Full Circle: The Story of Seeds
FOR MICHIGAN FARMERS and home gardeners, autumn is the season of hard-reaped rewards from long-nurtured plantings: golden ears of corn from silky stalks stretching skyward, vines abundant with zucchini or cucumber, eagerly awaited ripe tomatoes. But beyond the fruits of so much labor, don’t forget to gather that which goes beyond the dinner table: the seeds.
Even more than a way to regrow favorites in years to come, seeds tell the stories of our culture and history, says Bevin Cohen, founder and president of the MI Seed Library Network, and saving seeds is something anybody and everybody can do.
“People have been saving seeds from their crops since the dawn of agriculture,” he says. “If you wanted to eat food you had to save your own seeds.”
A longtime gardener, Cohen used to be one to purchase seeds or already-started plants. Then he struck up a conversation about heirloom seeds and the seed-saving process with Rob Maxwell at Midland’s Chippewa Nature Center. He was instantly fascinated.
“We’re all pretty much removed from how seeds are produced,” says Cohen, adding that Maxwell gave him bean seeds to grow in his own garden. “That was something new and it was so exciting. But then it was sharing those seeds with people that really changed things for me. Every time we save and share seeds it’s really a significant moment.”
That notion of sharing seeds, as simple as it may sound, sparked in Cohen the concept that if 12 people give seeds to 12 more people and so on, then “that handful of beans become hundreds of beans. A handful of seed savers becomes hundreds of seed savers. There’s something powerful about that. It changed my life.”
Cohen began to research the stories of heirloom seeds and the people behind them, tracing some histories back as far as the 1800s. He and his wife, Heather— who Cohen warmly calls “the brains behind the operation”—established Small House Farm, an online business based on their three-and-a-half-acre farmstead in Sanford, Michigan, where they sell seeds, fresh-pressed oils and tinctures and Cohen’s books, including The Complete Guide to Seed & Nut Oils: Growing, Foraging, and Pressing, released in June.
“I think that’s an important facet of what we do. It’s something that we do together. We learn together and we struggle together,” says Cohen, adding that sons Elijah, 13, and Anakin, 8, also help out. While their house isn’t necessarily that small, the name is “more about the philosophy of our life, rather than the building we live in. We believe in small scale, slow intentional living, and that’s really what Small House is all about.”
Cohen found that as he spoke about seed saving, he was answering the same questions, which prompted him to consider establishing a central place where people could find information.
“That was how the seed library got started,” he says. “The best thing I can do with the seeds that I get is to get them to other people.”
In 2017, Cohen founded MI Seed Library Network to help spread the word—reliable information about planting, growing and saving seeds— statewide. The network also affords an economical way to get seeds into the hands of those with less access to seeds and healthy foods. In its first year the network helped launch 35 seed libraries. Today, Michigan has roughly 125, second in the country only to California.
“We help them get started and also to get sustainable and thrive,” says Cohen. “That’s pretty much the mission.”
A seed library functions like a traditional library and most are housed within traditional community libraries, which provide space for gardeners to connect, network and information share, as well as gather and disperse seeds. Many of the libraries set up a separate small card-catalog-like space with available seeds, including native plant, herb, vegetable and flower varieties.
“In the fall, when people are harvesting seeds, we ask that you return new seeds so that there are fresh seeds to replenish for the next year,” says Cohen. If processed correctly—and kept in a cool, dark location—seeds should keep for years, says Cohen, who notes that he received a tomato variety a North Carolina woman had kept in her freezer some 65 years: “I got 75% germination. It’s incredible. It’s literally a piece of saved history.”
The Ferndale Garden Club started a seed library at the Ferndale Area District Library several years ago. Now the library runs it. People check out seeds and the library welcomes seed donations, though they have a small budget to purchase bulk seeds. Their goal is to encourage people to try hard-to-find varieties.
“Ferndale is the perfect community for this,” says Sarah Bowman, adult services librarian, pointing out the local popularity of wild landscaping, urban gardening and attracting pollinators, as part of the Ferndale Monarch Project.
