Monday, February 11, 2013

Seeds of Distributism

Today's Gospel reminds us of the goodness of growing things:
Then God said, “Let the earth bring forth vegetation: every kind of plant that bears seed and every kind of fruit tree on earth that bears fruit with its seed in it.” And so it happened: the earth brought forth every kind of plant that bears seed and every kind of fruit tree on earth that bears fruit with its seed in it. God saw how good it was. Evening came, and morning followed–the third day.
-- Genesis 1:11-13

With that in mind, it brings fresh hope to contemplate the green shoots of an idea that has sprung up in Colorado:

The public library in the small town of Basalt is trying an experiment: In addition to borrowing books, residents can now check out seeds....

Here's how it works: A library card gets you a packet of seeds. You then grow the fruits and vegetables, harvest the new seeds from the biggest and best, and return those seeds so the library can lend them out to others.

(h/t Andrew Sullivan)

1 comment:

  1. This is brilliant! I'll bet my town's library would be keen to consider this as an addition to their already varied offerings.

    -- from a conservative who knows that calling public libraries "welfare bookshops" is a thoroughly unconservative thing to do

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