Pemberton Seed Library
The Pemberton Seed Library is a partnership with the Pemberton & District Public Library which is also its physical home. The idea of the Seed Library is to “borrow” seeds in the spring, grow them in your garden, save the seeds in the fall, and “return” some of the seeds to the seed library to share with the community.
Why we love our Seed Library:
It promotes local food sovereignty and security through free access to seeds.
It provides free access to seeds for those that may not be able to afford them.
Growing and sharing seeds regionally makes them more adaptable to the local environment.
Through growing out and saving seeds, it preserves rare strains of seeds and promotes seed diversity.
It strengthens our community and food system.
It is fun, easy, and a great way to expand your gardening skills.
How to access the Seed Library:
Visit the Pemberton & District Public Library at the Pemberton Community Centre during opening hours, and you’ll find the seed library on the back wall.
This spring, you can also check out our new “Little Free Seed Library” at the Downtown Pemberton Community Barn for quick access to a sample of the main seed library’s seeds. Thanks to the Pemberton Men’s Shed for building this for us!
Seed Library Events
Seedy Sunday:
We host a Seedy Sunday event in mid-March which celebrates the start of the growing season, community, and seeds! This event features a seed swap, free learning resources, local community and agricultural organizations, local food, and live music!
Community outreach booths:
Visit us at one of our farmers market or community event outreach booths - we’ll usually bring the seed library and fun learning resources.
Fall seed saving workshop:
In the fall, we host a seed saving workshop featuring FarmFolk CityFolk's mobile seed cleaning trailer at the Pemberton Farmers Market. This helps farmers and gardeners clean saved seed quickly and efficiently, while providing a fun learning opportunity for the community.
School seed saving workshops:
We partner with FarmFolk CityFolk to facilitate seed saving workshops at the Signal Hill Elementary School and Pemberton Secondary School gardens for over 200 students each year. Many of the seeds saved during these workshops were brought to the seed library!
Check out our events page for upcoming workshops!
Seed Saving Resources
Visit the seed library and look through our seed saving resources in person, including step-by-step directions on saving seeds, crop planning guides, and more!
We also love these online resources: