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Seed Libraries Across Canada, Part 12

“The more you share the seeds, the more you grow, the more the system grows, the more a community grows.”

Edie Mukiibi, President of Slow Food International

This month, we continue our series about Seed Libraries in Canada with three more fantastic examples of individuals spearheading efforts to diversify the seeds available in their local communities. Each of the seed libraries in this article are situated in non-urban centers in Ontario (a.k.a communities with less than 150,000 people): Field, Keswick, and Orangeville.

What is a Seed Library?

A seed library is what it sounds like - a physical location of some kind in which people can obtain seeds for free. This is purposefully vague because they’re so individual; they differ so much from one to the next. In general, though, all seed libraries share a few common features:

Physical location - like a conventional library, a seed library has an established spot (or spots) to go in order to participate.
People - also like a conventional library, a seed library is typically meant to be accessible to anyone in the community.
Obtain - again, like a conventional library (are you seeing a pattern here?) a seed library provides the desired items, for free and usually through a borrowing and lending system. There are probably rules surrounding how many items (seed packets) you can take at a time and whether you are required/encouraged to return the items (seeds) at the end of the season.

The main function centers on the protection and public access to seeds.

Field ON

The little community seed library & exchange in Field, Ontario

By. Aimée Hodgins, Restless Ravens Homestead

This idea was born from the inspiration of this organization as well as many other seed libraries across Canada. It started with another member in the community creating a little free book library and I thought how neat it would be to also have a seed library right here in my own community.

As this is an individual run seed library, it relies on donations, seed exchanges and my own saved seed or left over seed purchases to stock the library. I sort our seeds in the library in a way that is simplified for our visitors. There are 4 categories: Herbs, Flowers, Vegetables - Start Early and Vegetables - Direct Sow. I provide extra seed envelopes, a pen and book to record in when making an exchange. We ask that visitors give a bit of detailed information on the seed they are adding to the library like: variety, germination, grower, seed age, location etc. I try my best to check the library often to make sure the seed is divided up among the packets in a way that is enough for an average person in a growing season.

Seed libraries are often something you see in a big city or town so I was unsure of how it would be received in the middle of the bush in northern Ontario. Despite living rurally there is a lot of local traffic a few times during the week due to beaches, lakes and the local landfill being open so the library has turned out to be a great success. We have also set up our farm stand next to the library as another way to get people to visit our stand and vice versa. It also makes us feel good to be able to offer something free for our community.

I believe that the need for this type of initiative in rural, isolated parts of the country is important to help build food security and stability. There is nothing more powerful than being able to grow and provide your own food and medicine to your family and friends. As a self-reliant homesteader myself I wanted to encourage more enthusiasm for growing your own food and seed saving among members of my community especially with those who are young or financially struggling.

My goal had been achieved as many people, even as far as Sudbury, have come to visit the library to make an exchange. Some local children have been frequent visitors and are very enthusiastic about saving, packaging and labeling their own seed to make exchanges to broaden their gardens and growing skills. The library is lending skills, experience, knowledge, medicine and food to those in our community through the act of seed saving.

Another one of my goals with the seed library was to encourage people to pass along old heirloom varieties that have been growing successfully in this region for years. I think there is a great need for regionally adapted seed sharing in communities. It helps to create successful gardeners and farmers out of novices and experienced individuals alike. There is less wasted money, time and resources on things that don’t grow well in that specific geographical region. As well as it puts money back into the pockets of farmers in your community instead of big companies.

The little community seed library has been a hit in our community and we hope that it inspires other people to start a library in their community, save their own seed or even grow a garden.

Keswick ON

My name is Elysa Parkinson, and I am the owner of Sage’s Cove - a small home-based online spiritual shop in Keswick (Georgina), Ontario.

I’ve always had a love for gardening, the environment, and community.

Through my work with the Keswick Community Fridge, and after certifying my outdoor space as a Wildlife-friendly Habitat with the Canadian Wildlife Federation, I felt inspired to do more.

In early 2024, I started the Free Little Seed Library at Sage’s Cove to make seeds freely available and accessible to the community. The library focuses on Ontario Native Wildflowers to support the environment, and vegetable seeds to encourage growing and sharing food.

In just the first two months of launching, over 9,000 seeds were shared. What began as a small project quickly grew - community members started donating not only seeds, but also bouquets of flowers and plants, many of which we gave to local fundraisers.

With the generous support of Zehrs Keswick, we hosted a free Ontario Native Wildflower giveaway and shared over 110 native plants with gardeners across York Region and Toronto to help build pollinator habitats.

One of the most meaningful outcomes has been seeing people grow food from the library’s seeds and share some of their harvest with the Keswick Community Fridge.

Our 2025 seed collection includes heirloom vegetables, organic herbs, annual flowers, and more than a dozen varieties of Ontario Native Wildflowers – all freely available to anyone who wants to grow

Learn more about the Free Little Seed Library at Sage’s Cove

Or get in touch with Elysa: elysa@sagescove.com

The free little seed library

Bouquets of lavender a community member left to share with the community

In the fall I gave away free Ontario Native Wildflower seeds at the Cookstown Antique Market Halloween event – Antiques After Dark, Spirit World

Some of the plants from the Ontario Native plant giveaway last summer

Orangeville ON

By: Matthew Smith

I’ve always been interested in environmental matters and trying to live sustainability with minimal impact on the planet. I joined a Town of Orangeville committee, Sustainable Orangeville, in 2019. When COVID hit, I was tasked with overseeing the town’s seed library. Our public library was closed so I offered to have it run from my home. I enjoyed chatting with fellow gardeners and answering questions while learning from them at the same time.

When everything opened up again and I returned the seed library, I missed the conversations with local residents, so I decided I would build my own. It took me a few years to get around to it, but I finally built it during winter of 2023/2024. I wanted to encourage people to start from scratch, from seed, to grow their gardens. I’m just a regular guy and if I can do it, anyone can.

I help run a local Facebook group called “Grow Your Own Food! Orangeville”. Within that group, I encourage people to experiment with their garden, to purchase some grow lights, heat mats, potting soil and to visit my seed library. I want to remove any myths, misconceptions and barriers around gardening and seed starting. If I can provide people with free seeds, I believe they’re more willing to take up the hobby and will have a better appreciation for the environment.

I used some instructional YouTube videos for building little book libraries as my inspiration. I built a basic box, a sloped roof, used Plexiglass (acrylic) for the door and gave it many coats of paint. I mounted it on a 4x4 post in a bucket of concrete and attached it to a stake in the ground. This allows me to move it into my garage during winter.

The seed library has been very successful. It sees many visitors per day, both taking and leaving seeds. I built it for the community and without community involvement, it wouldn’t be successful. I’m very grateful for the residents of Orangeville for their support and kind words.

On a personal note, I want to put my name forward for municipal council next year. I’d love to see more community gardens in town, each with its own seed library, providing people with the opportunity to grow their own food, even if they may not have the means to do it at home.

I was featured in an Orangeville Citizen article last year:
https://citizen.on.ca/environmentally-mindful-orangeville-man-opens-free-seed-library/

My personal garden socials are:

https://www.facebook.com/SmithFarmsGarden

https://www.instagram.com/smithfarmsgarden

My public Facebook page (mostly Orangeville political stuff)
https://www.facebook.com/MatthewSmithOrangeville