“Checking out seeds” (Reading Eagle, March 22) was inspiring, but there’s more to the story. Seed are in 11 Berks County libraries and counting: Bethel, Bernville, Sinking Spring, Reading, Brandywine, Boyertown, Boone, Wyomissing, Wernersville, Schuylkill Valley and Morgantown’s Village Library.
All these libraries are working cooperatively with Berks County Master Gardeners. They were developed to emphasize the need for native plants and highlight the decline of pollinators. All the native seeds were donated by Berks Nature and Rockland Roots.
These libraries have been creative in their ways of displaying their seeds as they have done throughout the years by reinventing their place in their communities. One would think that with the advent of electronic readers, public libraries would certainly fail. However, because of creative directors, Berks residents have access to free Wi-Fi and can “check out” games, small appliances, tools, and now seeds. Having libraries focus on native plants was the perfect fit.
The seed library idea came about from Master Gardener Sandy Weiss, who four years ago proposed the Native Seed Project. The framework includes yearly education, a Seed Swap Event in January in partnership with Berks Nature, with the third aspect of this program being the creation of the Native Seed Libraries.
Karyn Spengler
Wyomissing