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>
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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>.
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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.
>
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_MuWZBKqpLckFUdAnGFJCmF0yCc/edit?usp=sharing>.
Otherwise, the following will give you a glimpse
of what's going on with
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-seed-savers-exchange>*
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_2O02PNQBvcVTJcRpiWYgOpT9TJGvoPYtU/edit?usp=sharing>.
*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*
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Feb 23 (1 day ago) |
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Probably thinking of
https://www.shareable.net/blog/setting-the-record-straight-on-the-legality-of-seed-libraries
Don Bosman
Information Technologist
MSU Libraries
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Feb 23 (1 day ago) |
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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 . 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
Big Rapids, MI 49307
This institution is an equal opportunity provider. TRS users may dial 711 for service
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9:52 AM (23 hours ago) |
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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
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10:14 AM (23 hours ago) |
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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/
Good luck!
Mary Russell
Assistant Director
Tamarack District Library
832 S Lincoln Ave, Box 469
Lakeview, MI 48850
989-352-6274
tamaracklibrary.org
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10:25 AM (23 hours ago) |
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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
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10:30 AM (23 hours ago) |
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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_swap
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-american-tribes-saved-a-giant-ancient-squash-from-oblivion
Best of luck to you.
-- Suzanne
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11:29 AM (22 hours ago) |
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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.
South Lyon, MI 48178
248-437-8800 ext. 617
pquackenbush@lyon.lib.mi.us
www.lyon.lib.mi.us
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3:44 PM (18 hours ago) |
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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.
Google can bring you back 100,000 answers, a librarian can bring you back the right one.
–Neil Gaiman