7-year-old is crazy for snap peas. The youngest, 5, is a big fan of flowers, but also leans toward carrots.
Seed libraries seem like a flat-out winner. But when the Moorhead group set out to launch its second season back in 2014, they ran into an unexpected obstacle: The practice was illegal.
When Minnesota’s first seed library in Duluth came to the attention of the Department of Agriculture, they discovered that state law forbade the exchange of commercial seed without specific research and disclosure of its germination rate. Since much of the seed exchanged through the libraries was home-grown and harvested by gardeners themselves, that put it outside the law. The Moorhead seed library suspended operation; says Kahly, “We didn’t want to do something illegal.” Intense negotiations by seed exchange advocates followed. In 2015 the Legislature amended the law to permit “interpersonal sharing of seed for home, educational, charitable, or personal noncommercial use,” and the local programs were back in business, with neighbors once again sharing seeds with neighbors.
That mission has been growing ever since. The city of Moorhead appropriated funds earlier this year to offer four grants of $500 for community gardens on private property in which plots are available to the public free or at minimal cost.
The seed library also collaborates with Clay County Extension to distribute free packets of gourmet salad blend greens. Loose-leaf lettuce is the focus of Extension’s 2023 “One Vegetable, One Community” challenge, encouraging gardeners of all ages to plant, grow, cook and perhaps share the featured vegetable. In addition to the Moorhead library, seeds are available at the libraries in Hawley, Ulen and Barnesville.
Extension sponsors a variety of educational garden events throughout the summer, including a plant and seed exchange from 1 to 7 p.m. May 21 at the Heritage Garden in the southwest corner of Woodlawn Park.
Clay County 4-H clubs and Extension’s master gardeners are collaborating in the Monster Sunflower Grow Challenge for kids in kindergarten and grades 1 through 12. Participation is free, with the organizations providing free Titan Sunflower seeds along with guidance for growing them. For more information, go to https://z.umn.edu/MonsterSunflower.
