ESCANABA — Since its introduction in 2017, the Bay College Seed Library has given people in the area an opportunity to save money on seeds.

“The seed library is now in its third year,” Library Director Oscar DeLong said.

In its first year, the seed library officially opened in June; in its second, it opened in May. DeLong said this was not always ideal for local gardeners.

“People had already selected a lot of seeds before that,” he said. Because of this, the seed library is opening in April for 2019 and may open even earlier next year.

DeLong also spoke about usage of the seed library. While it has been utilized by the community, he feels it has not been as popular as it could be and is hoping tonight’s Spring Planting Party will bring some attention to the program. (See related article.)

Seed library participants are asked to collect seeds from their plants and return them to the library. The ultimate goal of this is to allow the seed library to become self-sustaining; however, DeLong said this has not been the case so far.

“We’re still putting into it a bit,” he said, noting he had not expected Bay’s seed library to become self-sustaining immediately.

In the hopes of boosting seed return rates, attendees of tonight’s event will learn about how to preserve seeds. DeLong said he would like to hold an event focused entirely on the topic in the future.