San Francisco Seed Library

I just got back from a visit to the Potrero Hill Public Library to check out some seeds from the new San Francisco Seed Library. It was the nerdy highlight of my day. The renovated public library just turned year old and it’s beautiful. It’s a cozy space with two floors of books, and has huge windows with sweeping views of the city. I lived in the neighborhood during design school and would’ve loved to have had this library back then. It’s a great addition to the neighborhood. I talked to Lia, the branch manager, while deciding which seeds to get. She told me the Seed Library itself is a pilot program, run by volunteers from TransitionSF, SF Public Library Green Stacks Program and the Permaculture Guild (more about the guild & the class I’m taking in my next post!). It’s not quite self serve yet because they don’t have enough room, so Lia and her staff have drawers behind the second floor information desk dedicated to seeds. They provide you a form to check off what you want, then they retrieve seeds from drawers, give you little envelopes to put your seeds in, and then you go to the website to register what you’re taking (and later, what you are donating back). Lia was also really helpful in advising me which varieties of beans and peas might fair best on my foggy hill. The Potrero branch got lucky to launch this pilot program because Lia spearheaded the teaching garden at the Mission branch and wanted to be involved in this, too. Let’s hope I have better luck with the beans this year. Last year I only got 2 beans total. Today, my final seed check out was: scarlet runner beans, telephone pole peas, red romaine lettuce, oregano, thyme, and dill. ¡Buen provecho!