The Seeds of a Global Movement: Part 3
Going Virtual. Going Fungal! 2017-present
By Rebecca Newburn, Co-Founder of Richmond Grows Seed Lending Library and the Founder of the Seed Library Network
The Seed Library Network annually held summits at the National Heirloom Expo from 2011 until 2019. It was always a pleasure to connect with old friends like the good folks at the Community Exchange, such as Sara McCamant, Ken “K” Greene who would join us from New York, Hillie Salo from Silicon Valley Grows who started the One Seed, One Community Project, Elizabeth Johnson of SLO Seed Exchange, David King and the delegation from SLOLA (Seed Library of Los Angeles), Pat Sobrero (Covelo Seed Library), and Jen Lyon (Yokayo Seed Library).
With the onset of the pandemic, we hosted bimonthly conversations to address safely sharing seeds. We also developed a series of free, online classes including Seed Saving in a Time of Crisis, how to start a Grow a Row Program, and One Seed, One Community! Programs. The Grow a Row Program invites people to commit to growing a crop to seed for the benefit of the community. The One Seed, One Community program involves selecting a particular variety and having the community collectively go through the process from seed-to-seed. It’s a way to inspire community, build seed savers, and have fun in the process.
Our 10th Seed Library Summit went virtual to meet the community's needs and increase accessibility. An amazingly dedicated team of volunteers spent months organizing it, and the Berkeley Ecology Center, under the leadership of Martin Bourque, graciously offered support from BASIL in the form of paid staff time. Denaya Shorter, Community Engagement Program Director at the Ecology Center, was my thinking buddy in creating the conference program. We spent dozens of hours brainstorming how to host a free conference with over 1,200 attendees Zooming in from 27 countries where hosts or speakers were providing their own Zoom links and ensuring it all got recorded and people showed up at the right time.
In 2023, our 11th Seed Library Summit registration increased to 2,200 participants from 35 countries. Jessica Mitchell and McNeilly Fieweger joined us from the Berkeley Ecology Center, along with about a dozen volunteers. Julia Dakin (GoingtoSeed.org) and Kay Everts (Seeds for Sharing Oak Lodge, Oregon, USA) highlighted the importance of growing nutrient-dense, locally adapted seeds into the organizing committee’s conversations, and we continued to expand our offerings around climate adaptation and landrace gardening. One of the powerful voices for equity and seed sovereignty on our organizing committee was the recently departed Dr. Darshan Elena Campos (See below to learn more about them and how you can uplift their legacy.) They co-lead a skillshare workshop, “Communities Building Mobile Seed Libraries as a Response to Disaster” (español) and organized to get it simultaneously translated into Spanish. Their work prompted the group to ensure that our next summit would continue to address seed sovereignty and uplift BIPOC voices and that it would all be simultaneously translated.
Since its inception, the Seed Library Network has been supported by Richmond Grows and the community that supported our work. Our table is open to all, and our organizing meetings are open to anyone who wants to join in the conversation. After this last summit, it was clear that it was time to restart the conversation about becoming a non-profit. As we crafted the mission and vision, we reached out to the community through Cool Beans! and our UpBeet! forum to inform our decision and collectively decided:
Mission The Seed Library Network: Cultivating Community Seed Libraries and Seed Sovereignty.
Vision A robust seed library in every community that is accessible to all and that honors the wisdom of the seeds and their keepers.
We revisited the Seed Library List, which had grown to over 2,600 communities, and we knew some data was outdated and incomplete. For example, Carter Cowden, one of the Seed Library Network Organizing Committee members, noted that Austin, Texas, USA where she lives is listed as considering opening a library, and they now have 11 branches open! Similarly, 13 libraries opened in my county in the last 2 years and I had only heard about one. So as we started the process of becoming a fiscally sponsored project, we realized it was time to update our list. Hence the first Global Seed Library Census and decision to create the Seed Library Map started to take form at the end of November and launched on January 1 and it will continue throughout the year.
Through the census, we're exploring the needs of seed libraries and discovering the resources they're managing to help and inspire others. It’s been a massive undertaking to contact the Seed Library List members, research ones that aren’t included… and then offer it in 16 languages. So far, we’re still working on the English-speaking ones. I’m deeply grateful to Ranya Dube (Squamish, Canada) and Carter Cowden for organizing the 150 census volunteers!
When I was asked to write this article about my experience as the founder of the Seed Library Network, it brought up so many memories of connecting with an incredible community of seed librarians and seed savers, way more than I could mention here. You have all planted a seed of joy in my heart that I tend and care for and that sustains me. Seeds are a teacher. They help me to connect more deeply and cherish the preciousness of life. They hold the wisdom of the ancestors who tended them for generations, the grief many communities have experienced through the violence of colonialism, and the joy that one seed can bring to a person and community. Seeds hold the promise that we can heal our connection to ourselves, each other, and the land and root ourselves as we rise together.
Dr. Darshan Elena Campos
Memorial Scholarship Fund
It is with heavy hearts that we share the news of Darshan Elena Campos' passing in March. Darshan was a dedicated indigenous seedkeeper and the driving force behind Somos Semillas Antillanas in Borikén, a mobile seed library fostering sustainability and community resilience. (Borikén is colonially known as Puerto Rico.) They were a key member of organizing the 11th Seed Library Summit. At the summit, they co-hosted a skillshare, Community Building Mobile Seed Libraries as a Response to Disaster (Bibiliotecas Móbiles de Semillas en Diastres).
Darshan was dedicated to healing and reparations for the harms inflicted by colonialism. They had once created a medicine garden for a young person to create a space of medicine, awareness, and reflection. Community BOHIO, who serves the Taino community, is planting a tobacco garden in their memory. If you have a medicine that speaks to you, consider planting something to bring more healing to the world and send a blessing to Darshan and all of those who are grieving their loss.
In honor of Darshan's legacy, Community BOHIO is establishing the Dr. Dashan Elena Campos “Somos Semillas Antillanas” Memorial Fund for a Taino youth, embodying their commitment to indigenous activism and sustainable agriculture. This scholarship aims to support aspiring seed savers and agricultural activists in continuing Darshan's vital work. Let us carry forward Darshan's vision of community empowerment and environmental stewardship. #SomosSemillasAntillanas
Envelopes, Labels, and Membership Forms
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💌 Seed Envelopes and Labels: Airtable form
🌻 Membership and Borrowing forms: Airtable form
A big shout out to Ciara O’Brien (Bowie, Maryland, USA - and congratulations on your grand opening of the Prince Georges County Free Seed Library on May 1st! We’ll be hearing about her journey in the next edition of Cool Beans! 🫘). She’ll be sharing the resources collected from the community through our Instagram, LinkedIn, and Facebook.
Special thanks to our amazing interns Malia Ariyoshi, Sharron Siem, and Sam Lieberman who are sorting through and compiling the resources. Once we reach the solstice, you’ll be hearing more about their work. We’ll also be sharing the Seed Sovereignty Conversations shortly that was prepared by our other awesome intern, Yasmin Abu Hamad.