Seattle, WA

12 Thoughts as the Cardinals come to Seattle to face the Seahawks in Week 7

Published

1 year ago

October 21, 2023

The sting of watching the Seattle Seahawks lose a very winnable road game is finally starting to fade. At least a little bit.

As noted in my last 12 Thoughts article, I had a massive amount of thoughts both during and in the aftermath of last weekend, so here are 12 More Thoughts about our favorite local team(s).

Yes, that not-so-subtle (s) means that one of these thoughts will be about the Washington Huskies.

There’s also one about a non-local high school team.

The rest are (mostly) about the Hawks.

Let’s get started.

Thought No. 1

Prior to their goose egg in the fourth quarter last Sunday, the Seahawks had scored in 13 straight quarters.

That WAS the longest active streak in the NFL at that point.

Alas, the Seahawks current streak is 0.

That will change on Sunday.

How can I be so sure that Seattle will start a new streak this week?

Because it’s the Arizona Cardinals that will be trying to stop them – and, simply stated, that’s not Arizona’s forte . . . especially in the second half.

Fact: Arizona has been outscored 98-30 in the second half over their first six games.

Thought No. 2

As gut-wrenching as the Seahawks’ Week 1 loss was, and as frustrating as the Week 6 loss was, Seattle is actually in pretty decent shape, record-wise.

Here’s a breakdown of how many wins each team has through the first six weeks:

Teams with 5 wins: 5

The Detroit Lions, Kansas City Chiefs, Miami Dolphins, Philadelphia Eagles, and San Francisco 49ers

Note: It’s funny that there are 5 teams with 5 wins.

Teams with 4 wins: 4

The Baltimore Ravens, Buffalo Bills, Dallas Cowboys, and Jacksonville Jaguars

Note: It’s funny that there are 4 teams with 4 wins.

Teams with 3 wins: 13

The Atlanta Falcons, Cincinnati Bengals, Cleveland Browns, Houston Texans, Indianapolis Colts, Las Vegas Raiders, Los Angeles Rams, New Orleans Saints, New York Jets, Pittsburgh Steelers, Seattle Seahawks, Tampa Bay Buccaneers, and Washington Commanders

Note: Exhibit A for “parity”.

Teams with 2 wins: 4

The Green Bay Packers, Los Angeles Chargers, Minnesota Vikings, and Tennessee Titans

Teams with 1 win: 5

The Arizona Cardinals, Chicago Bears, Denver Broncos, New England Patriots, and New York Giants

Teams with no wins: 1 – – the Carolina Panthers

__________

Note: The Browns, Buccaneers, Chargers, Packers, Seahawks, and Steelers have all had their bye which means they have one less loss than the other teams in their win tier – i.e., they’re 3-2 while others in their tier are 3-3, or they’re 2-3 while others in their tier are 2-4.

__________

There are three big takeaways for me when looking at the league like this:

One. There are only four NFC teams with more wins than the Seahawks right now – and Seattle holds the head-to-head tiebreaker over one of them.

Two. Three of the four NFC teams with more Ws than Seattle are currently two games up in the Win column which means Seattle has a bit of a hill to climb (and 12 weeks to climb it).

Three. Chicago is sitting pretty in terms of the 2024 NFL Draft since they have both their native R1 and Carolina’s.

Thought No. 3

Piggybacking on Thought No. 2 . . .

If the playoffs started today, the NFC West would be home to three of the seven teams on the NFC side of the bracket:

No. 1 = Niners

No. 6 = Hawks

No. 7 = Lambs

The wild card matchups would be:

Rams at Eagles
Seahawks at Lions
Cowboys at Buccaneers

Obviously there’s still a long way to go in the season, but don’t be surprised if those seven teams are the last seven standing in the NFC after Week 18.

Thought No. 4

Seattle’s defense is improving before our eyes each week, and it’s something to behold, especially over the last two games.

Net yards allowed: Week 1 = 426; Week 2 = 418; Week 3 = 378; . . . (BIG JUMP) . . . Week 4 = 248; Week 5 = 214

The average yards per play has fluctuated but, again, it’s much better the last two games than it was the first three:

Week 1: 78 plays at 5.5 yards per
Week 2: 67 plays, 5.9 per
Week 3: 75 plays, average of 5.0
Week 4: 74 plays at 3.4 per
Week 5: Season-low of 53 plays, 4.0 per play

The combined average the first three games was 5.55 per play; over the last two games, it’s 3.64.

