Oh my gosh, I LOVE our library family! Listed below are all the responses I received re: starting a seed library: From: Hunt, April (MDA) <hunta9@michigan.gov<mailto:hunta9@michigan.gov>> Date: Mon, Dec 29, 2014 at 11:19 AM Subject: RE: seed saving To: m riesterer <riesterm@gmail.com<http://gmail.com>> Hi Mike, Michigan has a Seed Law and Regulation, but nothing on point about seed saving and non-profit seed libraries. The seed program website is at: www.michigan.gov/mda-seed<http://www.michigan.gov/mda-seed> The law and regulation cover basic labeling requirements, but licensing or registration of seed products in Michigan is not required. April Hunt, Feed and Fertilizer Specialist Pesticide & Plant Pest Management Division Michigan Dept of Agriculture & Rural Development P.O. Box 30017 Lansing, MI 48909 PH: 517-284-5644<tel:517-284-5644> / FX: 517-335-4540<tel:517-335-4540> *Cathy Sullivan Seblonka** <cathys@uproc.lib.mi.us <cathys@uproc.lib.mi.us>>* [image: Attachments]10:16 AM (23 hours ago) [image: https://mail.google.com/mail/u/0/images/cleardot.gif] *[image: https://mail.google.com/mail/u/0/images/cleardot.gif]* *[image: https://mail.google.com/mail/u/0/images/cleardot.gif]* to placec [image: https://mail.google.com/mail/u/0/images/cleardot.gif] also from Mike: Here's how the Richmond Seed Lending Library has set up their seed library. A good overview of the many details that go into setting up a successful seed lending library are shown in Richmond's orientation video. See video here<https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oQEmmdfWhHI#t=103>. *Cathy Sullivan Seblonka** <cathys@uproc.lib.mi.us <cathys@uproc.lib.mi.us>>* [image: Attachments]10:17 AM (23 hours ago) [image: https://mail.google.com/mail/u/0/images/cleardot.gif] *[image: https://mail.google.com/mail/u/0/images/cleardot.gif]* *[image: https://mail.google.com/mail/u/0/images/cleardot.gif]* to placec [image: https://mail.google.com/mail/u/0/images/cleardot.gif] This is what I sent out to our staff just before we started:
Hi, everyone.
You may have noticed the old card catalog set up across from the circ desk with a sign on top announcing the coming of the seed library. The seed library is coming soon and will be called "Queen City Seed Library."
Mike Resister from the Marquette Transition group approached me about starting a seed library at PWPL. Seems seed libraries are sprouting up across the US. There are about 460 of them, including one in the Munising Library. They are self-serve libraries.
A group of Transition people/seed saver people met last week to begin organizing seeds in preparation for stocking the card catalog cabinet. Another work session is scheduled for next Sunday with the goal of beginning to stock the seed library early next week.
Marquette Transition will be responsible for gathering and stocking seeds, putting them in envelopes, labeling them, providing directions, and keeping the old wooden card catalog supplied with seeds. (They will do all the dirty work :)) People will come and get seed packets and go home and plant. New seeds will be brought to the Transition/Seed Savers group for refilling next year.
Michigan agricultural laws support this endeavor. The following is from April Hunt, Feed and Fertilizer Specialist, Pesticide & Plant Pest Management Division, Michigan Dept of Agriculture & Rural Development: Michigan has a Seed Law and Regulation, but nothing on point about seed saving and non-profit seed libraries. The seed program website is at: www.michigan.gov/mda-seed. The law and regulation cover basic labeling requirements, but licensing or registration of seed products in Michigan is not required.
Our seed library probably will be only Non-GMO, heirloom seeds. The seeds will come from the co-op or from seed savers exchange through the Transition group.
Munising Library catalogs their seed packets but we will not do that. Jeremy will make a gardening bookmark for the top of the cabinet listing some books and directing people to our gardening book upstairs. And to our gardening periodicals. He'll do a fiction display and a non-fiction display of books once the seed library is up and running. We will advertise the seed library in our summer newsletter and the media. We will put a sign in the gardening section directing patrons to the seed library. The Transition group will have a public program about the seed library in the future.
