I started Gone to Seed in March of 2021, my husband Mark and I built the library and stocked it by breaking up my own seed stash into smaller portions. I decided to start the library at a time that was pretty stressful for a lot of people and many were deciding to renew (or begin!) an interest in gardening, being able to provide seeds and some instruction on how to grow and save your own seeds has really brought us together.
There are currently 500 people in the Facebook group and 118 followers on instagram but there are also many people outside of the groups that visit the library. I hope to encourage more seed saving and sharing, sharing seeds snd knowledge is an important part of gardening and helps to build strong community connections.
All gardeners face some challenges, building strong community connections makes us more resilient. We have other community members to reach out to and we can share our knowledge and help each other. Saving and sharing our seeds helps to make gardening a lifestyle that is accessible for everyone.
In 2022 we started the Gone to Seed Pollinator Project and we started sharing tips and seeds on how to protect our native pollinators. We have been saving seeds from our own gardens to share in the library and we have been able to share seeds to a few of our local school gardening programs.