You can see all these cool things people are doing, like seed libraries and libraries of things...
— Corey Farrenkopf, Staff Librarian, Eastham Public Library
Seeds Among the Stacks
This week Eastham Public library got a jump on spring planting with a evening of seed give and take
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12 March 2026 – EASTHAM, MA – This week Eastham Public library got a jump on spring planting with a evening of seed give and take, as part of a Cape-wide trend in seed libraries within traditional public libraries.
What is a seed swap?
Seed swaps draw on old community traditions of saving and re-growing plants from seed …. year after year … trading varieties with your friends and neighbors.
Eastham seed swap participant Natalia Redyk, co-grower at Gibbous Moon Garden at Putnam Farm in Orleans says a seed swap represents a beautiful community event of reciprocity and sharing.
“You can share all the extra seeds you have,” she said “It used to be this way, where the stuff you save is what grows well in the environment.”
What kinds of seeds are in seed libraries?
Local seeds help support heirloom vegetables, like scarlet runner beans for example, as well as native plants. These in turn support critical local pollinators and the larger environment.
The seeds represent the diversity of the people growing the plants and they vary from library to library.
In Eastham, Agway supports the see library effort by donating additional seeds, so that everyone who visits the seed library has the opportunity to “check out” up to three packages to plant.
Why are book libraries involved?
Eastham staff librarian – and seed library booster – Corey Farrenkopf said that on today’s Cape Cod many of the public libraries across the region have stepped up to help organize both seed swaps and shareable seed libraries. He explained that seeds represent a larger library trend, where libraries are so much more than traditional printed books.
“We’re mainly like a community hub where people can gather without having to worry about paying for things,” he said.
“We’re a third place … where you can just exist and be without having to pay for something,” he said. “Where you can just just hang out and use the resources and feel welcome.