You can go to Richmond Grows Seed Lending Library at the Richmond Public Library, Richmond, CA website for further information www.richmondgrowsseeds.org
If you have any questions, please ask me, or if you see Mike in the library, you may ask him, too.
Please pass this information to your staff members. Ben, could you please print this out for the Circ staff since Bruce is out? Thanks, everyone.
. Otherwise, the following will give you a glimpse of what's going on with
Hi, Loretta: Cathy Seblonka, from the Peter White Library in Marquette, Michigan, asked me if I would tell you about how we set up our seed library (housed at Peter White). Because I'm so grateful to Cathy's efforts to open the door for a seed library to be started at PWPL, I am very happy to lend a hand to you. I'll start by seeing if I can quickly answer some of the questions you submitted. My responses in *blue* : Do you have patron's fill out forms to take and give seeds? *Yes, we have a "Check-out" form that's kept in a binder. See attached photo. * *After the patron selects their seeds (limit of 5 varieties), the form is filled out and placed in the back of the binder. Periodically, we check for forms and then enter the patron's info. into our gmail contacts list (which works as sort of a quasi database).* Do you worry about non-gmo vs gmo, heirloom or organic seeds, or do your donors just bring in generic seeds to share? *Our seed library isn't even a year old, so we're doing things somewhat "on the fly", but at this point, we provide the seeds from * *sources that we trust. Sources include our local seed co-op and seeds donated to us by seed companies and seed-related organizations. We also try to use leftover seeds from our seed swaps, again, seeds we trust; there are always lots of seeds left over from a seed swap and donating them to the seed library helps keep the seed library stocked.* Do you have "not responsible for...." notices with the seeds? *No, not yet. As I mentioned, we're figuring things out as we go. I should mention that the way our process works is a patron can select seeds with the understanding that they are making a commitment to keeping some of the plants they grow for seed harvesting at the end of the season and they are expected to return some of the seeds from those plants at our fall seed swap. I think our biggest challenge is getting people to return seeds. We've got over 50 patrons since last March and only a couple patrons actually returned seeds this past fall.* *I'm happy to answer more questions, Loretta. I'll stop here and wait for you to respond. I will close by saying that it wasn't too long ago that the idea of starting a seed library seemed rather daunting. But with a small group of dedicated stakeholders, it's been fun and rewarding — and not that difficult (so far ☺ ).* *I look forward to hearing from you, Loretta.* Greetings, Everyone ! If you're wondering how we went from a *Seed Co-op* to a *Seed Guild**,* you can get up to speed quickly by clicking here < https://docs.google.com/document/d/1kPg9LNF6lxhQHQFD_MuWZBKqpLckFUdAnGFJCmF0... the TMC Seed Guild. *Seed Guild and/or Seed Library ?* While seed guilds are less prominent than seed libraries, some communities do have both. Marquette, as some of you know, has the Queen City Seed Library <https://www.facebook.com/queencityseedlibrary/>. So, you might be wondering to yourself "why do we need a seed guild *and* a seed library?" A seed library provides seeds so people can start a garden. It also introduces 'seed patrons' to the practice of saving seeds so the seed library can be replenished and continue the seed lending process. When the lending-growing-saving-returning process works — the seed library is able to fulfill its mission. A seed guild, on the other hand, uses its resources to identify, discover, recover and propagate seeds that are specifically adapted to the regional foodshed of where the seed guild resides. To do this a seed guild engages experienced gardeners, farmers and other individuals who — *and this is key* — understand the value of preserving seeds that are adapted to the very place people live. Locally adapted seeds can always be counted on to survive and thrive — which is not always the case with seeds that come from somewhere else. Why are locally adapted seeds so important? Legendary seed saver, Sara McCamant, states it this way: *To make a stronger local food system, **we need to continually work at **bringing more local seed **into that food * *system. **Sara McCamant, Seed Savers Exchange < http://blog.seedsavers.org/blog/the-revolutionary-work-of-sara-mccamantand-s...
