• Seed packers Eveline Hermans, Jody Burgess, project coordinator Jo McLauchlan, Barny Cassidy, DCH volunteer Cameron Trevenna, garden coordinator Mark Hayes, and Janine Briggs.
A seed library has been installed in Scottsdale giving local green thumbs of all skills levels a new exciting community resource as part of the Street libraries with seed Northern Tasmania project.
This is the latest addition, with eight other seed libraries across the north of the state.
Scottsdale’s bright box was painted by Britney Cassidy and will house a range of vegetable, herb and flower seeds in reusable bags for locals to help themselves to.
Volunteers from the Scottsdale Community Co-op gathered at the Dorset Community House on Tuesday afternoon sorting and packing seeds to stock the newly installed library with.
Local man Barny Cassidy is overseeing the Scottsdale seed library.
“I’ve now got a dedicated seed freezer run off solar which will help to extend the lifespan of seeds season to season, which is at my property,” he said.
“I was initially going to have the seed library out the front of my house but decided to have it at the Community House to encourage more community interaction.
“My idea is that gardening shouldn’t be expensive. This is a good opportunity to give it a go – we are surrounded by some of the best soil in the world.”
Street libraries with seed Northern Tasmania coordinator Jo McLauchlan started the project at the onset of COVID-19 to encourage people to stay connected, sharing seeds, produce and knowledge through local libraries.
It’s hoped that people who grow plants from library seeds, will collect their own seeds at the end of the season and bring back to share with others.
Ms McLauchlan said she used street libraries as a template and purchased $1000 of seeds from Rangeview Seed at Winnaleah which were dispersed between each community hub.
She said in the early day of the project, community donations were vital.
“Janine Briggs from West Scottsdale sent one of the very first lots of seed through the post,” she said.
“There were just a tiny handful of people that sent seed and made me keep going. I was still just feeling it out then.
“The individual groups are taking their own shapes, some are proper big food sharing areas now, especially Invermay.”
Ms McLauchlan will continue to fund yearly seed purchases for the libraries but will step back as each group gets more established.
Each hub has an associated Facebook group, which is used as a community noticeboard, gathering interest and calling for volunteers to help with seed packing days.
The Scottsdale Community Co-op already has 91 members.
This article was first published in the North-Eastern Advertiser on October 14, 2020.
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