Flock to Our Newest Location
“If you have a garden and a library, you have everything you need.” ―Cicero
Seed keepers for the Bird Nest annex (l to r) are
Vivian Wehner, Carmen Butler-Thomas, Brent Thomas. The expansive garden behind it is privately owned and tended by Carmen and Brent. The uniquely themed cabinet for this annex holds everything a borrower needs to get started growing from seeds.Carmen Butler-Thomas, Vivian Wehner, and Brent Thomas expanded our network of free seed library annexes further up the valley into the Town of Angwin! Together they envisioned and brought this lovely new annex to life to serve their local neighborhood and beyond, a community full of gardeners, walkers, hikers, dogs, and outdoor enthusiasts.
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Vivian Wehner grew up learning the best way to pick strawberries and how to grow veggies in the short growing season of Oregon’s coastal foothills through her family’s love and practice of biodynamic homestead farming.
Carmen Butler-Thomas learned a love for gardening from her folks, as she and her sister played hide and seek in the corn and squash plants. Gardens became a part of Brent Thomas’s life when he married Carmen 😉. Over the years tending their family, they’ve created a beautiful and abundant garden that surrounds their home.
When Vivian moved from Silicon Valley to Angwin two years ago, a bouquet of gorgeous flowers showed up on her front porch, a gift from her backdoor neighbors Carmen and Brent; and thus the trio began their friendship! As neighbors and friends, they discovered their mutual love of gardens and seeds in 2020. Enjoying the fresh air, sunshine, and exercise that gardening provides, it has led all of them to a fervent love of the humble seed, with its miracle of life!
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Getting to know Lauren Buffaloe-Muscatine through gardening channels and the activities of the Napa County Seed Library, Vivian, Carmen, and Brent became intrigued by the idea of starting a neighborhood seed library. As a result of their dedicated vision and efforts, together they established Angwin’s own seed library annex, affectionately called the “Bird Nest Seed Library” in June 2023!
Unique to our network, the Bird Nest annex is the first that sprouted from an online garden community: the engaging, fun, and informative Napa Valley-Zone 9 Gardening Facebook Group that Carmen established in 2020. The group includes over 1,000 ever-curious gardeners of all levels of experience that share their expertise, troubles, and humor to builds confidence, knowledge, and resources to extend their love of connection with all things plants. Be sure to drop by the Bird Nest annex and join our newest seed keepers and their supportive and ever-growing community in their amazing adventure of growing produce … and saving and sharing seeds!