*
A seed guild, therefore, has a mission. The mission of the Transition Marquette Seed Guild reads like this: *The Seed Guild is to be a conservator of seeds specific to our regional foodshed and will foster the growing out and sharing of those seeds with the community.* We have a document which explains how the Seed Guild will fulfill its mission and we encourage you to take a few minutes to read it by clicking here < https://docs.google.com/document/d/1AnSS_yAPn_2O02PNQBvcVTJcRpiWYgOpT9TJGvoP...
. *Our question is:*
*Are you interested in playing a role * *in this adventure **to help **the Seed Guild * *get started ?* Click here <transitionmarquette@gmail.com> to send us an e-mail. In closing, thank you for your involvement and support ! *Transition Marquette Steering Committee* *Bosman, Don** <dbosman@lib.msu.edu <dbosman@lib.msu.edu>>* Feb 23 (1 day ago) [image: https://mail.google.com/mail/u/0/images/cleardot.gif] *[image: https://mail.google.com/mail/u/0/images/cleardot.gif]* *[image: https://mail.google.com/mail/u/0/images/cleardot.gif]* to me [image: https://mail.google.com/mail/u/0/images/cleardot.gif] Probably thinking of https://www.shareable.net/blog/setting-the-record-straight-on-the-legality-o... *http://cumberlink.com/news/local/communities/carlisle/department-of-agricult... <http://cumberlink.com/news/local/communities/carlisle/department-of-agriculture-cracks-down-on-seed-libraries/article_8b0323f4-18f6-11e4-b4c1-0019bb2963f4.html> *https://www.treehugger.com/sustainable-agriculture/seed-saving-seed-librarie... <https://www.treehugger.com/sustainable-agriculture/seed-saving-seed-libraries-illegal-united-states.html> Don Bosman Information Technologist MSU Libraries 366 W. Circle Drive <https://maps.google.com/?q=366+W.+Circle+Drive+-+Rm.W441+%0D%0A+East+Lansing,+MI+48824&entry=gmail&source=g> - Rm.W441 <https://maps.google.com/?q=366+W.+Circle+Drive+-+Rm.W441+%0D%0A+East+Lansing,+MI+48824&entry=gmail&source=g> East Lansing, MI 48824 <https://maps.google.com/?q=366+W.+Circle+Drive+-+Rm.W441+%0D%0A+East+Lansing,+MI+48824&entry=gmail&source=g> -1048 517-884-0873 <(517)%20884-0873> *Miriam Andrus** <mandrus@bigrapids.lib.mi.us <mandrus@bigrapids.lib.mi.us>>* Feb 23 (1 day ago) [image: https://mail.google.com/mail/u/0/images/cleardot.gif] *[image: https://mail.google.com/mail/u/0/images/cleardot.gif]* *[image: https://mail.google.com/mail/u/0/images/cleardot.gif]* to me [image: https://mail.google.com/mail/u/0/images/cleardot.gif] Cindi, You need to go to facebook and check out the Michigan Seed Library page. There are all kinds of resources for creating a seed library and all kinds of librarians that you can ask questions of. Monsanto is only involved if you were going to be using GMO seeds, but trust me, you aren’t. Unless you want to help people grow roundup ready wheat on a commercial scale [image: 😊]. We are in the 2nd year of our seed library and had our kickoff Monday of this week. If you can’t find what you are looking for on the facebook page let me know. We would love to help you get started. https://www.facebook.com/groups/368991503478080/ Miriam Andrus, Director Big Rapids Community Library 426 S. Michigan Ave. <https://maps.google.com/?q=426+S.+Michigan+Ave.%0D+Big+Rapids&entry=gmail&source=g> Big Rapids <https://maps.google.com/?q=426+S.+Michigan+Ave.