Seed Libraries and More from Heirloom Gardener

Our friend and PAR Davies capitaine, Dianne (Dianne's Journey) turned me on to a great niche magazine called Heirloom Gardener.  She loaned me two issues and I loved them.  So when I was buying reading material for a recent road trip and I saw the Fall 2012 issue, I had to get it.  It provided several hours of fantasy time for me!

All of the articles were interesting:

• Antique Apples:  don't you wish that MAMG could have a teaching orchard?
• Nanticoke Maycocks: what?  It's the story of the revival of an almost extinct family of Native American summer squashes
• The Great Moschata:  did you know that what's in that can of Libby's Pumpkin Pie Filling is not really pumpkin?
• Homemade Organic Pest Control:  note to Dianne, there's a recipe that's supposed to repel cabbage worms
• The Mystique of Heirloom Dalias:  with gorgeous photos

I could go on and on.  But I want to talk about one more article that really piqued my interest.  It's all about the seed library movement.  Never heard of it, never thought about it, but it makes so much sense.  The idea is to build a collection of heirloom seeds, then let people "check them out."  Some groups sell the seeds, others give them away with the proviso that the borrower has to return the seeds, with interest, after their harvest.  

Wouldn't this make a great project for MAMG?  A great collaboration with Grow Memphis and other local community garden groups?  There's a Seed Saver's Toolkit and lots of information at seedlibraries.org.  

Leave a comment if you're interested and we'll talk.