Joe McNamee: How a seed library can plant hope for the future

Emmer and Fava Bean seedlings, just some of the unusual crops Tom Fouhy grows on his North Cork farm. Picture: Joe McNamee

A seed library has just opened in Cork City Library on the Grand Parade, the third such library to be established in Cork over the last two years. They are united by goals common to a worldwide movement that began at Berkeley Ecology Centre, California, in 1999.

Seed libraries are community initiatives that ‘lend’ edible plant seeds for people to grow, with the aim of returning saved seeds after harvest.