%0D+Big+Rapids&entry=gmail&source=g>, MI 49307 231-796-1055 <(231)%20796-1055> www.bigrapids.lib.mi.us *This institution is an equal opportunity provider. TRS users may dial 711 for service* *Leelanau Township Library** <leelanautwplib@gmail.com <leelanautwplib@gmail.com>>* 9:52 AM (23 hours ago) [image: https://mail.google.com/mail/u/0/images/cleardot.gif] *[image: https://mail.google.com/mail/u/0/images/cleardot.gif]* *[image: https://mail.google.com/mail/u/0/images/cleardot.gif]* to me [image: https://mail.google.com/mail/u/0/images/cleardot.gif] Hi Cindi, The library I worked at before moving to Michigan had a seed library. The library did run into legal issues, but was able to resolve them and the seed library still a current offering. I wasn't a part of that project, but they have a good website with FAQs. You can also do a news search for Duluth seed library - the legal issues were covered quite a bit by the local & state press. http://www.duluthlibrary.org/adults/duluth-seed-library/ Nellie [image: https://ssl.gstatic.com/ui/v1/icons/mail/images/cleardot.gif] *LVW Mary Russell** <lvwoperations@llcoop.org <lvwoperations@llcoop.org>>* 10:14 AM (23 hours ago) [image: https://mail.google.com/mail/u/0/images/cleardot.gif] *[image: https://mail.google.com/mail/u/0/images/cleardot.gif]* *[image: https://mail.google.com/mail/u/0/images/cleardot.gif]* to me [image: https://mail.google.com/mail/u/0/images/cleardot.gif] Cindi, We started one here 3 years ago and it is a big hit! Very easy to get going and inexpensive. I have done several presentations on starting one so I can answer any questions you have. I will also be doing a presentation during Rural Library Conference this year. As far as legal goes, nothing happening or will happen in our State. I started an FB group for seed libraries to exchange ideas. You can join here: https://www.facebook.com/groups/368991503478080/ Our website tells a bit about ours: http://tamaracklibrary.org/seed- library/ <http://tamaracklibrary.org/seed-library/> Good luck! Mary Russell Assistant Director Tamarack District Library 832 S Lincoln Ave, Box 469 Lakeview, MI 48850 989-352-6274 tamaracklibrary.org *Hope Nobel** <lvwdirector@llcoop.org <lvwdirector@llcoop.org>>* 10:25 AM (23 hours ago) [image: https://mail.google.com/mail/u/0/images/cleardot.gif] *[image: https://mail.google.com/mail/u/0/images/cleardot.gif]* *[image: https://mail.google.com/mail/u/0/images/cleardot.gif]* to me, LVW [image: https://mail.google.com/mail/u/0/images/cleardot.gif] You can’t do better than a conversation with the Assistant Director here at TDL, Mary Russell. She has built up a fantastic seed library, with great accompanying programming. I’m cc’ing her. Legal ramifications are a non issue if dealing with the correct seeds. Again, Mary will be able to get you on the right track. Best of luck on your seed collection! *Hope E. Nobel, M.S.L.S.* *Director* *Tamarack District Library* *P. O. Box 469* *832 South Lincoln Avenue* <https://maps.google.com/?q=832+South+Lincoln+Avenue+*Lakeview,+MI%C2%A0+48850*+*989*&entry=gmail&source=g> *Lakeview, MI 48850* <https://maps.google.com/?q=832+South+Lincoln+Avenue+*Lakeview,+MI%C2%A0+48850*+*989*&entry=gmail&source=g> *989.352.6274* <(989)%20352-6274> *Suzanne Schimanski-Gross** <sschimans@ltu.edu <sschimans@ltu.edu>>* 10:30 AM (23 hours ago) [image: https://mail.google.com/mail/u/0/images/cleardot.gif] *[image: https://mail.google.com/mail/u/0/images/cleardot.gif]* *[image: https://mail.google.com/mail/u/0/images/cleardot.gif]* to me [image: https://mail.google.com/mail/u/0/images/cleardot.gif] Hi Cindy - I do not have a seed library, but I have heard about seed libraries on NPR and this story has some good leads on investigating legal ramifications. http://www.wbur.org/onpoint/2015/04/10/seed-libraries-seed-exchanges The link to the original seed library brings you to what is now a seed company. Click on 'about us'. Perhaps you have a local or nearby seed company that you could partner with, rather than compete with to avoid a legal challenge. It might help for community outreach or support. I am brainstorming as I type, so forgive me if this is bogging down your project. I just thought of contacting MSU extension. They have a seed swap this Sunday in Midland http://msue.anr.msu.edu/news/celebrated_the_annual_central_michigan_seed_swa... I