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Tuesday - April 21, 2015

From: kerrville, TX
Region: Southwest
Topic: Seed and Plant Sources
Title: Seed Library in Hill Country, Texas?
Answered by: Anne Van Nest

QUESTION:

Hello, I was wondering if there is a seed bank or library here in the Texas Hill Country?

ANSWER:

The closest to the Hill Country that Mr. Smarty Plants could find online is the Sustainable Food Center Seed Library in Austin, Texas.

Here's the information that they we found on the seedlibraries.weebly.com website.

Sustainable Food Center Seed Library

Location: Nonprofit, Austin, TX
Started: 2005
Organizers: Currently, Ellen Orabone, Grow Local Teaching Garden Coordinator, runs the Spread the Harvest program at the Sustainable Food Center, which offers a free seed library to all participants.
Partners: We have received many donations from different seed companies to stock our seed library. In the future, we will expand to be more of a seed bank, where local gardeners and farmers will be able to share their seeds with other community gardeners and farmers or store their native seeds for future seasons.
Special Notes: We are currently working with a Girl Scout troop to purchase materials needed to expand to a seed bank, complete with seed refrigerators, seed-saving workshops, and community seed swaps.
Cost: We purchase seeds (about $1,000 every year - funded by a grant) to stock the seed library from Mountain Valley Seeds and a local nursery – the Natural Gardener, and also receive donations from larger seed companies and other local nurseries.
Website: http://www.sustainablefoodcenter.org/grow-local/harvest

That website also listed the following Texas seed libraries ...