Community seed exchanges increase biodiversity, support endangered pollinators, and even help fight hunger
By Etelka Lehoczky
What’s in a seed? It may be tiny, but a seed can be a powerful tool, as several Rotary clubs have discovered. They’ve created seed libraries where people can get seeds to plant in their gardens and yards at no cost. Now, those communities are reaping substantial rewards.
What they’ve found is that seed libraries do some of the same things regular libraries do: bring people together and encourage learning. Moreover, they increase local biodiversity, support endangered pollinators, and can even help fight hunger.
“I love the community aspect of the seed library. People come in for seeds, and they end up talking,” says Al Hayden, of the Rotary Club of Peabody, Massachusetts, USA. “It’s also an opportunity to show kids that tomatoes don’t actually show up in a little plastic baggie in the grocery store. Getting and planting seeds is a great family-bonding, screen-free activity.”
SOURCE: rotary.org
