Richmond Grows opened on May 1, 2010 with the intention of providing locally grown and adapted seeds for our community, but also creating a replicable model that any community could use to open similar projects. We were the 7th seed library to open - inspired by the Ecology Center's BASIL (Bay Area Seed Interchange Library). Our first year the seed library inspired the opening of about a dozen seed libraries and we were interviewed by the New York Times.  The good press continued to roll in and with the help of our Create a Library resources more and more communities started opening seed libraries. In 2011, we started to track the seed libraries that were opening or communities that were considering opening. In the end of 2023, we had a list of 2,600 communities! This list and work eventually inspired the creation of the Seed Library Network and the Seed Library Map. Below are some of the books and articles that mention Richmond Grows Seed Lending Library. 

In Books


In The News