Seed Library of Los Angeles to Receive SEED Award

The Seed Library of Los Angeles began as little more than a germ of an idea with 25 people meeting at Learning Garden in December.

Today, barely nine months later, the seed-lending library boasts more than 200 members, and the nonprofit will be honored for its work with a Southern California Environmental Excellence Award for Resource Preservation at the 4th annual SEED Awards.

Sponsored by the South Bay Business Environmental Coalition, the awards ceremony will be held on Sept. 22 at 3 p.m. at the Ayres Hotel in Hawthorne. The theme of this year's awards is Seeds of Change, and recognizes the importance of the work both businesses and individuals do to help the environment.

Master gardener and SLOLA chair and founder David King told Mar Vista Patch, "I was amazed, but the phenomenal growth of SLOLA from the very beginning has been amazing. I was really gratified that our effort is noted for Resource Preservation by the South Bay Business Environmental Coalition. We didn't realize that we had hit the radar of anyone more than gardeners. However, a seed library winning a SEED award is rather natural when you think about it!"

SLOLA operates in a vein similar to a regular library. It holds seeds in trust for its members who can borrow the seeds for their garden to grow plants. At the end of the season members leave a plant or two to "go to seed," according to a SLOLA press release.

The seeds from those plants are then collected and returned to the library where they can be borrowed at the beginning of the next growing season. A lifetime membership with SLOLA is $10. In return, members receive seeds for free.

In addition to seed borrowing, members meet every month at Venice High's Learning Garden. Each meeting includes an educational presentation about how to save seeds from seasonally specific plants.

According to SLOLA’s mission statement, the organization's aim is "to facilitate the growth of open-pollinated seeds among residents of the Los Angeles Basin. … We seek to preserve genetic diversity, increase food security and food justice in our region, safeguard alternatives to GMOs [genetically modified organisms], and empower all members through a deeper connection with nature and the experience of self-reliance."

“People save seeds for a host of different reasons from ideology to old-fashioned thriftiness," said King. "SLOLA welcomes all viewpoints and levels of interest. We seek to reflect all the cultural diversity of our amazing city. We welcome gardeners of all ages and skill levels, including apartment dwellers with one pot.”

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