Gwinn Seed Library Year End Summary

     Our U.P. growing season was affected by the abundance of smoke from the Canadian fires. Smoke contributed to cooler days and less overall sunny days. Crops which were affected most include tomatoes, watermelon, and melon varieties. 2023 was the season to have tested a wide range of tomatoes in multiple gardens in Gwinn. Thankfully, a greenhouse was completed in spring of 2023 allowing more heat control to stimulate tomato growth. Gladly too, tomatoes were abundant in the greenhouse for seed saving.

The Gwinn Seed Library: has been supported by MANY generous individuals and several businesses in the area. Client use of the GSL grew by 15%. Spring 2023, 13 volunteers filled 2500 seed packets. We had seed packets from 2022 in cold storage (to preserve viability) to add to the 2023 stores. We thank the Lions, community members, and businesses who have contributed their time, effort, and funds to make this project an overwhelming success. We’ve accomplished a great deal!

Gwinn Grace Lutheran Church: Approval of, building, equipping, and seeding a 20 X 50-foot garden was achieved. The entire fencing system, soil, compost, chips, and hoses for watering were purchased through generous gifts and grants. Six volunteers from Grace Lutheran did an incredible job of maintaining the garden throughout the growing season. Results: several family dinners were generated from the harvests. Food was provided to families in need, and some of the harvested produce was given out through the Feeding America program. It was agreed that Grace Lutheran Church would receive 90% of the harvested food, Gwinn Seed Library 10% for seed saving. To date, 9000 seeds have been harvested.

Forsyth Experimental Garden: Formerly known as the Forsyth Community Garden.  The township board approved the name change and intention of the garden to allow us to grow food for seed saving. Excess food harvested from the garden has been provided to seniors in the community. The Gwinn Lions provided funding to enclose the garden. The result has been fantastic protection for plants and crops from animal damage. Total seeds harvested are over 15,000.

Gwinn United Methodist Church: The church was gracious in providing space and treats for 6 workshops and a well-attended seed swap in the spring. Area experts provided excellent hands-on programs. Take-home projects were provided to up to 20 in attendance per event. All events were free to the attendees! Three of the programs were in collaboration with Let’s Grow KI and Jordan Russell, director of LGKI.

Peter Nordeen Park, Gwinn: A free event and site of the June plant swap. Several hundred plant starts were “swapped” with members of the community to enhance garden varieties. 

Finley Gardens: Seeds from the Gwinn Seed Library were tested for viability, yield, and flavor. Unique cantaloupe, tomato varieties and basil were grown in the greenhouse in protected, controlled conditions to minimize weather conditions and pest damage. Seed harvested: 5000.

Lakeview Elementary School, Negaunee: 60 community members, school staff, and Lions from several clubs built a 20 raised box garden system in an inner courtyard. Lion Steve Finley worked with 520 students and staff to educate and plant seeds provided from the Gwinn Seed Library. The site was visited in early August for a deep weeding and start of “black bag composting” that breaks down weeds and crop plant residue which becomes a beautiful compost. In September, Lion Steve and Lion Gary Perala visited the school to train over 400 students how to harvest seeds. Over 3000 seeds were saved by the students. Lion Steve returned in October to harvest seeds for the Gwinn Seed Library. Over 8000 seed were harvested. 

Let’s Seed U.P.!  (LSUP) A program launched through the UP Lions Serve Foundation and the district Hunger initiative. This program provides approximately 20 varieties of U.P. Smart™ seeds for use in farm to school or community garden projects through Lions Clubs in the U.P. This was started as an outreach based on the success of the Gwinn Seed Library. By spring of 2024, we hope there will be five to 10 clubs participating in LSUP. Funds for buying the seeds comes from a District 10 (U.P. Lions) grant. The first recipient of a seed bundle was Lakeview Elementary. An expectation is going forward, every participating club be responsible for returning seeds to the Gwinn Seed Library into what will be called the Gwinn Seed Bank. This is VERY exciting for the entire U.P. What we can achieve to support local food production through seed saving, collection and distribution will make a difference.

Summary:  By the final 2023 seed harvest, over 30,000 seeds were harvested for the Gwinn Seed Library. This includes watermelon, cantaloupe, melon, tomatoes, and new squash varieties with a storage life of up to two years.

Food Production for Distribution: It’s difficult to weigh all produce at the time of harvest. Much of the produce from the Grace Lutheran Church garden was harvested from late spring into fall. Hundreds of pounds of food were harvested. The Forsyth Garden provided over 150 tomatoes to seniors through the Forsyth Senior Center as well as other crops harvested by area families with need.

The Future : A Gwinn Community Fund grant was awarded in mid-November. This will provide needed materials for Forsyth Garden improvement. Season extension will be added to some Gwinn area gardens to increase longevity and success of food production. In 2024, an Arnold teacher and Gwinn teacher will collaborate to engage students in gardening supported by equipment and materials from the grant, expanding the reach of the Gwinn Seed Library and local gardens into Gwinn and Arnold schools.

Grace Lutheran realized value and success in 2023, they have increased the size of the Grace Garden to 20 X 60 feet with a 2024 focus on 5 crops to increase food availability.

Gwinn Community Church: (downtown Gwinn) will house all Gwinn Seed Library workshops in 2024.  

Funding through the Gwinn Lions increased significantly allowing the Gwinn Seed Library to acquire more unique and expensive seed varieties for 2024 that are specifically designed for short season, cool climate growing. 2024 will be a solid growing season with great seed varieties for 2025!

The Gwinn Seed Bank: Initially, it was thought the timing to reach 50,000 seeds in storage would take a few years however, in adding up the remaining seed packets from the 2023 GSL season plus seeds in storage in 2023 plus the now nearly complete seed harvest (there remains 20 squash, broccoli, and basil for a possible total of an additional 7000 seeds), the GSL has reached 50,000 seeds in storage! 2024 will be the beginning of a U.P.-wide initiative to centralize seed collection and storage in a single location – GWINN! From the marvelously supportive community of Gwinn, we will have the ability to work with communities throughout the U.P. with what we are calling U.P. Smart™ seeds. These are seed varieties tested in the Gwinn area gardens for viability in our short growing, cool climate conditions (and for 2024, Skandia based on a landowner’s willingness to turn over a completely enclosed 60 X 60 garden). As varieties are proven, they will be added to an existing and in development online seed information library and educational resource for growers. This is very exciting!

The Gwinn Seed Library is supported by the Forsyth Township Public Library, Argonics Inc, Larry’s Grocery, Transition Marquette, Marquette Co-op, Gwinn Lion’s Club, UP Lions Serve Foundation, Gwinn Community Church, Gwinn Community Fund, and gifts from the community. We invest in organic, heirloom, non-GMO, non-hybrid seeds as much as possible. The Gwinn Seed Library is a FREE service to the community. To learn more visit us on Facebook. Email: Stevefgrower@gmail.com for more information. Donations are gladly accepted and greatly appreciated! Make your checks payable to: Gwinn Seed Library, mail to 395 N South Point Lane, Gwinn, MI. 49841.