Library Lines: Learn and grow with Cheboygan's seed library

Hopefully with all the April showers we have received May flowers are soon to bloom. Spring is a great time to make plans for your flower or vegetable garden. While gardeners in Northern Michigan usually wait until after Memorial Day to begin planting outside you certainly can start growing seeds indoors.

The Cheboygan Library can help you get started with an assortment of interesting gardening books and magazines such as Greenhouse Grower and Horticulture magazines to help plan and inspire interesting gardens. Not sure what to plant or what seeds to start with? Visit our seed library located inside the genealogy local history room on the main floor of the library. The seed library is full of possibilities with seeds ranging from carrots to sunflowers. Browse the many drawers to find seeds you’ve been curious to try or unusual seeds you may not be familiar with. Several stocked drawers are available to peruse.

What is a seed library? A seed library is a community-oriented project that allows participants to share seeds with one another by “checking out” seed packets of their choosing. A wide variety of flowers, herbs, fruit, and vegetable seeds are available for anyone interested in taking seeds home to plant! The “borrowing” of seeds is open to anyone, a library card is not required to take seeds out or bring seeds in to share. Our seed library is always open during regular library hours and is a great place to find a fun diverse variety of seeds.

The seed library operates on the honor system. Anyone interested in “borrowing” seeds is welcome to take whichever seed packets interest them. You become a member automatically when you withdraw seeds to plant. We encourage all members to learn basic seed-saving techniques. If you are unable to save your own seeds, please consider donating a packet or two of fresh commercially grown, open-pollinated seeds to keep the seed library stocked. Community members, please drop off seed donations to the front desk. Staff will ensure that the seeds are passed along to our volunteer for evaluation and cataloging.

The seed library is also supported with generous seed donations from local farms, Harvest Thyme, and Bear Creek Organic Farm, thank you! The library is fortunate to have a dedicated volunteer who is passionate about the seed library as she donates seeds, collects seeds, sorts, packages, organizes and delivers seeds to maintain and ensure our seed supply is well-stocked, thank you Deb!

Mark your calendar for 6 p.m. Wednesday, June 28, for an evening with author Mary Agria when she presents “Life Lessons from the Garden” in the lower level of the Cheboygan Library. Mary is the author of the best-selling novel Time in a Garden as well as Garden of Eve and From the Tender Stem just to name a few. Ms. Agria earned B.A. and M.A. degrees from the University of Wisconsin in literature and linguistics, then spent much of her career as a technical writer and counselor in the field of community development and workforce issues.

Her gardening and spirituality columns won awards in 2017, 2018, 2019 and 2020 for the best feature writing in the statewide Michigan Garden Clubs competition and were featured in the Petoskey News-Review. In 2021, Mary published An Itinerant Gardner’s Book of Days inspired by Harbor Springs’ naturalist Alice C. Erwin’s Book of Days, Nature Talks. The day book follows a year in the gardening life of author Agria from the desert Southwest to Northern Michigan. Join us for this enlightening presentation by award-winning garden author Mary Agria while she shares thoughtful and inspiring insights into the roots of gardens and the gardening life.

— Paula Jewell is program director of the Cheboygan Area Public Library.

This article originally appeared on Cheboygan Daily Tribune: Library Lines: Learn and grow with Cheboygan's seed library