Return or donate seeds in three easy steps

  • 1. Prepare seeds

    Place clean, dry, and well-labeled organic seeds in a sealed envelope, glass jar, or heavy paper bag. (View video for details.)

  • 2. Fill out form

    Click the button above 👆🏾 and fill out the form that pops up. We will receive it by email and know that your seeds will be dropped off at one of our annex locations. We’ll match your seeds to the form and share them.

  • 3. Drop off seeds

    Deliver your seeds to the library location you selected on the form. While you’re there, grab some seeds for your garden. Thank you for donating your saved organic seeds!

How to prepare seeds for a community seed exchange

To show you how to prepare your seeds to return, donate, or exchange, we created this video just before we held our 2nd Annual Seed Swap. (See Events for details on our next seed swap.)

When you return, donate, or exchange your organically home grown harvested seeds, you circulate the joy of resiliency within the community and feel the success your efforts. Thanks for doing your part and sharing your seeds!

Secrets to seed keeping

Whether you are a home gardener or farming for a small-scale culinary or market garden, you can save your own seeds using these three secrets we’ve learned while building our seed library network. Tap the video on this page to get these time-honored tips and apply them for yourself. Then share your seeds with us through donating at our annexes, as well as with your neighbors, family, and friends.

Are seeds still viable outdoors?

Seeds store best in dark, dry, and cool conditions. And our outdoor seed library annexes experience a range of weather conditions: well above 80 degrees Farenheit during summer and heavy rainfall during winter and spring. To avoid molding, heat stress, and low germination, we remove the seeds from our outdoor annexes until more favorable weather arrives and notify our community when they reopen. Our indoor annexes in the St. Helena and Napa libraries are protected from extreme weather year round and remain open during library hours. We thank our seedkeepers who tend these annexes and the seeds inside them!

Find out more about how we select and care for our seeds on the About Seeds page.