In the Spring of 2020 a group of NYU students, faculty and alumni started planting and saving seeds together. It was the height of the COVID-19 pandemic. Many people were starting to grow their own food for the first time in their backyards, fire escapes, and windowsills. It was the perfect moment to turn our collective attention to the full cycle of food production and to honor the place where it all begins - the seed.

Over the past several seasons, we’ve partnered with community-based seed savers, public seed breeders, policy advocates, urban famers, regional seed companies, and many others to provide interested students, alumni, and community gardeners with a host of educational tools and other resources in order to build a distributed network of seed keepers.

We’ve also organized workshops, public events, and group volunteer days at the NYU Urban Farm Lab. Together, we’ve grown out rare and heirloom beans, heritage grains, and other vegetable varieties. And, we’ve hosted seed swaps and free seed exchanges.

Our ever-expanding seed library is sponsored by the NYU Steinhardt Department of Nutrition and Food Studies.