The Herendeen Orchard Seed Library was established by Silver Lake resident, Randy Hartman. A piece of paper on its door lists the basic principles of a seed library: “Take a seed. Leave a seed. Plant a seed. Enjoy a seed.”

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By Lilli Dwyer
InkFree News

“Take a seed. Leave a seed. Plant a seed. Enjoy a seed.”

These words, displayed on the door of the Herndeen Orchard Seed Library, outline the basic principles of a seed library: a collection of seeds available for community members to take from and donate to. Once “checked out,” the seeds don’t need to be returned. Flower, fruit, vegetable and herb seeds are free for the taking.

Silver Lake resident, Randy Hartman, built the seed library himself two years ago, at the small orchard he established on his family’s land. He was inspired by the concept of the Little Free Library, a public bookcase where people can freely take and donate books.

“I thought, ‘You could probably do this with seeds.’ At the time, I didn’t realize there was one in the Warsaw library and stuff like that, I didn’t know they existed,” Hartman recalled.

Indeed, the Warsaw Community Public Library is one of several area libraries to establish one over the past few years. Theirs came to being in 2019.

“The goal of our seed library is to have people take the seeds home, grow them and then to bring back seeds so we can keep it going. If they can bring it in, in a Ziploc bag and have it labeled, we can disperse those,” staff member Leslie Jeffreys explained.

The idea is for seeds to be continuously in circulation.

“We’re getting a lot of flower seeds, which is great, but I’d love to see some vegetable seeds come back,” Jeffreys noted. “Someone brought in milkweed for the butterflies.”

Most seed libraries get started and are kept going by donations from local companies or community members. Tractor Supply Company gave a large amount of seeds to WCPL this spring. Hartman usually stocks his seed library himself at the beginning of spring, but this time it was the recipient of a large anonymous donation.

“I don’t know who did it this year, if it was one person or the whole community, but it’s crammed full of seeds this year,” he said.

Hartman mentioned that he is interested in building more seed libraries in towns near him, like Warsaw, Winona Lake and North Manchester.

“I don’t see someone driving all the way down (to Silver Lake) from Warsaw to get a seed, that’s why I would like to put them somewhat around Kosciusko County, so everyone can enjoy them,” he explained. “It’s just time and trying to get a hold of the head honchos.”

As seed libraries start to grow in popularity, those who run them see the potential benefits they can offer to a community.

“It can be a learning thing for kids who’ve never had any experience growing things. It can be a sustainability thing, you know, learning to grow your own food is a great thing. And it’s also fun. … ‘I created something.’ It makes you super proud of it,” said Jeffreys.

With spring now coming into full bloom, many people have the planting of seeds on their minds. Steve Koontz, a Kosciusko County Master Gardener, noted that it’s not too late to start a garden and it can be done without much planning.

“Usually, they say after Mother’s Day is the best time to plant here, because that’s the last frost date. You get into June, it’s probably kind of late for summer crops,” he said.

For those without a lot of outdoor space, Koontz mentioned herbs do well when grown inside.

“I hope that this (seed library) would kind of bring the community together, something for them to talk about,” said Hartman.

“It’s really just there for anyone who wants to get into gardening; maybe they’ve thought about it and didn’t want to jump the gun and buy a bunch of seeds,” his wife, Jessica, added.

Seed Libraries Around Kosciusko and Elkhart Counties

• Herendeen Orchard Seed Library, across from the Silver Lake Agri-Center at 205 CR 250W, Silver Lake. There is no limit on how many seed packets users can take.

• Warsaw Community Public Library, 310 E. Main St., Warsaw. No limit on how many seed packets users can take. No library card is required.

• Syracuse Public Library, 115 E. Main St., Syracuse. Limit of 10 seed packets per family. No library card required.

• North Webster Community Public Library, 110 E. North St., North Webster. No limit on how many seed packets users can take. No library card required.

• Nappanee Public Library, 157 N. Main St., Nappanee. No library card required.