People considering what to plant in their garden may not initially consider going to the library to find seeds to put in the ground, but the concept of seed libraries is starting to grow in Lake County.
Already in place in Zion and Barrington, two Waukegan High School juniors are in the process of putting one in front of Glenwood Elementary School, are talking to two more schools and hope to be part of starting one at the Waukegan Public Library.
Daisy Martinez and Ashley Blanco needed a project in their civics class to present at the Mikva Challenge on April 26. They began to devise a program where people get seeds, plant and then harvest them. When the plant yields new seeds, they dry them and return five to the library.
“That’s how we keep a supply of seeds,” Martinez said. “They can keep some seeds for themselves, but we want them to bring back at least five.”
Blanco and Martinez are in the process of growing their seed library project in Waukegan with the goal of making it a permanent part of the Waukegan Public Library helping people in the community grow food, enjoy flowers, or both.
Within two weeks, Blanco said the seed library will be operating at Glenwood. It will be in front of the school. The seed packets will be on shelves, looking much like the Little Free Libraries that dot the area. Two other schools are possibilities.
Starting to develop their idea in mid-March, Martinez and Blanco received guidance from Ron Ashlaw, a civics and government teacher at the high school who oversees the Mikva Challenge. He pointed them toward gardening organizations in the area.
“Waukegan has a pretty good garden club,” Ashlaw said. “They started working within the community. They talked to people in government like (state Rep.) Rita Mayfield (D-Gurnee).”
Blanco said they talked to Mayfield to learn about the legal ramifications they might face, and what laws they needed to heed. They also reached out to Tiffany Verzani, the executive director of the Waukegan Public Library.
“We knew we wanted to have one at the Waukegan library,” Blanco said. “We’re going to keep working on that. They are working with us and helping.”
Verzani said the library is assisting Blanco and Martinez with their project. The teens may well be helping to get a seed library started at the Waukegan library through their senior year in high school next term.
“We’re working to support the seed library at the elementary school,” Verzani said. “We’re working with our staff to see if we will eventually have one here in Waukegan. No firm time has been set. We’re trying to learn more about it.”
Along with aiding Martinez and Blanco as well as their internal efforts, she said they are communicating with the University of Illinois Chicago’s master gardeners. They are looking at other potential avenues of support.
“We’re getting all the logistics set,” Verzani said.
Now in its fourth year, the Barrington Area Library’s seed library is offering seed packets of flowers, vegetables and herbs. Public information manager Karen McBride said the packages are kept in drawers like the ones that once housed the card catalog.
“Everyone is welcome to browse and take what they like,” McBride said. “We opened this year on Feb. 1. We’ve already given out tens of thousands of seeds, and we’re almost out.”
While people are not asked to bring the dried seeds from the previous harvest for other patrons to use, McBride said those contributions are welcome.
At the Zion-Benton Public Library, there is no obligation to help replenish seeds. Rachel Sandoval, the library’s graphic design and marketing associate, said seeds are free for the taking, but they want some control over what is available.
“We want to be able to tell people exactly what we have in our seed collection,” Sandoval said.
Sandoval said the Zion seed library is a community effort. Seeds are donated by partners BUZ (Building Up Zion), the Illinois Dunesland Garden Club, Community 365 in Winthrop and the University of Illinois Extension.
After a soft opening in 2023, Sandoval said the seed library had its grand opening in February. There is a cabinet in the lobby where people can browse for vegetable, flower, herb and fruit seeds. Packets contain five to seven seeds. People are asked to take no more than five packs.
