A weekly letter on food, land and the people who work it.
Show & tell
Ines Halvorsen Member
Started Oct 15, 2026
After the report on the Hollin Bridge library I want to try one at our village hall. We have a cupboard, a committee that likes forms, and about thirty keen gardeners.
Practical questions: how do you store seed so it doesn't go mouldy in a damp hall? How do you deal with people who never bring anything back? And is it worth starting with just a few easy crops?
Orla FennMember6h ago
Hello from Hollin Bridge. Damp is the enemy. Dry seed properly before it goes in (a week on newspaper in a warm room), then store it in envelopes inside an airtight tin with a sachet of silica gel or a spoonful of dry rice.
A village hall cupboard is fine if you keep the tins off the floor and away from the outside wall.
Ines HalvorsenMember6h ago
Replying to Orla Fenn
Thank you! Our hall has a kitchen with a dry larder. I think that'll be the spot.
Callum ReyesFounding member5h ago
On people not returning seed: don't fight it. We ask for an email address and send one reminder in September. About half bring something back, and the half who don't usually come back the next year as growers.
Mara EllisonAuthor4h ago
Start small is my advice too. Orla's library began with eleven varieties of bean in a biscuit tin. The point in year one is to find the five people who'll still be doing it in year five.
Agnes ThorneMember3h ago
We run one out of a converted phone box. Honestly, the lending is the easy part. The hard part is the labelling. Make a rubber stamp with blanks for variety, grower, year and germination rate. It changes everything.
Yusuf DemirMember2h ago
Does anyone have a template for the borrowing card? Happy to make a printable one and share it here if not.
Ruth AchterbergModerator1h ago
Replying to Yusuf Demir
Yes please, Yusuf. Post it as a new Show & tell thread and I'll pin it for a month.
Priya NatarajanMember38m ago
Coming late to this, but: a germination test before lending saved us a lot of disappointment. Fifty seeds on damp kitchen paper, ten days, count them. Mark anything under 70% as ‘sow thickly’.