4th Annual Southern Seed School will be taking place Saturday, May 2 at 10 a.m. Register Here
When Alachua County Public Library closed last month we had to leave our seeds behind along with our books. That doesn’t mean seeds have been off our minds. Empty grocery store shelves and lines at food banks have brought the issue of food security to the forefront of national attention. Quarantine gardens have been flooding social media as people stuck at home search for something productive to do.
Several months ago Working Food announced they were bringing Ben Cohen, owner of Small House Farm and founder of the Michigan Seed Library to present at their 4th annual Southern Seed School. They proposed a sister program where topics specific to seed libraries could be the focus. With assistance from Northeast Florida Information Network (NEFLIN), the first Northeast Florida Seed Librarian Summit was scheduled to take place at the Headquarters Library in Gainesville, Florida on May 1st.
With both Florida and Michigan under stay at home orders the Seed Librarian Summit and Working Food’s Seed School have transitioned to an online format. Participants can join in from their living room couch or greenhouse.
This Friday from 11 a.m.-1 p.m. public seed librarians and individuals interested in running their own seed libraries are invited to join us on a Go to Meeting webinar. Safe seed handling and distribution during a pandemic has been added to the agenda along with sources of donations, packaging ideas, programming and proper seed storage. More information can be found on the Facebook event page and registration is here.
Saturday from 10 a.m. to noon Working Food’s 4th annual Southern Seed School will take place via Zoom. Registration is free but required to receive the link to participate and their suggested sliding scale donations go towards Working Food’s continued work to save seeds in the community. More information can be found on the Facebook event page.
Alachua County Library District Seed Llibrary would like to thank Melissa DeSa of Working Food, Ben Cohan of Small House Farm, and NEFLIN for bringing this program to us. By gathering and sharing tips and resources during these changing times we hope to be back to sharing seeds with our patrons as quickly as possible.
Keep growing!