Spring has sprung in Northeast Ohio – as flowers and trees begin to bloom and grow, the citizens of Kent have the chance to grow their own food with seeds from the Kent Free Library’s Seed Library.

“It’s a program that we started about four years ago, this is our fourth year of letting people check out seeds,” says Kristin Pool, the Community and Special Services Manager

Pool was inspired by other organizations in Akron and Cleveland who have similar programs. She started a Seed Library in Kent because of interest among residents.

“We know that there are a lot of people who are interested in town in growing their own food and in locally sourced food,” says Pool. “So the idea is that we have a collection of seeds that people can check out, and then we ask that if they had a good harvest that year that they bring some seeds back to replenish the collection for the next year.”

Anyone can come to the library and check out some seeds – all they need to do is pick out the plants they want, fill out a checkout form, and then sign the seeds out at the information desk.

Beginner and veteran gardeners alike can grow dozens of plants from pumpkins to peas to watermelon. Pool says that more and more Kent residents are checking out seeds every year.

According to Pool, “A lot of people who have started using the Seed Library are coming back as more experienced gardeners using more of our seeds. We’ve had a pretty good start to the collection this year, we had over 100 people come in and check out 979 packages in the first couple weeks of the collection being open.”

The Seed Library is open all spring long for anyone to stop by, pick out some seeds, and get growing.

“We still have a really good variety of seeds that are available to people, and we’re hoping that we’ll get even more seeds returned this year,” says Pool.

Maddy Haberberger is a TV2 correspondent. Contact her at [email protected].