CSLL Book Club Tuesday, December 9th from 5-7pm at the Chico Branch, Butte County Library, 1108 Sherman Ave. Chico, CA
Join us for our first ever Book Club ‘Lettuce Get Together’. In addition to packaging up seed for members to borrow we will discuss the incredible book, ‘The Seed Underground: A Growing Revolution to Save Food’ by Janisse Ray.
You can read more about this book at the publisher’s website here. This book is also available at our Butte County library!
PLEASE NOTE: We meet in the main part of the library right next to the seed library.
Join us Tuesday, November 18th, 2014 for a Planting Peas garden discussion!
During our ‘Lettuce Get Together’ in November we will package up seed for members to borrow as well as talk about the different varieties of peas and winter legumes you can plant this time of year and the best methods to growing them for both eating and seed saving.
DATE: 11/18/14
TIME: 5:00 – 7:00 pm
Chico Branch, Butte County Library, 1108 Sherman Ave. Chico, CA
PLEASE NOTE: We meet in the main part of the library right next to the seed library.
[Due to Veterans Day and BC Library closure we will host this on the third Tuesday, November 18th. We will be back on schedule in December for the second Tuesday of the month, December 9th.]
We are having a small celebration Sunday, October 19th from 3-6pm in the Chico Library meeting room [1108 Sherman Ave.]. Join us for a potluck and simple seed swap!
Thanks to YOU, our community, for making this first year such an amazing success!!
Here is a collection of photos from the last year…
Chico Seed Lending LibraryCSLL drawers full of seed ready for borrowing!CSLL seed librariansSeeds a plenty!We have great faith in seed. (artwork by Joan Bosque)Edible Shasta Butte article about CSLLSeed Librarians at the Heirloom Expo in Santa Rosa, CA September 2013Seed donations for CSLL from High Mowing Organic SeedSeed donations for CSLL from Hudson Valley Seed Library‘Lettuce Get Together’!!It’s our community, our seeds, our future… let’s share in this together.
In addition to many local gardeners who have donated seed to the Chico Seed Lending Library we have also received donations from seed libraries, farmers and seed companies.
While some of the seeds were not grown in our bioregion we know that seed is resilient and can be adapted to grow and produce well in our climate with time and perseverance. After all, that is one of the goals of CSLL… to create regionally adapted seed for our community to access and grow together.
Our first seed donation came to us last year from Hudson Valley Seed Library in Accord, New York. We were fortunate to meet Ken Greene, founder of the seed library, last year at the National Heirloom Expo. This seed library is unique as many of their seeds are grown on their own small farm. Also unique to Hudson Valley Seed Library are the seed packs themselves… they commission artists to create works of art to put on their seed packs. As a matter of fact they are calling out to artists right now for their 2015 seed packs.
Hudson Valley Seed Library seed donation to CSLL
Our second seed donation came from High Mowing Organic Seeds in northern Vermont. High Mowing Organic Seeds has been around since 1996 and provides organically grown open pollinated, heirloom and hybrid seeds. Many of seeds they sell are grown on their own 40 acre farm.
High Mowing Organic Seeds seed donation to CSLL
Our third seed donation came from a local source, F.R.E.S.H., which stands for Fine Real Edibles Sow Happiness. Baba and Mharia Ross-Walcott are locals who are don’t farm full time but we can still find their produce in local stores thanks to their hard work and we’re very grateful to their seed donation!
F.R.E.S.H. seed donation to CSLL
The last seed company to donate seed is Redwood Seedsout of Manton, CA. Redwood Seeds cultivates over 95% of their seed crops directly on their farm with a few varieties grown by other local organic farmers. Kalan Redwood has been extremely helpful with the formation of the Chico Seed Lending Library. Not only have they donated seed Kalan has spent hours working with us on our seed saving information for members. The seeds we have from Redwood Seeds in the seed library right now are Golden Sweetie Pea, Wrinkle Krinkle Garden Cress, Criolla Sella Pepper, Stupice Tomato and Burdock. At our next ‘Lettuce Get Together’ we have even more seed from Redwood Seed we will be packing up for members to borrow.
Don’t forget, Kalan will providing a talk about growing drought tolerant crops from seed at the upcoming 5th Annual Spring Seed Swap on Sunday, March 16th at the Chico Grange Hall. You can find more information about the seed swap here.
Redwood Seed
We’d like to give a huge shout out of THANKS AND GRATITUDE to these farmers, seed libraries and seed companies for sharing their seed with us so we can share them with you!
Some of the seed we have added to our Cool Season collections are Kaleidoscope and Lunar White carrots, White Stemmed Pac Choy and White Icicle radishes. We’re grateful to be able to carry the Kaleidoscope carrots in particular… they were generously donated to our budding seed library by Hudson Valley Seed Library in New York last year.
Image courtesy of Hudson Valley Seed Library
In our brand new Warm Season collection we have a bunch of different tomatoes like Beefsteak, Black Krim and Tangerine varieties. We have also added a two varieties of peppers, California Wonder and Tangerine Pimiento. Keep checking back to see what new warm season vegetables we add after our next ‘Lettuce Get Together’ on February 25th!
Image courtesy of Joan Bosque, CSLL seed librarian
CSLL Book Club Tuesday, December 9th from 5-7pm at the Chico Branch, Butte County Library, 1108 Sherman Ave. Chico, CA