Now, to be fair, the Seahawks’ last two opponents currently sport the worst offenses in the league in terms of yards (NYG is 31st; Cincy is 32nd), but some of the “credit” for that belongs to the Seahawks’ defense which held both of them below their season average.

Thought No. 5

Continuing the “praise the defense” theme, here are the results from each of Cincinnati’s possessions last Sunday:

First 2 drives:

Drive 1: 13 plays, 65 yards, touchdown
Drive 2: 7 plays, 73 yards, touchdown
Total to this point: 20 plays, 138 yards, 2 touchdowns

Next 8 drives:

Drive 3: 5 plays, 20 yards, punt
Drive 4: 3 plays, 4 yards, punt
Drive 5: 2 plays, 5 yards, interception
Drive 6: 6 plays, 13 yards, punt
Drive 7: 5 plays, 19 yards, punt
Drive 8: 4 plays, 0 yards, field goal
Drive 9: 5 plays, 12 yards, punt
Drive 10: 3 plays, 4 yards, punt
Total for these 8 drives: 33 plays, 77 yards, 6 punts, an interception, and a field goal

Final drive:

Drive 11: 1 play, minus-1 yard (kneel down), end of game

Aside from the obvious takeaway, which is that Seattle’s defense played well enough (after the first two drives) to “earn” the win, the thing that stands out to me is that Seattle’s defense made an adjustment before halftime.

Drive No. 1 was in the first quarter.
Drives 2, 3, and 4 were in the second quarter.
Drives 1 and 2 were the only ones all day that lasted more than 6 plays and/or gained more than 20 yards.

And that was with Cincinnati QB Joe Burrow healthier than he’s been all season, and a week after WR Ja’Marr Chase put up “video game numbers” against the Cardinals.

Thought No. 6

I was going to include this in Thought No. 5 but decided that it deserves to be its own thought . . .

Ja’Marr Chase vs. the Cardinals in Week 5:

19 targets
15 receptions
78.9% catch rate
192 yards (12.8 per catch)
Long of 63 yards
3 touchdowns

Ja’Marr Chase vs. the Seahawks in Week 6:

13 targets
6 receptions
46.2% catch rate
80 yards (13.3 per catch)
Long of 31
0 touchdowns

Want an even better comparison?

Joe Burrow’s quarterback rating when targeting Ja’Marr Chase against the Cardinals was 148.36. Against Seattle, it was one hundred fourteen points lower (34.13).

Note: Tre Brown’s interception came on a pass that was intended for Chase which basically cut Burrow’s rating in half because his rating would have been 66.19 if he’d gone 6 of 13 without the INT.

Lest anyone think I’m cherry picking, here are the ratings for a less-than-100% Joe Burrow when targeting Chase over the first four games of the year:

At Cleveland: 66.44
Vs. Baltimore: 70.31
Vs. L.A. Rams: 105.83
At Tennessee: 100.46

Pretty impressive, right? Especially when you consider the fact that DK Metcalf threw down a challenge for Ja’Marr Chase when he said that “(Devin Wither)‘Spoon will get the best of him.”

And ‘Spoon did . . . with a little help from his friends.

Thought No. 7

Jumping over to the other side of the ball . . .

I’ve written about the offensive efficiency of Geno Smith, Kenneth Walker, et al. a couple of times this year.

The first time was after Week 3 when ESPN’s NFL Football Power Index (FPI) tabbed the Seahawks as the 4th-most efficient team in the league.

Seattle’s offense slipped to No. 6 after their defense embarrassed the Giants on Monday Night Football.

I didn’t check the rankings during the bye or prior to the Seahawks trip to Cincinnati, but I did check them after the last of Week 6’s games were in the books and . . .

The Seahawks have dropped again.

Big surprise.

They are still in the Top 10 though . . . at No. 10.

Interestingly, their 53.3 efficiency rate is only 0.9 behind the Dallas Cowboys (54.2), and I would think that the Lions (57.0) and Eagles (58.7) are also within reach if Seattle’s offense has a good game against the Cardinals this weekend.

Miami is on top of the list with a ridiculously high 88.7 efficiency rate. The Niners are No. 2 and they’re 11-1/2 points back. No. 3 is Buffalo at 66.4.

Thought No. 8

Jumping back to the defense for a moment . . .

After Week 3, Seattle’s defense was No. 26 in ESPN’s efficiency ratings. Three weeks later, they’re at No. 17.

