Our founders
Lauren and Lavender Muscatine are the
co-founders of the Napa County Seed Library.Lauren Buffaloe–Muscatine and her daughter Lavender Muscatine learned about seed libraries when daily life changed remarkably due to the pandemic in 2020. They aligned inspiration and action to establish the Napa County Seed Library as a nonprofit organization and announced their motivations via their YouTube channel. The Napa Valley Register covered their origin story in September 2020 and followed-up with a series of articles about seed saving and sharing, regenerative home gardening, and Napa County’s First Annual Seed Swap.
The July 2024 Cool Beans! newsletter featured our co-founder's origin story.
(Tap the image to read the full story.)Since 2020, local residents, garden centers, seed companies, and small farmers have generously donated over 1,000 seed packets each year to keep seed inventories fresh and varied. They now operate as a network of seed library annexes located in key areas of Napa County. Each seed library annex serves a hyperlocal community, so seed exchanges reflect the seed-saving skills and activity at each location. In addition, they host their signature events, the Annual Seed Swap and Tomatoganza!, and participate at local community events whenever they can.
The July 2024 Cool Beans! newsletter tells of Lauren's cultural connection to fish pepper seeds. (Tap the image to read the full story.)
