Rachael Presley, senior regional planner with WUPPDR said she was pleased with the early turnout, but was not surprised.

“Most people are used to a first-come, first-serve basis,” Presley said, “but this year, we’ve held back seeds so that everyone who can show up at any time will find that there are some incredible seeds available.”

Presley said seed donations came from many sources, from seed companies to private  local donors, to the Seed Savers Exchange.

“We got so many donations from like Seed Savers, and Hudson Valley Seeds, and West Coast seeds,” said Presley, “like just really nice stuff.”

Gardeners attending Saturday’s seed swap at the Portage Lake District Library found the greatest selection of seeds. (Graham Jaehnig/Daily Mining Gazette)

Presley said the seed librarians all work together to request donations from seed companies that are all along the Keweenaw’s similar parallel to obtain seeds suitable to the area’s climate.

“We also get seed donations from other seed libraries in the U.P., like the Queen City Seed Library,” said Presley, “and then we also have seed donations from local seed savers, too, so we have climate adapted seeds from the Keweenaw also in the library.”

The Queen City Seed Library, located in the Peter White Library in Marquette, is managed by individuals from Transition Marquette Seed Guild, MQT Growth, and representation from the MSU North Farm and Partridge Creek Farm. These groups gather and stock seeds put them in envelopes, label them, provide directions, and keep the collection supplied with seeds.

“This is probably the best stock we’ve ever had,” Presley said, “We just went through a major overhaul a couple weeks ago where we went through the germination rates of all the seeds and really prioritized the seeds that would be successful for people.”