Seattle’s special teams have also improved, from No. 12 after three weeks, to No. 9 after six weeks.

Overall, Seattle has climbed from No. 14 to No. 10.

Thought No. 9

I’m not sure that I agree with Sumer Sports who gave Cardinals v. Seahawks the lowest “watchability” score this week.

Note: Tyler Alsin wrote about that on Friday.

I do agree with them on which game is the MOST WATCHABLE game this week though.

Hands down, it’s the Miami Dolphins vs. the Philadelphia Eagles.

Tua Tagovailoa vs. Jalen Hurts.

My girlfriend is going to hate me for it, but I’m watching that game in the living room with the volume UP and I fully expect to be talking to my TV constantly.

Obviously, I’m rooting for the Dolphins because an Eagles loss has the potential of helping the Seahawks. But, deep down, what I’m really rooting for is for the two teams to combine for 100+ points on the scoreboard.

And, yeah, I probably just jinxed it and the Eagles will win 9-6.

Thought No. 10

Speaking of Jalen Hurts and the Philadelphia Eagles . . .

Unless you’ve been living under a rock, you’ve heard of the Tush Push.

While players and coaches across the NFL struggle to stop it, and the league office considers banning it, a high school team in Texas went semi-viral this week with . . . well, let’s just let the video provide the explanation.

Where do I start?

One. Hahahahaha . . . and also WoW!

Two. That is one heck of an impressive athletic feat.

Three. I’m not sure how replicable that play is, especially at the professional level.

Four. Whether or not that play was (or was going to be) a Tush Push is subject to debate.

Five. I did not have @NFL and @ReyMysterio on my Social Media Bingo card this week (or any week).

Six. I’m glad I’m not the player that was tackled cuz that is going to follow him throughout the rest of his playing career.

Seven. Methinks that jumping over the offensive line like that might actually be against NFL rules . . . thanks, in part, to the athleticism of certain Seahawks players (although, technically, the rule I’m referring to pertains specifically to field goal tries).

Eight. I think I’ve watched that clip about 150 times.

Nine. I’m pretty sure I’ll watch it another 150 times in the days leading up to our Week 15 matchup with the Eagles.

Ten. Who else thinks Riq Woolen could pull that off?

Thought No. 11

I saved this thought to talk about SACKS . . . in honor of the eleven sacks that the Seahawks defense recorded against the Giants in Week 4.

After that output, Seattle was tied for the league lead with the Buffalo Bills and the Los Angeles Chargers at 16 apiece.

Two weeks later, they’ve slid a few spots and are now tied for 6th with 19 sacks – which ain’t bad considering that four of the five teams ahead of them and both of the teams they’re tied with have played an “extra” game (6 vs. Seattle’s 5).

The Chargers are legitimately ahead of Seattle (21 to 19) since they had their bye the same time Seattle did. The others, not so much.

I mean, Buffalo and Baltimore are both 5 sacks ahead of Seattle (24 vs. 19) but the Bills got their 5 “extra” sacks against the Jaguars in Week 5 and they don’t have their bye until Week 13 so how the heck is that fair?

The same holds true for Baltimore – their bye also isn’t until Week 13 so we should “discount” their total compared to Seattle’s. Right?

Then there’s Philadelphia . . .

Nearly 1/5th of the Eagles’ sacks (3-1/2 of the 20) are courtesy of Jalen Carter and we all know that Seattle graciously passed on him in the 2023 NFL Draft so that he could play with his former teammates in the City of Brotherly Love, which means that his sacks can’t be used against us, leaving the Eagles with only 16-1/2 non-Carter sacks and putting them behind us because 19 > 16.5.

Last, but not least, the Dolphins, with 21 sacks, definitely need to be penalized because their offense is so explosive that their defense can just pin their ears back and rush the passer on each and every play (if they want to). It’s not even remotely fair. Plus, they’re only 1 sack ahead of Seattle despite having played an “extra” game so they should be behind us on principle, if nothing else.

Kidding aside, here is an apples-to-apples comparison using the average sacks per game for every team that’s currently collecting at least 3 per contest:

4.2 sacks per game: L.A. Chargers
4.0 sacks per game: Baltimore, Buffalo
3.8 sacks per game: Seattle
3.5 sacks per game: Miami
3.4 sacks per game: Pittsburgh
3.3 sacks per game: Philadelphia
3.2 sacks per game: Cincinnati, Washington
3.0 sacks per game: Arizona, Indianapolis, Minnesota

And, just for grins, here are the averages for the teams in the NFC West:

Seattle: 3.8
Glendale: 3.0
Santa Clara: 2.5
La La Land: 1.7

Thought No. 12

We’re roughly halfway through the college football season which means two things . . .

