Seed Library

Our Mission

The WSU Seed Library offers a selection of locally developed seed to Jefferson County gardeners and seed savers in an effort to strengthen regional biodiversity and resiliency.

We support a communal model of seed saving and hope to foster a community of seed savers who contribute to the adaptability and genetic diversity of our local seed stock.  As we grow, save and share seeds, we make micro adaptations to the seed that contribute to the evolution season after season.  Help us grow and save these seeds and become seed stewards.

We wish to honor and offer our gratitude to native and indigenous peoples who tended the seed and the plants they produced.  Through their relationship with seed, they created fruit and vegetable we eat today and those seed bear their history.  This connect us to our ancestors and the ancestors of all people throughout the world.

Borrow, Grow, Return!

Each spring, the library will feature locally developed varieties that you can “borrow“.  We’ll provided you with enough seed so that you can grow plants to eat and for seed saving.  We ask that you select several of your most vigorous, fast maturing and delicious plants to go “to seed”.  At the end of the season, return your seed to The Seed Library at the WSU Jefferson County Extension office or at one of our seed cleaning events.

Returned seed will be combined with others of the same variety.  The following year, we’ll distributed the seed to the community.

Seed Library offers:

• Seed Stewards: attend seed saving events such as seed swaps and offers classes and workshops on how to save seed.
• Community Seed Project: and links on our webpage to information and tutorials on every part of the growing and saving process.
• Educational opportunities and information: through our partners at Organic Seed Alliance and the Jefferson County Library.

Questions? Email us at seedlibrarywsu@gmail.com.

Thank you for doing your part to support community food resilience.

Karen Seabrook ~ WSU Seed Library Coordinator

Read our story in the Port Townsend Leader: What’s New at the Community Seed Library! 

Thank you to our Sponsors!

Washington State University acknowledges that its locations statewide are on the homelands of Native peoples who have lived in this region from time immemorial. Currently, there are 42 tribes in Washington, 35 of which are federally recognized, that share traditional homelands and waterways in what is now Washington State.

Here on the Olympic Peninsula, Tribes include the Lower Elwha, the Jamestown S’Klallam, the Port Gamble S’Klallam, the Skokomish, the Quinault, the Hoh, the Quileute and the Makah.

The University expresses its deepest respect for, and gratitude towards these original and current caretakers of the region. As an academic community, we acknowledge our responsibility to establish and maintain relationships with these tribes and Native peoples, in support of tribal sovereignty and the inclusion of their voices in teaching, research and programming.

As a land grant institution, we also recognize that the Morrill Act of 1862 established land-grant institutions by providing each state with “public” and federal lands, which are traced back to Indigenous peoples. In 1890, Washington State received 90,081 acres of Indigenous lands designated to establish Washington State University. Washington State University retains the majority of these lands to this day. We acknowledge that Indigenous lands were often taken by coercive and violent acts, and the disregard of treaties. For that, we extend our deepest apologies. We owe our deepest gratitude to the Native peoples of this region and maintain our commitment towards reconciliation.