Photo courtesy of University of Illinois Extension

NORMAL – People across the country want to know where their food comes from and they are seeking out local farms and gardens to find fresh locally produced fruits and vegetables. This national trend is taking root in central Illinois and an important new community building effort in Normal, Illinois will help people gain access to sustainable healthy food.

The Normal Public Library is starting a seed library.  Seed libraries, often located in public libraries or other community gathering points, are institutions created for the purpose of sharing seeds. There are hundreds of seed libraries in the United States and more are being started every year.

“The idea is that a library patron can ‘check-out’ seeds to grow themselves, let plants ‘go-to-seed’, and return seeds to the library to share with other community members,” said Bill Davison, Extension educator, Small Farms and Local Food Systems. Seeds circulated at lending libraries are usually regionally adapted and are heirloom varieties (unlike most commercial “hybrid” seeds) so that the next generation of seeds will produce plants similar to the parent plant. The purpose of seed libraries is to reconnect local people with their food systems and provide them with locally adapted seeds.

Library staff and University of Illinois Extension Local Food Systems Educator Bill Davison will be in the new café space in the library on September 11 from 6:00 to 7:30 PM to explain how the library works, give a demonstration on saving tomato seed, and to distribute free vegetable and native plant seeds. Fall is the best time to plant garlic and perennial onions and plants will be available.