Iteration and Uniteration and Seed Library Protocols

Within the domain of what we call seed libraries, there is a great deal of deviation in protocols. On one hand, many seed libraries simply file packets of donated seed into alphabetical order and people take a whole commercial packet home. This is the normal model for seed libraries housed inside of book libraries and is probably the most common way to deal with inventory.

This paper is to look at the two basic systems of cataloging seeds in seed libraries that don't follow that model – where seed is distributed by a trained, albeit a volunteer, staff. I want to explore the practices available and show their strengths and weaknesses of both. I do not expect this to be definitive at all, but a first step towards an understanding of the pros and cons and pitfalls that might otherwise be surprises – nasty surprises at that.

I would like to illustrate with a hypothetical example that contains elements from three different problems.

We have carrots in the seed library. One of our more popular carrots is Nantes. Working with the library last Sunday, we discovered we had

Nantes Carrots from 2016 – coming close to the end of their viability

Nantes Carrots from 2020 – from Vendor A

Nantes carrots from 2020 – from Vendor B

How should we store and distribute them?

Does each iteration deserve it's own number?

Or do we keep 2016 from the 2020's and put both 2020's in the same check out – even though they are from different companies?

Because we seem to have a plethora of Nantes carrots, should we just dispose of the 2016 lot and go with the fresher seeds?

There are yeas and nays from all sides. How do you consider this? On one hand, we are all against tossing seeds! Carrots, for one are the more difficult to get to seeds (biennial – take up space in the garden for a time and often require a good chill time before flowering).

I am looking for a simple answer that is usable throughout the library – maybe I'm overshooting

What do other seed libraries do in this case?

david

SEED LIBRARY OF LOS ANGELES – VENICE - January 2020

SEED LIBRARY OF LOS ANGELES – VENICE BRANCH

JANUARY MEETING – MINUTES

1/18/2020

START TIME: 1:03 p.m. 

Attendance: Azita, David, Julie, Bridey, Kim, Toshiro SLOLA Member

Absent: Ade, Jeremy

Late: ( JP arrived after 2pm)

UC/Master Gardeners: 

REPORTS 

Secretary _ Bridey : Reads minutes

Treasurer _ Kim : Received $100 check from Shalom Institute and Camp (Shemesh organization with Davis Watson) Checking $3,582.12  Savings $1,738.50 PayPal $349.62

Membership_ Azita/David : Azita nothing to report. David cleaning his desk found two new membership applications. David will pay $20 Kim cash. Azita reminds us that when cash is given to send Paypal money immediately. 

Librarians _ Jeremy & Ade : N/A

Outreach : N/A

Vice Chair _ David : Present at Winward event. 7th graders were a hard bunch. Spoke about the 6 centers of civilizations, how and why did they become a big city -all revolves around agriculture and saving seeds. Brought cotton bolls where they removed seed from cotton, which was a high point. 

Ordered 9 different varieties of tomatoes and I also have beans that I have purchased for a project that fell through to add to library stock. 

Speaking next Thurs morning at USC for a Food & Ecology class. 

Cool Beans, is newsletter by Richmond Grows Seed Library in CA, an outlet and platform for us and others who want to write about seeds. 

Dr.  Daniela Soleri  is from Univ of Santa Barbara has two loads of different beans and wants different seed libraries around California to grow them and report back. She wants to do a study on community seed diversity and adaptation collaboration. David has accepted to participate. The seed varieties offered are, “Cherokee Trail of Tears,” and, “Jacob’s Cattle Bean.” 

Chair_ Azita : Spoke with 4 classes at Winward school. Topic: Landrace & genetics  - each class was different, we did some on the spot research about the French -- lots of pro-biotech questions and wondering about GMO’s and why they are bad if they feed more people. Lots of food justice conversation. Spoke about procedure of Seed Meetings so that they knew what to expect if they came to the meetings. Not many kids accepted seeds because they didn’t think they could take care of them. Azita shared her dream for the Seed Library is an App and the response from teachers and students was positive and supportive, will follow up with that as well as who may be interested in volunteer day. Hopefully we are invited back for more talks. 

Bridey made a SLOLA volunteer sign-up sheet that we can use at meetings to invite more hands.

Altadena report available on Transition Pasadena website. 

We need to alter how we take seed check outs and make sure we cutoff before speaker begins or say until 3:30 to allow us a chance to shut down on time. 

Julie_Parlitarian:  No report but will meet with David & Jo-anne again before the next meeting. Election talk should be brought up in September and so by July we should have the election process outlined and figured out. (July meeting date July 18th). 

JP : Want to know if you guys want me and have dialogue and communicate and when people have differences of opinions - do I get a vote to resign or to stay on the board. 

Julie mentions that he was voted in and so it’s his decision to stay. 

