How one block turned a parking lot into the city's busiest seed library

A man and a boy kneeling together among vegetables in a community garden

Program

Food & Land

Published

September 18, 2026

Read time

6

minutes

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It started with a cracked parking lot and a handful of donated seed packets. Within a year, neighbours on the block had built raised beds, a lending shelf and a Saturday swap table.

Today the Eastside seed library lends more than two thousand packets a season, and the lot has not seen a parked car since.