A NEW PARTNER IN THE MASS AGGIE SEED LIBRARY
By Madeleine Charney, environmental sciences librarian
The Mass Aggie Seed Library (MASL) is a beloved and well-used community resource located in the Science and Engineering Library (SEL) in the Lowrise of the Lederle Graduate Research Center.
The Seed Library began as a collaboration between Gabriella Bosco ’21 (right), an undergraduate biology major at the time, and science librarian Paulina Borrego (left). Together, they worked tirelessly to bring the project to fruition in the spring of 2019, when it opened to the campus and greater community. Here, patrons can select vegetable and flower seeds to take home and plant in their own gardens, as well as borrow from an array of books and small gardening tools such as soil block makers, seed cleaning kits, and seed sifters. The Seed Library is based on a spirit of reciprocity, so donations of saved seeds are encouraged, with a preference for organic.
In 2025, the Seed Library relocated to a larger space on the 3rd floor of SEL. Paulina activated her talent for designing colorful, textured, and practical spaces and transformed a bland room into a warm and welcoming home for the seed library.
Photo: Original pieces of work by Margaret Lepeshkin ’26 displayed in the Mass Aggie Seed Library
At the same time, I was immersed in a six-month sabbatical centered on community herbalism with much of my time dedicated to an apprenticeship with the People’s Medicine Project (PMP). This grassroots health justice organization is based in Western Massachusetts and offers programs and resources to increase access to holistic health care, including plant medicine. Working closely with the project director, Leslie Chaison and the apothecary coordinator, Jiyanna Vagedes, I split my time between tending their lush herb farm and assisting in the apothecary in Conway. Each month, I assisted PMP’s On-Farm Clinic at a vegetable farm in Hadley, where volunteer practitioners provided farm workers with restorative bodywork, herbal consultations, access to bulk herbs for culinary and medicinal use, and even colorful bouquets of flowers.
Photo: Daniella Medina and Madeleine at the herb farm in Conway at PMP
Witnessing essential workers benefiting from and appreciating these offerings and the kindness of the practitioners struck a chord with me. How could this kind of generosity and relationship between plants and people be replicated on campus? The idea of the Herb Library began to crystallize in my mind and seemed like a perfect next step in the evolution of MASL.
Photo: Nov. 2025 workshop led by Alex Klein (standing).
Launched in fall 2025, the Herb Library is located within the new Seed Library space. Upon entering, patrons will find a basket filled with sample packets of herbs that they can take home, such as lemon balm, motherwort, peppermint, stinging nettles, and mullein, with an adjacent notebook that provides Materia Medica, or information on the therapeutic properties of each herb. This plant material is mainly sourced from Mountain Rose Herbs, donated by the Permaculture Garden, PMP, and wild-harvested locally. Herbalism books and tools (e.g., dehydrators) are available for borrowing.
Photo: small card catalog, recovered and refurbished by Paulina, filled with packets of herb seeds that operates on the same basis as the regular Seed Library.
To learn more about the Herb Library, visit: guides.library.umass.edu/herblibrary and join our mailing list for announcements of events and learning opportunities, or email mcharney@library.umass.edu.
Photo: Madeleine Charney in the apothecary at the People’s Medicine Project in Conway, Mass.