The Community Garden Network Seed Library is going through some changes this year!
The Seed Library is a series of shelving units containing free seed packets. In the past the majority of those seed packets were donations from companies like Sow True Seed and High Mowing. We have been working to create more Seed Library locations around the city and also to include more community growers interested in saving seeds at their own gardens to stock libraries, to create a free inter-community seed network.

There are several new locations of seed libraries that can be accessed around town.
There is still a location at the Burton St Peace Garden, with new Sow True seed packets.
The Stephens Lee Center has also started an independent seed library project that will be partnering and sharing resources with our CGN library. 
There is a small seed library shelf in the free food pantry at the Shiloh Community Garden. All the seeds in that shelving unit were saved from that community garden this past year.

The Lucy Herring Garden at Vance Elementary School has also begun Saving Seeds from their garden this fall for the new seed library locations.
The Windfall Collective has a seed farm at the Pearson Community Garden and they have been saving seeds from medicinal herbs this year to help the different seed library locations.

The Utopian Seed Project will also be involved, providing education on how to plan a garden for seed production, and seed saving basics.

This is a continually growing project. Any community growers who would like to participate in saving seeds for the library from your land or community centers interested in housing a seed library location please let us know! 
[email protected]

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 Did you know that ladybug larva look like that?! And they are getting ready to hunker down for the winter with other insects like fireflies. They’ll stay warm and be ready to emerge in the spring. The best thing to do if you want to have lots of beneficial bugs like ladybugs and fireflies is LEAVE your LEAVES   You can pile them in your yard, or just let them fall  In the garden you can let tall stems stay to encourage praying mantises to leave their eggs for spring. But if you really do want your yard debris-free, call Bountiful Cities Grass to Greens (G2G) 828-775-0614 and we’ll come pick up your leaves and compost them for school and community gardens. 
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​Meet Ms. LaKyla, the new Bountiful Cities FEAST Program Assistant at Lucy S. Herring Elementary! LaKyla is finishing up her senior semester at Warren Wilson College where she is studying Environmental Education. She brings to us her enthusiasm for working with children and engaging them with food and nature. She also loves curling up with a good book and her cat, Sprout. 
The Herring Elementary FEAST garden is planting a new pollinator garden in the dappled shade of our plum trees! We are collecting divisions and seeds for native plants including: phlox, coreopsis, ferns, bee balm, day lilies, turtlehead, brown eyed susan, mountain mint, fire pink, cardinal flower/lobelia, foam flower, green and gold, asters. Please contact [email protected] if you have anything from your garden that you would like to contribute!
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​We need 1-2 folks with some experience laying paving stones to help lay pavers for the Herring Elementary Garden Greenhouse floor. We have done the hardest part of installing the gravel and stone dust base- all you have to do is place the stones. We will work on this during the Thursday workdays, and can also train you so you can come at your convenience on evenings/weekends.
The goal is to finish this project by Oct 31 so we can use this space for our outdoor classes during the winter months! Please contact Jordan Diamond, garden coordinator, for info- [email protected]
More Volunteer Opportunities...Pearson Garden and Nursery Garden workdays Wednesdays from 3-5pm. Located at 408 Pearson Dr. in Montford. Join us for weekly community workdays at Pearson Gardens, the home of Windfall Collective Nursery, the Community Food Hub and many other Bountiful Cities projects. For the month of October we will be focusing on seed and medicine harvest, as well as processing and preservation of the harvest.  Please click this link to sign up. Contact Lynx at [email protected] for more information. 
Hall Fletcher Elementary School FEAST Garden Wednesdays 2:45-4:00pm, 60 Ridgelawn Rd. Please click this link to sign up. Contact [email protected] for more information.
Lucy Herring Elementary School Peace Garden (formerly Vance Elementary School) in West Asheville.  Workdays Thursdays 2:45 pm- 3:45 pm. Beginning August 23, the garden will again be closed to the public from 8 AM- 2:30 pm so that classes can use the garden for outdoor learning. Please contact  [email protected] for questions and to RSVP. We give away free produce donated by Mother Earth Food every Tuesday at our Sharing Table on Tuesdays after 3 pm.

GWC Edible Park Community Workdays: https://fb.me/e/YoC1XZ6H
Tempie Avery Community Workdays: https://fb.me/e/TC4lALFL
West Asheville Park Community Workdays: https://fb.me/e/2J8M3oeFx
Pearson Garden Community Workdays: https://fb.me/e/1k2rd2jkr

​SAVE THE DATE
On Sunday December 5th Bountiful Cities will be celebrating healthy soil with others from around the globe. We will host a FREE educational Vermiculture Workshop. The Hop Ice Cream will be creating a signature flavor to support our work! More to come! Stay Tuned!
Healthy soil, saving seeds, growing food close to home, and free accessible education are all supporting solutions to the climate crisis listen to this Inspiring Podcast with Krista Tippett and Katharine Hayhoe at On Being to get informed and take your own climate change action!

​We welcomed the Asheville Garden Club for a progressive garden tour this month. We started in the Shiloh Community Garden and enjoyed hearing about that historic neighborhood and the garden that delivers weekly produce to residents, then we toured the Pearson Garden and heard about the new solar project and the seed farm and plant nursery. The Asheville Garden Club will be celebrating their 100th year in 2023!  They have a scholarship fund to support college students studying horticulture and sustainable practices.
They are having a fundraiser for their scholarship fund selling holiday wreaths. For more information and pricing contact Anne Kime [email protected]. Please mention you heard about it from Bountiful Cities!

Wreaths will be delivered to the North Asheville Community Center for pick up on Saturday, November 20 from 9am-noon. Anne says, "I can attest  that they are very full and seem to last forever!!"