Seeds are genetic time capsules moving through the world one season at a time. Many plants and their seeds have co-evolved with humans, and these human/plant relationships have produced a vast biodiversity of plants that we humans cherish as food, fiber, fuel, shelter, tools, medicine, and beauty. In return, the plants thrive with our care.

Through time, as plants have expressed their genes, keen and observant people have selected those with desirable traits and saved their seed. Thus squash became sweeter, kale more cold hardy, beans more productive and drought resistant, or a flower more fragrant. Together the plants and humans leave a legacy.

Lopez Community Land Trust Seed Librarian Charlie Behnke explains his the intimate seed saving experience. “As I grow plants and select those with which I save seed from, I see the plants entire life cycle and I observe what the foragers and gardeners before me, for thousands of years, saw in this plant, and then I leave my own contribution.”

Seed saving is romantic, but it also makes very practical and an extremely important part of a resilient food system. Today, over 75 percent of the world’s agricultural seed supply is in the hands of ten companies. These companies are not focused on maintaining agricultural biodiversity and regional food systems, but rather aim to dominate a global food system with high-tech crops that are reliant on high inputs of synthetic chemicals, with the majority of their seed having proprietary restrictions for growers, such as not being able to save seed.

Fortunately there is the other 25 percent of seed, and that includes open-pollinated plant varieties. These are what a seed saver looks for. Open-pollinated means a plant variety that can produce seed that is ‘true to type’ for that variety. These are the varieties that have been passed through the ages, grandma’s heirloom beans. These seeds are generally open-source and can be saved and distributed freely.

Agricultural biodiversity needs to be cared for or it will diminish, valuable heirloom varieties are being lost. With a changing and chaotic climate, our food system needs as much resilience as we can muster, it is up to farmers and gardeners to maintain a diversity of locally adapted varieties, no one else will do it.

Seed saving is easy, our ancestors have been doing it intuitively for thousands of years. Each time seed is saved in it adapts more to the place it was grown, and thus regionally adapted varieties are developed and maintained.

The LCLT Seed Library has taken on the task of organizing and maintaining a locally grown seed supply. This supply is available to the Lopez growers with a commitment to save seed from their gardens to replenish and build upon our local seed supply.

The LCLT Seed Library is located at LCLT Common Ground, open Monday through Friday 9 a.m. – 4 p.m. (check in at LCLT Office). A seed Librarian will be available for assistance, orientation, and questions Fridays 2-4 p.m. For more information email us at seedlclt@rockisland.com.