One. Mock draft season has officially started.

Seriously, you gotta start now (at the latest) if you want to have a handle on who’s who come the the NFL Draft.

Two. It’s time for the midseason awards.

While there are no shortage of publications touting their own agendas, I tend to defer to the Associated Press for things like this.

The whole list is worth perusing, but this is a Seahawks site and, by extension, the local team over in Montlake is fair game which means that I get to celebrate the Washington Huskies landing TWO players on the AP’s First Team Offense.

QB Michael Penix Jr.
WR Rome Odunze

The AP article doesn’t say much about any of the players . . . except Michael Penix Jr.; he gets the first four paragraphs devoted to him, leads off the transitionary fifth paragraph, and gets mentioned in paragraph no. 6.

Here’s what they wrote about him:

Washington sixth-year quarterback Michael Penix Jr. highlights The Associated Press midseason All-America team, one of 19 players honored who have been in school at least five years.
Penix is among the many players in college football who have extended their careers by taking advantage of the NCAA’s decision to give an extra year of eligibility because of the disruptions of the 2020-21 pandemic year.
Penix, who transferred to Washington in 2022 after four injury-plagued seasons at Indiana, is leading the nation with 383 yards passing per game for the Huskies (6-0), who are ranked fifth in the AP Top 25.
“The production, the talent, all that, that’s one thing. The heart that he’s got. The guts he’s got and the willingness to just grind through it. Grit. There’s not enough words to describe how I feel about him,” Washington coach Kalen DeBoer said after Penix led the Huskies to a 36-33 victory against No. 9 Oregon last week.

Aside from the fact that I’m a Husky and like having an excuse to write about them, I “might” also like the AP’s writing style: single-sentence paragraph, single-sentence paragraph, single-sentence paragraph, and a multi-sentence quote.

That looks exactly like something I would write.

Minus the quote.

__________

Go Hawks! (and Huskies)

Source link

Seattle, WA

Blue Angels prep for Seafair show with early landing in Seattle

Published

7 hours ago

January 13, 2025

Press Room

Blue Angels prep for Seafair show with early landing in Seattle

One of the U.S. Navy’s famous Blue Angels landed Monday afternoon in Seattle, more than half a year ahead of the famous squadron’s annual air show at Seafair.

Descending through a low-hanging blanket of grey skies around 2 p.m., the Blue Angel No. 7 jet landed at Boeing Field with a small crowd of Seafair executives and news crews gathered to greet them. One photographer jokingly asked the two pilots if they’d done any barrel rolls on their flight from Oakland, Calif.

“You can get in trouble doing some of that stuff, so we don’t do that,” said U.S. Marine Corps Maj. Scott Laux through a smile. “But admittedly, it’s the greatest window seat that you’ll ever get. We were admiring the mountains all the way up, the beautiful snow-capped mountains all the way up the coast.”

One of the Blue Angels has landed at Boeing Field in Seattle.
The pilots are here to prep for Seafair this summer. pic.twitter.com/5UYyM6T3XD
Advertisement

— Sam Campbell (@HeySamCampbell) January 13, 2025

U.S. Navy Lt. Commander Lilly Montana sat in the cockpit seat behind Laux. She told KIRO Newsradio Washingtonians can expect a much more exciting entrance at Seafair than she and Laux had to resort to Monday.

“The type of flying is certainly going to be different,” Montana said, adding that the low cloud cover meant they couldn’t follow through on some preplanned theatrics Monday.

Just interviewed the pilots, Lt. Commander Lilly Montana and Maj. Scott Laux.
I’ll have more on @KIRONewsradio 97.3FM https://t.co/IlB9uSBXf5 pic.twitter.com/D9Qa63pTcw
— Sam Campbell (@HeySamCampbell) January 13, 2025
Advertisement

“Not as exciting of an arrival as you’ll see out of the six-plane delta here at the end of July,” she said. “They’ll come in for what’s known as the pitch-up break. That is an overhead maneuver with all six jets flying very close together, smoke on – very exciting to see.”

Montana and Laux will spend about a day in Seattle coordinating with airshow and Seafair planners for the demonstration.

The 2025 Boeing Air Show at Seafair is scheduled to take place between Aug. 1 and 3.

