CONWAY - Faulkner County Library visitors now can check out a packet of heirloom seeds along with a how-to book to help them start a garden.
In late August, the librarybegan offering residents Arkansas’ first seed library, one of more than 100 such facilities in the United States, said Nancy Allen, adult services and reference librarian. That number is growing, Allen said, “because they seem to be sprouting up” throughoutthe country.
The seed exchange, located in a small corner of the Conway-based library on Tyler Street, is aimed at lending and saving open-pollinated, heirloom seeds.
Open-pollinated seeds arepollinated naturally - by birds and insects, for example. Heirloom seeds are those that have been “saved and passed down through the generations” because of their value, said Ashton Wills, a University of Central Arkansas senior volunteering in the seed library.
Edible heirloom plants seem to have “richer flavors and colors” than conventionally grown varieties, said Wills, a Russellville native and a former UCA intern at the seed library.
By contrast, conventionally grown seeds are hybrids “that are manufactured to be well fit for transportation, quick harvest and resistance against pests,” Wills explained in a YouTube video. The results, she said, are “plants with less flavor, color and tenderness than their heirloom counterparts.”
In addition to promoting plant diversity and sound environmental practices, heirloom seeds help preserve a region’s history and culture, and sometimes evenfamily memories, Allen and Wills said. Some plant varieties, for example, vary from one tiny town to another because of their history, Allen said.
Wills described a Northwest Arkansas woman known as “Aunt Zena,” whose family found her butter-bean seeds in a storage shed after she died. Relatives saved and shared the seeds.
Though Allen said she is not an avid gardener, she is learning plenty about the subject.
Since the program began, the library has obtained at least four kinds of basil - mammoth, or lettuce-leaf, basil; lemon basil; epazote basil, a plant often used in Mexican cooking; and the latest donation of “holy basil,” an herb that is revered in the Hindu religion.
Allen also is doing some seed-saving herself - from what she said she thinks to be Conway’s oldest living wisteria plant. The wisteria is growing in her yard and is at least a century old, she said.
To participate in the seed library, patrons first mustcomplete a free membership form. Then they can browse through a two-drawer filing cabinet containing small plastic bags of seeds including from Chinese, or garlic, chives, and Australian yellow leaf or buttercrunch lettuce.
Some gardeners might opt for a few purple-andwhite “Christmas” lima beans or some “trucker’s favorite” white field-corn kernels, among other choices.
The library has more than 100 seed varieties, Wills estimated, though many are being preserved in a large freezer and crates at the Faulkner County Museum. Both facilities have gardens where seeds can be planted to yield more seeds.
The collection also has attracted interest outside of Arkansas. A Texas library sent some representatives who are interested in starting a similar program to Conway to get some ideas. A couple who lived on an organic farm in Japan for a year recently checked out red Russian kale and Easter egg radish seeds.
The library urges patrons to read a seed-saving pamphlet and asks them to give a few seeds back to the library after the plant grows. If the seeds don’t yield plants, gardeners can donate a purchased packet of open-pollinated, heirloom seeds that haven’t been genetically modified and aren’t hybrids.
The library prefers heirloom seeds but will take others. However, it does not knowingly take any genetically modified or hybrid seeds, Allen said.
“There’s no way we can” force patrons to return seeds to the library, Allen said, though she’s hopeful most people will do so.
The seed library has a notebook full of tips to help beginners. Inside are tips on when to plant various seeds and the titles of helpful gardening books. There’s also information on the ease, or difficulty, of saving seeds from each plant.
For those needing a bit more help, the library is planning an Urban Farm Fest, or harvest festival, on Nov. 2 with plenty of food - probably a potluck - and organizers said they hope to provide seed-saving demonstrations.
Northwest Arkansas, Pages 15 on 09/22/2013