Ferndale also participated in the One Seed, One State initiative in the spring, when people received Boston Pickling Cucumber seeds and a small container. Ferndale also presented a spring seed swap and a program about how to save seeds at home.
“People were interested and curious,” Bowman says. “It was a nice mixture of old hands, of people who start seeds and people who were new to it. Our seed library was very busy.”
Westland Seed Library is in its first year. Aubrey Franklin, adult services librarian, says it’s so far been a success, with almost 150 residents checking out seeds. Franklin hopes that if their crops are successful, they’ll replenish the library “so we can keep it going.”
“I’ve seen how people are interested in growing their own food and being more sustainable in their own home,” says Franklin.
The network also exists to support regional food systems, to preserve genetic diversity and to connect current generations to history and culture.
“Each variety is unique to itself,” says Cohen. “Seeds carry the songs, stories and cultures of all the generations before us.”
That was likely some of the draw for those who turned to gardening when the pandemic hit, says Cohen, and “learning to be reliant on yourself and nature.”
“It was such a powerful thing. Through seeds we do find that hope.”
For more information, visit miseedlibrary.org and smallhousefarm.com.
“ALL THESE STORIES, ALL THIS CULTURE, ALL THIS HISTORY CAME FROM THESE SEEDS” —BEVIN COHEN
To help better understand how seed libraries work, Bevin Cohen, president of MI Seed Library, answers some questions for us:
How can I find out if my community has a seed library?
Find an interactive map showing the locations of the roughly 125 seed libraries across Michigan at miseedlibrary.org.
When’s the best time to take advantage of a local seed library?
Each seed library functions differently, says Cohen, but chances are good that they’re all open in the springtime when people are busy planning and preparing gardens. You’ll want to find out when they do open, though, because popular varieties—you guessed it: tomatoes, radishes, garlic—tend to go fast, even though libraries limit how many seeds or packets of one single variety a household can have.
If I want to contribute to a local seed library, what should I do?
“I always recommend when you save your seeds in the fall, bring them in. It gives your seed librarian time to sort through them. But absolutely any time. Getting seeds returned to the seed library is the greatest challenge,” says Cohen.
I haven’t collected seeds before. Is there a good starting point?
For a good start, Cohen says he always recommends self-pollinating annuals, because they do it all on their own. He also recommends beans, peas, tomatoes, peppers and lettuces. “Just let it go to seed—when it bolts and grows flowers. If you wait it out, they make these beautiful little flowers and then they’ll turn into little poof balls,” says Cohen, estimating that one lettuce plant will produce 30—40 flowers and each flower will produce 12—16 seeds.
Is there any special preparation to “save” the seeds?
Seeds break down into two categories— dry and wet—and that determines how to collect them.
For dry seeds, like a bean pod, it’s pretty straightforward: “They are already dry and done. That’s it,” says Cohen. Wet seeds, like melons, squash and tomatoes, require a little more finesse. “They need to be extracted from the fruit and washed. Then they need to be laid out to dry 7—10 days on average,” says Cohen.
Tomatoes, for example. Of all the “easy fruit,” they’re the most complicated, says Cohen. Tomato seeds have a gelatinous coating that needs to come off, so Cohen suggests squeezing them into a jar, and then adding a little water. Set it aside until gets moldy, which will separate out the seeds and the coating. “All the clean, viable seeds will sink to the bottom,” says Cohen, pointing out that “the fermentation of seeds” is easy enough to do with kids.
LEARN MORE AT THE VIRTUAL SEED LIBRARY SUMMIT
Michigan’s seed librarians will meet virtually to share their experiences and challenges at the virtual seed library summit October 23, 2022. Stay tuned to miseedlibrary.org to learn more.
“The pandemic forced us to go virtual and we realized everyone can join us this way,” says Cohen. “The people who need things the most have the least access to it. So I’m always trying to find ways to make it accessible to most people.”
