Justine Hernandez, Pima County Public Library Seed Library. The library was one of the hosts of International Seed Library Forum
Seed Broadcast Mobile outside the Pima County Public Library  helping to record and share the stories of seeds.

The International Seed Library Forum  last week, May 3-6 in Tucson, Arizona was an inspiring mix of panels, conversations, poetry readings, seed sharing, field trips and film.  The different panel discussions and talks will soon be available on the Pima County Library's and  University of Arizona's Bureau of Applied Research in Anthropology's YouTube channels. Here is a short clip called Digging a Hole Where the Sun Shines In, by Tucson Johns, that celebrates seed libraries and was fea
tured in Justine Hernandez's presentation "Seed Libraries Come Home to the Old Pueblo." Representatives from 9 countries were in attendance.

Cary Fowler of the Global Crop Diversity Trust did a Q&A after we watched the film Seeds of Time. He also spoke at the conference about "From Community Seed Bank Kits to Seed Libraries: A Brief History of American Community Seed Access Movement." Scott Chaskey author of SeedTime
and Brother Coyote (aka Gary Nabhan) inspired us with a night of readings from their recent books.  Gary Nabhan's latest book Sown by Hand: Aflorisms, Poems and Prayers for Seeds, was released at the forum and all participants were gifted a copy thanks to the generous support of W.K. Kellogg Foundation and Amy Goldman Fowler.

During the Forum , a joint resolution in support of seed libraries was written that we'll soon make available for folks to sign. Additionally, a group met to start to lay the groundwork for creating an international seed library organization. Here are the minutes for the initial meeting. If you would like to be involved in the creation of the international organization, please email us a t [email protected] . We also worked on developing guidelines for best practices for seed libraries to follow. Originally this document was called a "protocol"; however, we decided to rename it  "guidelines" as we wanted to distinguish that the work we do is community-based and "protocol" seemed more relevant to a company. Please feel free to add comments to these documents in the next two weeks so we can finalize it:
1.  Inventory Guidelines for Seed Library - this document is about how to manage your collection, increase the quality of seed in your library and signage you may want to post
2.  Seed Saving Best Practice - this document is from Seed Matters with a few additions; this document would be something you could post in your library or make available to community members.

Special thanks to the organizers and sponsors for making this event possible! Support for the International Seed Library Forum has been generously provided by the W.K. Kellogg Foundation, the Amy P. Goldman Foundation, and the Arizona Library Association. Other collaborators include Community Food Bank of Southern Arizona, Edible Baja Arizona magazine, The Friends of Tucson's Birthplace's Mission Gardens, The Loft Cinema, Mercado de San Agustín, Native Seeds/SEARCH, Pima County Public Library, and University of Arizona. Additional co-sponsors include Greenhorns, the National Young Farmers Association, the Seed Library Social Network, Seed Savers Exchange, and the Rocky Mountain Seed Alliance. Artwork was created by Paul Mirocha Design.

The Sustainable Economies Law Center (SELC) has provided an immeasurable amount of support to seed libraries by researching seed law, providing resources for seed libraries to navigate the challenges, and drafting legislation to exempt seed libraries from commercial seed law. They have also been a major partner in our National Save Seed Sharing Campaign. They rock!

Help us show our gratitude for all of their support in helping
to keep seed sharing legal by donating to SELC. Today SELC is sharing 25% of their donations with Richmond Grows Seed Lending Library. The SeedLibraries.org, SeedLibraries.net social network and this Cool Beans! newsletter have all been paid for by Richmond Grows. So your donation today could support two awesome non-profits!

Rebecca Newburn, Co-Founder of Richmond Grows,      with SELC staff attorney Neil Thapar

Other cool stuff SELC does:
- works to create a framework for land trusts and small farms
- offers Resilient Communities Legal Cafes
- worked on California legislation supporting tenants' right to grow food for themselves regardless of housing status
- worked on the California Homemade Food Act (aka "Cottage Food Operations")
-helps to support the shareable community through rethinking housing models
- offers an alternative pathway to becoming a lawyer through their apprenticeship programs, LikeLincoln.org
- provides models of cooperative decision making for organizations

Support the work that SELC is doing to support a more just and resilient economy that is people powered.


... and their Executive Director, Janelle Orsi, made this cartoon  for us too!