Sam Campbell is a reporter, editor and anchor at KIRO Newsradio. You can read more of Sam’s stories here. Follow Sam on X, or email him here.

Follow @https://twitter.com/HeySamCampbell

Source link

Seattle, WA

‘Hidden Yards Lost’ also hurt the Seahawks as much as turnovers

Published

15 hours ago

January 13, 2025

Press Room

‘Hidden Yards Lost’ also hurt the Seahawks as much as turnovers

Occasionally, football coaches will talk about something called “Hidden Yards Lost.” These are the plays that did meaningfully affect the football game, but you won’t find them reflected anywhere because another event on the field made it so that play never existed.

In short, these are the big plays that get erased by a penalty.

I went through all 17 games from the Seattle Seahawks this season and tracked the yards that were lost because of penalties.

Below are the results. If you’d like to know the greatest offender, I can tell you it is…
at the conclusion of this post.

Here are the rules and initial guidelines:

Rules and Guidelines for Invisible Yards Lost

This seeks to measure the difference between what a play would have gained, against where the ball ultimately ended up because of lost yards due to penalty. For example, a 10 yard gain negated by an offensive holding penalty would be a total of 20 “Hidden Yards Lost”
A false start, a defensive hold, an offsides, and other infractions that either kill the play or simply result in X yards plus new set of downs are not the objective in Hidden Yards Lost
This will overwhelmingly appear to be the fault of the offense. Reason being, a defensive penalty adds yards in the same direction as the ball is headed, while offensive (and certain special teams) penalties are what move the ball against where it was originally headed.
Of those, the primary offender are perimeter holding calls. Again, makes sense, as those are often isolated engagements in full view of an official.
There were some surprises.

At this point in the season, it appears as if Anthony Bradford might be the worst player in football. I remain shocked that he was given so much time to sow chaos among his brethren linemen before finally a fresh face entered the mix.

Leonard Williams makes an appearance as the first defensive player to join the fray. That play was so bonkers the entire Seattle beat had to look it up and write about it all evening. Even though there was a false start, the play bizarrely continued just long enough for Big Cat to facemask a dude. As we learned – twice(!) this season, a personal fall supersedes a lesser penalty. Therefore, instead of five yards backwards it was 15 yards forward for the San Francisco 49ers.

Kenneth Walker…woof.

Derick Hall was having so much fun.

Two roughing the passer penalties destroyed negative plays on the offense, while Devon Witherspoon cancelled out a big sack, and Jerrick Reed threw his hat in for the big special teams field position cancellation.

Not to be outdone, Mike Jerrell lost an entire football field in two plays.

Week 10 had nothing, followed by the bye week.
We resume:

Week 18 had nothing to report

Results

Here are the biggest yard-subtractors, in order:

Mike Jerrell: 98
DK Metcalf: 72 and a TD
AJ Barner: 64 and a TD
Pharaoh Brown: 58
Kenneth Walker: a 57-yard TD

Notes –

Leonard Williams will get the nod for most defensive yards lost at 49, which surprised me because of how well he played this season. It was the result of three very unfortunately-timed plays.
Anthony Bradford: at just 40 yards and a safety didn’t even finish the season in the top five. There were even a couple other players in the fifties.
I’m not going to conclude the same thing about DK Metcalf that I some people will. For starters, the offensive pass interference calls are for him blocking while another receiver got the ball. I have long been a proponent that Metcalf receives a disproportionate amount of physical calls against him because of his size and aura, especially weighed against the physical calls that are not called in his favor. The dude is big and easy to see. I will admit the volume of those is alarming, and if somebody insists on continuing to try screen plays in the future, they’ve got to figure out how to help Metcalf out here.

ONE FINAL NUMBER

In total, the Seahawks lost 802 yards and three touchdowns in the 2024 season that will never show up on the stat sheet. Erased from time, almost like the picture of Marty McFly’s family in Back to the Future.

Source link

Seattle, WA

Seattle’s Little Free Libraries Offer a Catalog of Collections and Connections

Published

1 day ago

January 13, 2025

Press Room

Seattle’s Little Free Libraries Offer a Catalog of Collections and Connections

Spooning buttercream into a pastry bag, Kim Holloway is close to opening time. She pipes rosettes of frosting on trays of vanilla cupcakes—some plain vanilla frosting, some cookies and cream.