Bridey asks what is his role. David mentions that he has shown interest in inventory. 

JP finishes to say that he wants to talk about our misunderstandings and would like to be a voting member of the board as Technical Advisor and happy to relinquish role as Secretary. 

OLD BUSINESS

• Seed Inventory is behind, we need to spend time outside of SLOLA meeting days.
• Need to submit Orcutt Budget
• Seed of the Season : Carrot Nantes Scarlet (March we will switch to a new bean) We can also add a Seed of the Season Hard and Seed of the Season Easy for varying difficulty levels.

NEW BUSINESS 

• Online Seed order forms / inventory.
• What do we need to buy? Business cards? More merch? Hat? Envelopes with more SLOLA info to give away at events. 
• Azita will ask Jo-anne to make a SLOLA origami seed pack paper
• We need a new treasurer, also note: when leaving a position we need to have a job position written out with tasks/duties to pass on. (Should be in something in Trello)
• David proposes Jaeger as a speaker? Azita mentions that towards end of year makes sense with her.
• We need to find new speakers on Seed Saving / seed subjects : Folklore & Seed History is suggested idea. 

Upcoming SLOLA EVENTS 

01/26/2020 Volunteer Day 3-5PM

1. JULIE MOTIONS TO ACCEPT THE MINUTES. DAVID SECONDS. AZITA CALLS THE QUESTION, ALL IN FAVOR, MOTION PASSED UNANIMOUSLY. 
2. DAVID MOTIONS THAT JP IS NO LONGER THE SECRETARY BUT THAT IS THE TECHNICAL ADVISOR. JULIE SECONDS THE MOTIONS. AZITA CALLS THE QUESTION, ALL IN FAVOR, MOTION PASSED UNANIMOUSLY. 
3. DAVID MOTIONS TO ADJOURN. JULIE SECONDS THE MOTION. AZITA CALLS THE QUESTION. ALL IN FAVOR, MOTION PASSED UNANIMOUSLY. 

MEETING ENDTIME 2:17 PM

– VENICE BRANCH

JANUARY MEETING – MINUTES

1/18/2020

START TIME: 1:03 p.m. 

Attendance: Azita, David, Julie, Bridey, Kim, Toshiro SLOLA Member

Absent: Ade, Jeremy

Late: ( JP arrived after 2pm)

UC/Master Gardeners: 

REPORTS 

Secretary _ Bridey : Reads minutes

Treasurer _ Kim : Received $100 check from Shalom Institute and Camp (Shemesh organization with Davis Watson) Checking $3,582.12  Savings $1,738.50 PayPal $349.62

Membership_ Azita/David : Azita nothing to report. David cleaning his desk found two new membership applications. David will pay $20 Kim cash. Azita reminds us that when cash is given to send Paypal money immediately. 

Librarians _ Jeremy & Ade : N/A

Outreach : N/A

Vice Chair _ David : Present at Winward event. 7th graders were a hard bunch. Spoke about the 6 centers of civilizations, how and why did they become a big city -all revolves around agriculture and saving seeds. Brought cotton bolls where they removed seed from cotton, which was a high point. 

Ordered 9 different varieties of tomatoes and I also have beans that I have purchased for a project that fell through to add to library stock. 

Speaking next Thurs morning at USC for a Food & Ecology class. 

Cool Beans, is newsletter by Richmond Grows Seed Library in CA, an outlet and platform for us and others who want to write about seeds. 

Dr.  Daniela Soleri  is from Univ of Santa Barbara has two loads of different beans and wants different seed libraries around California to grow them and report back. She wants to do a study on community seed diversity and adaptation collaboration. David has accepted to participate. The seed varieties offered are, “Cherokee Trail of Tears,” and, “Jacob’s Cattle Bean.” 

Chair_ Azita : Spoke with 4 classes at Winward school. Topic: Landrace & genetics  - each class was different, we did some on the spot research about the French -- lots of pro-biotech questions and wondering about GMO’s and why they are bad if they feed more people. Lots of food justice conversation. Spoke about procedure of Seed Meetings so that they knew what to expect if they came to the meetings. Not many kids accepted seeds because they didn’t think they could take care of them. Azita shared her dream for the Seed Library is an App and the response from teachers and students was positive and supportive, will follow up with that as well as who may be interested in volunteer day. Hopefully we are invited back for more talks. 

Bridey made a SLOLA volunteer sign-up sheet that we can use at meetings to invite more hands.

Altadena report available on Transition Pasadena website. 

We need to alter how we take seed check outs and make sure we cutoff before speaker begins or say until 3:30 to allow us a chance to shut down on time. 

Julie_Parlitarian:  No report but will meet with David & Jo-anne again before the next meeting. Election talk should be brought up in September and so by July we should have the election process outlined and figured out. (July meeting date July 18th). 

