When K Greene and Doug Muller started one of the nation’s first public seed libraries in 2004, they had no idea what it would become. Just over 20 years later, Hudson Valley Seed Co. is a thriving business with gardens and a recently opened storefront, both on Airport Road in Accord.
Greene, a former librarian, was working at the Gardiner Library when his interest in the local food movement was first piqued. The seed library, a place where community members could borrow seeds and return them at the end of the growing season, eventually moved out of the public library and onto the grounds of a former camp in Accord, where Greene and Muller homesteaded with friends. It made its online debut in 2008; shortly after, people reached out wanting to buy the organic, heirloom seeds the library was preserving. So, in 2009, the seed library project transformed, and the Hudson Valley Seed Co. (HVSC) began.
Since the start, HVSC has sold quality seeds carefully tended to by master gardeners, but until recently, the public was unable to visit the company’s facilities. That changed last year, when Hudson Valley Seed Co. opened a new retail location on their property. “For years, we’ve received requests from customers to visit our farm, but we never had the facilities to allow this,” says Muller. “Our new location better matches customer expectations, and has a beautiful gallery component, greenhouses, and tour-able gardens.”
Although the greenhouses don’t open until early April, the store is open from Thursday to Monday every week, and shoppers can peruse HVSC’s 400+ varieties of seeds (with unique art by U.S.-based artists on every pack), plus dahlia tubers, garlic, shallots, potatoes, sunchokes, and spring- and fall-planted bulbs. It also serves as a pick-up spot for orders placed at hudsonvalleyseed.com.
But that’s not all—the location hosts a variety of in-person and virtual workshops on topics such as seed starting and saving, floral arranging, gardening 101 experiences, and more. The attached gallery space displays the beautiful art that graces all the colorful seed packs and tells the story of the company. (HVSC holds a formal call for artists every spring to design art for new seed varieties.)
Starting in June, HVSC will welcome guests to tour the gardens, where they will be introduced to the hundreds of plants offered in the seed catalog, as well as new varieties being workshopped in the trial gardens. In August, expect to see thousands of blooming dahlias, which can be purchased during scheduled pick-your-own experiences.
“It’s been a real adventure, and farming and gardening are excellent teachers.”
According to Muller, it’s only up from here. “We hope to continue to have a positive impact on our customers and the greater environment while building a business that is sustainable and successful. It’s been a real adventure, and farming and gardening are excellent teachers.”
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