[Editor’s note: The library has run out of seeds. Please read the article but no more seeds can be ordered.]
Patchogue-Medford Library is helping to plant the seeds of a pleasant spring out in your backyard.
Where else is there to go during quarantine?
But our seeds reference is quite literal. The library’s seed-lending program that started in February 2016 is still going on, despite COVID-19.
“We emailed all of our seed members throughout Suffolk County and asked them, ‘Would you like us to mail seeds to you?'” said the library’s head of promotions and development, Laura Accardi. “The response has been tremendous. Folks really want to get in their yard and plant!”
“Our hope is that families will explore their yard, plant a seed or create a garden, water it, watch it grow, harvest it, eat from it and save a seed from it,” she said of the overall program.
“What a terrific learning experience to share with kids.”
HOW IT WORKS
In simple terms, a seed library is just how it sounds – it loans seeds to gardeners.
Exactly how does a seed lending library work? Well, much like a traditional library, but not quite. When the library building is open the public is able to browse and “borrow” seeds to take home and grow.
At the end of the growing season they’re encouraged to collect seeds from their healthiest crops and return them to the library that February — during the annual seed swap — for others to “borrow” and enjoy.
“Now more than ever, it is so important to maintain a sense of community,” Accardi said.
“Our building is closed, but the library is very much open.”
INTERESTED?
(See editor’s note. The seed stock has been depleted.)
For additional information, contact Laura Accardi at [email protected], or
call her at 631-654-4700 Ext. 225, or visit http:/pmlib.org/seed-lending-library/#top.
Photo credit: Riverhead News-Review/Carrie Miller
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