Tuesday, April 23, 2024
Fair, 61°Wind: 3.5 mph, W
Welcome to our new web site!
To give our readers a chance to experience all that our new website has to offer, we have made all content freely avaiable, through October 1, 2018.
During this time, print and digital subscribers will not need to log in to view our stories or e-editions.
Seeds are popping up at the Thomas Branigan Memorial Library at the new Tierra Sagrada Seed Library (named after the mural in the Library’s amphitheater). This seed library has been created to encourage Las Crucens to learn more about local food systems and regionally community seed saving projects.
Library public programs manager Brita Sauer said she has been involved in seed libraries both in Albuquerque and Santa Fe, and she said they have been popular.
“It provides materials to the community,” she said. “It provides a way to keep seeds in the community and develop traits for our environment.”
The Tierra Sagrada Seed Library is available during curbside hours (between 9 a.m. and noon, Monday through Friday) throughout August and September, while supplies last, she said.
Each library patron can check out five packets of seed per season on library cards. There is no return date this year, but patrons are encouraged to learn how to save seeds and eventually make a seed donation back to the seed library. Visit the library’s webpage and click on “Seed Library” for more information and a listing of available fall seeds.
“Right now, we have fall varieties and winter,” Sauer said. “People can take those and start growing this fall. Our fall planting seeds include beets, carrots, lettuce and chard. A lot of the greens are good once the weather cools down. We also have some herbs.”
Community members who are interested in donating seed are asked to fill out a donation form to provide information on seed provenance and cultural history, she said.
“It’s important that we see what grows well here,” Sauer said. “So the rest of the community can enjoy those. Food insecurity is becoming prevalent, and this is a small way for food security to grow in the community.”
The hope is for the seed library to keep seeds in hands of community members and make them a resource, she said.
“We view them the same as books – for sharing, using and learning from,” she said. “We are hoping we will have a physical location inside the library in the spring. We hope to offer programming – workshops related to seeds and gardening, how to get going, and I have materials for some sort of little demonstration garden.”
For more information or to register for the program, contact the library reference department at 575-528-4005 or visit www.library.reference@las-cruces.org.
Branigan Library is located on Roadrunner Transit Route 1, Stop 2, City Hall/Library. Thomas Branigan Memorial Library, 200 E. Picacho Ave., hours are 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. Monday thru Friday (curbside and computer lab hours may vary). Hours may vary during COVID-19.