JP : Want to know if you guys want me and have dialogue and communicate and when people have differences of opinions - do I get a vote to resign or to stay on the board. 

Julie mentions that he was voted in and so it’s his decision to stay. 

Bridey asks what is his role. David mentions that he has shown interest in inventory. 

JP finishes to say that he wants to talk about our misunderstandings and would like to be a voting member of the board as Technical Advisor and happy to relinquish role as Secretary. 

OLD BUSINESS

• Seed Inventory is behind, we need to spend time outside of SLOLA meeting days.
• Need to submit Orcutt Budget
• Seed of the Season : Carrot Nantes Scarlet (March we will switch to a new bean) We can also add a Seed of the Season Hard and Seed of the Season Easy for varying difficulty levels.

NEW BUSINESS 

• Online Seed order forms / inventory.
• What do we need to buy? Business cards? More merch? Hat? Envelopes with more SLOLA info to give away at events. 
• Azita will ask Jo-anne to make a SLOLA origami seed pack paper
• We need a new treasurer, also note: when leaving a position we need to have a job position written out with tasks/duties to pass on. (Should be in something in Trello)
• David proposes Jaeger as a speaker? Azita mentions that towards end of year makes sense with her.
• We need to find new speakers on Seed Saving / seed subjects : Folklore & Seed History is suggested idea. 

Upcoming SLOLA EVENTS 

01/26/2020 Volunteer Day 3-5PM

1. JULIE MOTIONS TO ACCEPT THE MINUTES. DAVID SECONDS. AZITA CALLS THE QUESTION, ALL IN FAVOR, MOTION PASSED UNANIMOUSLY. 
2. DAVID MOTIONS THAT JP IS NO LONGER THE SECRETARY BUT THAT IS THE TECHNICAL ADVISOR. JULIE SECONDS THE MOTIONS. AZITA CALLS THE QUESTION, ALL IN FAVOR, MOTION PASSED UNANIMOUSLY. 
3. DAVID MOTIONS TO ADJOURN. JULIE SECONDS THE MOTION. AZITA CALLS THE QUESTION. ALL IN FAVOR, MOTION PASSED UNANIMOUSLY. 

MEETING ENDTIME 2:17 PM

National Seed Swap Day! Jan 25, 2020!

The Seed Library of Los Angeles Invites all seed savers to join in this project. Before bean season starts, we will have an inventory of the beans discribed below, in addition to our own bean, the Pineschi Family Bean. One Seed One Community aims to strengthen our community by providing a shared experience in growing nutritious food and saving seeds. National Seed Swap Day - January 25, 2020

Sign up now! Click here. Happy New Year! CA Seed Library Network will organize a 2020 statewide CA One Seed One Community project to grow out one endangered heirloom bean variety from seed to seed so that we can save enough seeds to share abundantly and preserve the variety for future generations. New Year’s Greetings, National Seed Swap Day is almost here! It is always the last Saturday of January. This year National Seed Swap Day is on January 25, 2020. National Seed Swap Day is an excellent time to share beans with your community. 1S1C offers the following suggestions for the coming growing season, but of course you are free to save your community’s One Seed. Join One Seed One Community in Saving a Row for Diversity to share with neighbors and Seed Libraries. Home gardens are natural harbors of diversity. Saving and sharing our seeds preserves plant biodiversity and food security. This year we are suggesting two tracks.             We are suggesting Tuya Gvnagei aka Cherokee Trail of Tears beans from last year for those who would like to continue with last year’s Beans. Studies show evidence of adaptation in the common Bean within three growing seasons. We are calling this the Adaptation Track.             If you would like to try something different, we are suggesting Jacob’s Cattle Bean, a multipurpose Bush Bean. This is the Diversity Track.

Together let’s: • Educate our community to grow a bean from seed to seed • Grow one variety as a commitment to earth and food security • Inspire people to fall in love with a seed • Save our heirloom seeds and share them How will this project work? For basic details of the One Seed One Community project: http://seedlibraries.weebly.com/one-seed-one-community-project.html Cherokee Trail of Tears Beans can be purchased at Seed Savers Exchange  https://www.seedsavers.org/cherokee-trail-of-tears-bean?custcol_sca_sizeweightqty=10 Each organization will be in charge of seed distribution and forwarding informational emails to their community. Please respond to this email with your questions or readiness to sign up. California Seed Libraries and other interested groups are invited to sign up for this project and engage their community members to Save a Row for Diversity. Join us to encourage our community to save one seed together. More Seed Savers equals more Diversity! Click here to join. Together: Hillie Salo – Silicon Valley Grows Sara McCamant – Community Seed Exchange Elizabeth Johnson – SLO Seed Exchange Rebecca Newburn – Richmond Grows