A newly launched, volunteer-led, seed hub in Central MA dedicated to connecting community members, organizations, local gardeners, and businesses to promote food & native plant seed sharing, gardening education, and resources, and establishing a network of free seed libraries.
We would like to offer a special thank you to the Cooperative Gardens Commission (CGC) (https://www.coopgardens.org).
The CGC was founded in March 2020 and is a grassroots collective working towards food sovereignty in response to the pandemic and persistent injustice. The CGC is composed of hundreds of volunteers from across the United States and Canada working as a collective to facilitate sharing of resources — including seeds, soil, equipment, labor, land, and knowledge — and build solidarity across traditional divides.
One of their major initiatives is providing free bulk food seeds to Seed Distribution Hubs. We were lucky enough to be accepted as a seed hub for 2025. This generous donation of seeds will serve as a great launching point to create the Central MA Seed Hub.
Central MA Seed Hub is a free seed library network that is committed to fostering sustainability, inclusivity, and community resilience through seed sharing and gardening. By providing open access seed libraries, gardening knowledge, and resources, we hope to encourage individuals and families to grow their own food, nurture biodiversity, and reconnect with nature and their neighbors. Our aim is to collectively help reduce food insecurity, support local growers, and create a mutual aid network.
We aim to partner with local businesses and community centers to host seed sorting drop-in hours, where volunteers help package and label a variety of donated seeds into envelopes. These packaged seeds are then distributed to local free seed libraries and families.
Through collaborations with businesses, non-profits, and community members, we hope to offer and promote educational resources and classes on sustainable gardening, seed saving, native plants & more...
Create a network of free seed libraries that will serve as a place to exchange native and food seeds, gardening resources & educational materials.
Currently, our primary need is to sort, package and distribute seeds to the local community. If you would like to help package and distribute seeds, we would love to hear from you. We will be holding seed packaging & distribution meetups at local businesses / centers for community members to drop in and volunteer their time.
Additionally, if you are a local business or organization and you are interested in establishing a seed library or hosting meetups, please send us an email. We are looking to collaborate with community partners!
Below are some ways you can help as an individual, neighborhood, local business / center, etc.…
I have some extra seeds I would like to donate!
Nice! You can donate seeds by emailing centralmaseedhub@gmail.com. In your email you please list the types of seeds, quantity and your contact information. Once a network of seed libraries is established, you can donate your seeds directly to one of the libraries as well. A list of existing seed libraries will be available soon.
Please review seed donation guidelines/considerations here.
I am looking to grow seeds in my personal garden!
That is awesome! We are looking for people who are interested in growing their own food & native flowers.
If you would like to grab some seeds to plant in your own garden, please fill out and submit this form. On the form you can request certain seeds and coordinate a local pickup location.
I am interested in establishing a free seed library in my neighborhood!
Heck yeah! That is great news. Please review the considerations about establishing and maintaining a free seed library in your neighborhood here.
If you have already established or create a seed library in your neighborhood, please email us (centralmaseedhub@gmail.com) and let us know and we can drop off some seeds to get you started and add you to the list of local seed libraries!
I am interested in establishing a free seed library at my business / school / community center!
Amazing! We would love to hear from you and see how we can collaborate to distribute seeds and share education/resources. We are looking for outdoor seed libraries, smaller indoor pick-up locations/libraries, and temporary pick-up locations during peak distribution times. Please review considerations here & fill out this form if you are interested.
Classes / Resources:
Do you offer affordable classes or workshops about gardening, native plants, growing from seed, seed saving, etc.…? Do you know about great gardening resources / educational materials? We would love to hear from you! We want to create a supportive network where we can share gardening knowledge and resources.
Please email (centralmaseedhub@gmail.com) with any upcoming classes or events you would like us to share or with any proposals / ideas for collaboration.
Contact Shannon at: centralmaseedhub@gmail.com
Upcoming Events: