Why Local Seeds Matter
Adapting and Preserving
Every seed carries a story. When we grow, save, and share seeds in our own community, we help create plants that become better adapted to our local climate and growing conditions. As weather patterns become more unpredictable, locally grown and saved seeds become an important tool for building resilient gardens and stronger food systems and communities.
A seed library is more than a place to pick up free seeds—it’s a community effort. Borrowing seeds is just the first step. Learning how to save and return seeds allows those varieties to continue adapting year after year while ensuring that future gardeners can enjoy them too.
Seed saving is also a way to preserve culture and history. Many families have treasured varieties that connect them to traditions, recipes, and memories from around the world. By stewarding these seeds together, we help keep our community’s agricultural heritage alive for future generations.
This year, we celebrated two special pop-up seed libraries. One featured a 100% Nepalese seed collection hosted at Zomsa Restaurant, connecting gardeners with crops that are deeply rooted in Nepalese food traditions. Another, hosted at the El Cerrito Natural Grocery Store, offered Louie Nicoli Italian Pole Beans—a rare East Bay heirloom grown and shared by El Cerrito’s Louie Nicoli (1913–2007), an icon in the city’s Italian American community.
Thanks to the enthusiasm of local gardeners, every packet from both pop-up libraries has found a new home, and those events are now closed.
Do you have seeds that are important to your family or culture? We’d love to help steward them. Connect with us by emailing us at richmondgrows@gmail.com, and we’ll work together to share those seeds with people who will grow them, save them, and pass them on—keeping their stories, diversity, and resilience alive for generations to come.
Join Our East Bay Seed Saving Cohort!
Take your seed saving skills to the next level by joining the first East Bay Seed Saving Cohort co-hosted by the Richmond Grows Seed Lending Library and Urban Tilth.
From July 20–September 20, participants will receive free access to the Seed Saving in Community class, attend two in-person gatherings at a local garden, and participate in two one-hour online sessions to learn, share experiences, and support one another on their seed saving journey.
In person meetings are Sat. Aug. 8th 9:30-11:30 a.m. & Sat. Sept. 19th 9:30-11:30 a.m. The online meetings will be announced later and will be recorded.
You must attend all 4 sessions and listen or attend the Seed Saving Class to get the seed saving certificate. If these dates don’t work for you, but you’d like to be on our list for our cohort next year, you can fill in the form to be added to our 2027 cohort.
Space is limited. If we have a lot of sign ups, preference will be given to those interested in teaching the Seed Saving in Community class and/or growing seed for the community to support the more than 60 seed libraries in the East Bay.
Register by July 18.
Cohort Leads: Diana Leal, Seed Saving Project Manager and Herbal Projects Manager, Urban Tilth, and Rebecca Newburn, Co-Founder of the Richmond Grows Seed Lending Library and Founder of the Seed Library Network.
Special Guest (online session): Bill McDorman, former Director of the Rocky Mountain Seed Alliance, former Executive Director of Native Seed/SEARCH, creator of Seed Schools
Calendar 📅
Seed Saving in Community Class
Wed., July 29th 3:30-5 p.m. (online; will be recorded)
Register
With rising food prices, climate change, and an increasingly fragile food system, there’s never been a better time to learn one of humanity’s oldest skills: saving seeds.
Join us for Seed Saving in Community and learn how to save seeds from food crops, build local resilience, and become part of a community seed shed.
🎥 Can’t attend live? No problem! The class will be recorded.
Note: This is a fundraiser for Richmond Grows. For the price of 2-3 seed packets, participants will get the slide deck, speaker notes, recording of the class, and additional resources. These can be used personally or shared with people in your community freely. We are a 100% volunteer organization providing free locally grown, organic seed for our community and the Greater Richmond area.
Tool Lending Library 10th Anniversary Celebration
Sat. July 25 11 AM - 3 p.m.
Richmond Rec Center, 3230 Macdonald Ave. (next to Nicholl Park)
Come celebrate 10 Years of the Tool Lending Library in Richmond and come visit us. Our new home while the Richmond Public Library is being renovated is 15 feet outside of the Tool Lending Library. VOLUNTEERS NEEDED: If you love the seed library and want to help us table at the event or give mini-tours, email us at richmondgrows@gmail.com.
Storytimes & Coloring Books
If you missed our storytimes at the San Pablo Library and Richmond Public Libraries, no worries.
Download and print the coloring books for FREE. Share them with teachers too! We also are starting to work on a series of coloring pages. Here is our first coloring page on How to Save Bean Seeds.
Adults, you can pick up our free bookmarks on Why Local Seeds Matter / How to Save Bean Seeds at your local public library. If you are not in the area, you can print them from the Seed Library Network Bookmarks page.
Plant Now - Planta ahora
Download and print this chart to help you know what to plant now. If it has a bean, 🫘, it’s a good time to plant it if you would like to save seeds at the end of the season. You can also pick up a copy at the seed library. Follow us on Instagram @richmondgrows.
Descargue e imprima esta tabla para saber qué plantar ahora. Si tiene un frijol, 🫘, es un buen momento para plantarlo si desea guardar semillas al final de la temporada. También puede recoger una copia en la biblioteca de semillas. Síguenos en Instagram @richmondgrows.
