Bay college introduces seed library
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ESCANABA -- A new initiative at the Bay College Library will give members of the community a chance to grow vegetables, fruits, flowers, and more while saving money on seeds. The Bay College Seed Library officially opened for business after materials for the program arrived at the library earlier this month.
The seed library program allows people to "borrow" seeds from the Bay College Library.
"It's similar to a book check-out," Library Director Oscar DeLong said. He also noted that, as is the case for the Bay College Library in general, use of the seed library is not restricted to Bay students.
Once the seeds used by seed library participants have grown into new plants, participants will collect seeds from these plants and bring them back to the library.
"What you'll be returning are seeds from your new crop that have grown," DeLong said. People involved with the seed library are asked to return at least as many seeds as they borrowed, if possible.
DeLong said that, while the seed library was just introduced recently, it has already gotten some attention from community members.
"We've had (people) come in since it showed up and already picked up seeds," he said.
The development of the seed library was spearheaded by a group of Bay College students.
"This actually started with the Nursing Leadership (course)," DeLong said. As part of a leadership assignment, students in this course decided to set up a seed library in the area. They worked with the Bay College Library to make this concept a reality.
The project was led by Bay College nursing student Stacy Hopkins, who was inspired by a similar program at the Peter White Public Library in Marquette.
"It was a little more difficult of a project than I anticipated, to be honest," Hopkins said. She noted that organizing the seed library and gathering resources to set it up were among the most challenging elements of the project.
However, she was happy with the end result of the project and the positive response it has received.
"It sounds like it's already starting to win some people over," she said.
Hopkins also said she appreciated DeLong's involvement in the process of setting up the seed library.
"Oscar has been amazing -- he was very enthusiastic about the project," she said.
A wide variety of seeds are available from the library.
"Mostly, they're vegetables -- there are some flowers in the mix, as well," DeLong said. Fruit and vegetable seeds available through this program include beet, brussels sprout, cabbage, carrot, cucumber, lettuce, pumpkin, watermelon, and tomato seeds. Several types of flower seeds, including seeds for black-eyed Susans, marigolds, sunflowers, daisies, and zinnias, are also available.
DeLong said he was glad to be able to offer this new service through the Bay College Library.
"I'm just excited to get a chance for another interaction with the community," he said.
Hopkins said she wants the seed library to encourage people to garden.
"I really hope that it continues to grow and flourish in the next few years," she said.