As part of the Open Garden, we continue our research and dialogues in Rotterdam. Rotterdamse Munt garden has attracted our attention, offering a real green oasis amid the block of flats, but not necessarily attended by the local neighbourhood. Talks with the garden’s coordinator and volunteers working there have inspired us to try to introduce a seed of change in the garden.

On July 9^th, a seed library opened, an event organised and hosted by Justyna Jakubiec (Utrecht University) and Pia Canales (Nieuwe Instituut). The event offered a moment for coming together, sharing ideas for the future of this seed library, and hearing stories of other spaces that propose an alternative approach to foodscapes.

Saving and sharing seeds is as old as agriculture itself. However, this tradition has been disappearing due to the increasing industrialisation of farming. Seed libraries offer the chance to bring our attention back to seed saving and sharing practices. At the same time, they prompt our attention to the plant diversity, which has also been disappearing due to the industrialisation of farming.

Seed libraries can become spaces for local neighbourhoods to bring the seeds of plants they feel attached to, take some seeds, and try their hand at gardening. We hope that this seed library at Rotterdamse Munt, set up thanks to CONVIVIUM, can be the beginning of something bigger—an incentive for the local neighbourhood and its diverse food heritage to feel seen and heard in the garden.