searched their site for seed libraries, and they work with school libraries to create them. It seems they could branch to a public library. http://msue.anr.msu.edu/news/michigan_school_gardens_in_winter Click on the link for the Seed Savers PDF near the end of the article, just above the Related Events green bar. The PDF gives instructions for setting up a community seed bank. The NPR story also has links to stories about seed label laws. However, I think sometimes there are loopholes when items are not sold, but given. Maybe there is some kind of co-operative, non-profit, or educational exemption. Or possibly, they can be labelled properly to comply. Where there is a will, there is a way, right? I hope this story helps you to find your answer. As for Monsanto, I have heard that they are controlling about their seeds, but perhaps working in heirloom seeds would avoid that. This story about a Native American squash and seed bank is interesting. Perhaps you could partner with a Native American tribe or tribes. https://www.npr.org/sections/thesalt/2016/06/23/483147072/how-native-america... Best of luck to you. -- Suzanne [image: https://ssl.gstatic.com/ui/v1/icons/mail/images/cleardot.gif] *Pam Quackenbush** <pquackenbush@lyon.lib.mi.us <pquackenbush@lyon.lib.mi.us>>* 11:29 AM (22 hours ago) [image: https://mail.google.com/mail/u/0/images/cleardot.gif] *[image: https://mail.google.com/mail/u/0/images/cleardot.gif]* *[image: https://mail.google.com/mail/u/0/images/cleardot.gif]* to me, michlib-l [image: https://mail.google.com/mail/u/0/images/cleardot.gif] Hello - There are currently 41 seed libraries in Michigan, and more coming along for this spring. On Sunday at the Central Michigan Seed Swap in Midland there will be a presentation on starting a seed library, as well as many other presentations. Free seeds will be available to everyone, but if you are starting a seed library you can get extra seeds to get you going. For more information visit the swap's website http://www.smallhousefarm.com/seedswap/ Also check their Facebook page and message them if you want the starter pack. https://www.facebook.com/CentralMichiganSeedSwap/ Another helpful Facebook page: https://www.facebook.com/MISeedLibrary/ and the Community Seed Resource Program group https://www.facebook.com/groups/673731699448199/ As for legalities, those have largely been put to rest. Most states have agreed to exempt seed libraries from any rules that apply to companies who sell seeds. Michigan is a very seed library-friendly state. Pam Quackenbush Library Technician Lyon Township Public Library 27005 S. Milford Rd. <https://maps.google.com/?q=27005+S.+Milford+Rd.+South+Lyon,+MI+48178+248&entry=gmail&source=g> South Lyon, MI 48178 <https://maps.google.com/?q=27005+S.+Milford+Rd.+South+Lyon,+MI+48178+248&entry=gmail&source=g> 248-437-8800 ext. 617 <(248)%20437-8800> pquackenbush@lyon.lib.mi.us www.lyon.lib.mi.us *Melissa Belevender** <melissabel@gmail.com <melissabel@gmail.com>>* 3:44 PM (18 hours ago) [image: https://mail.google.com/mail/u/0/images/cleardot.gif] *[image: https://mail.google.com/mail/u/0/images/cleardot.gif]* *[image: https://mail.google.com/mail/u/0/images/cleardot.gif]* to me [image: https://mail.google.com/mail/u/0/images/cleardot.gif] I suggest you communicate directly with the Pickford Community Library Manager, Ann Marie Smith amsmith@uproc.lib.mi.us She is a powerhouse of community spirit and has worked closely with her rural community on this project. [image: https://ssl.gstatic.com/ui/v1/icons/mail/images/cleardot.gif] Cindi L. Place Reference & Technology Librarian Boyne District Library (231)582-7861 placec@boynelibrary.org cindiplace@gmail.com Google can bring you back 100,000 answers, a librarian can bring you back the right one. *–Neil Gaiman*