With the aid of Holloway’s “partner in crime,” Kathleen Dickenson, they prop the lid of an old-fashioned school desk in Holloway’s front yard and fill it with cupcakes. Holloway adds edible pearls and glitter. Shortly after 3 p.m., the Little Free Bakery Phinneywood is open for business—the business of sharing.

“I love to bake, and many people have told me, ‘Oh, you should open a bakery.’ And I just think, ‘No, no, no, no. It would take the joy out of it for me,” Holloway says.

“To me, the seed library is part of food security. It’s like having money in the bank, but it’s seeds in the library.”

Like hundreds of other Little Free hosts in the region, she’s found joy instead in giving.

And, like so many good ideas, this one started with a book.

In 2009, a Wisconsin man named Todd Bol built a Little Free Library in his front yard, encouraging passersby to take a free book or drop off extras. The idea and the format—a wooden box set on a post, usually with a latched door—seeded a movement, with more than 150,000 registered worldwide.

“Seeded” got literal fast: The Little Free book idea spread to other sharing opportunities, including a rampant crop of Little Free Seed Libraries, where people swap extra packets of cilantro and Sungolds.

Seattle’s density, temperate climate, walkable neighborhoods—and maybe our introvert culture?—make it easy for the little landmarks to thrive. They exploded during the COVID-19 pandemic, when locals thought outside the box by putting up a box, including what’s believed to be the nation’s first Little Free Bakery and first Little Free Art Library. Many built on the region’s existing affinity for hyperlocal giving—the global Buy Nothing phenomenon, for one example, was founded on Bainbridge Island.

“We just seem to do more of all these versions of sharing,” says “Little Library Guy,” the nom de plume of a longtime resident who showcases the phenomenon on his Instagram feed and a helpful map.

The nonprofit organization now overseeing global Little Free Libraries finds the nonbook knockoffs “fun and flattering,” communications director Margret Aldrich says in an email. (She also notes “Little Free Library” is a trademarked name, requiring permission if used for money or “in an organized way.”)

Some libraries stress fundamental needs: A recently established Little Free Failure of Capitalism in South Seattle provides feminine products, soap, chargers, even Narcan. A Columbia City Little Free Pantry established by personal chef Molly Harmon grew into a statewide network for neighbors supporting neighbors.

Others are about the little things: Yarn. Jigsaw puzzles and children’s toys. Keychains (one keychain library in Hillman City has a TikTok account delighting 8,000+ followers). A Little Free Nerd Library holds Rubik’s Cubes and comic books.

Regardless of where each library falls on Maslow’s hierarchy of needs, they stand on common ground. “There’s a line from [Khalil] Gibran: ‘Work is love made visible,’ ” Little Library Guy says in a phone call. “That’s what they’re doing. They’re showing that they love the community by doing something for them.”

Here’s a little free sample of what you might find around town:

Seeding a Movement

Two University of Washington students sort, count, and bag mammoth sunflower seeds during an annual seed inventory inside a research facility at the Center for Urban Horticulture. These are seeds that birds at the UW Farm did not get to, and they’ll go into the Little Free Seed Library by the end of the day. (Photo credit: Ken Lambert/The Seattle Times)

At the UW Farm, on 1.5 acres of intensively planted land at the Center for Urban Horticulture, students grow more than six tons of organic produce annually. They learn about agriculture and ecology while providing food for 90 families in a neighborhood CSA, for college dining halls and for food banks.

One chilly November day, students and volunteers on the self-sustaining farm worked with the small staff to inventory what seemed like countless seeds for next year’s plantings: Parade onions, Autumn Beauty sunflowers, Painted Mountain corn, Genovese basil. Packs with just a small number of remaining seeds were set aside for the Little Free Seed Library installed near rows of winter greens.

Farm manager Perry Acworth organized the little library during the pandemic, seeing the renaissance in home gardening coupled with a run on supplies. “Seeds were sold out … even if they had money, they couldn’t find them,” she says.

Acworth picked up a secondhand cabinet—one with a solid door, rather than the usual Little Free Library glass window, because seeds need to be protected from light. Althea Ericksen, a student at the time, designed it, painted it with a cheerful anthropomorphic beet, and installed it.

Seeds were packed inside jars to protect them from rodents and birds who otherwise would have a feast, and the Little Free Seed Library was born—shielded from rain and direct sun, convenient to pedestrians as well as cars.

On a recent day, seeds for radish, mizuna, red cabbage, and flashy troutback lettuce waited in lidded jars for their new winter homes.

On the side of the seed library, thank you notes sprout comments such as, “Thank you for sharing.” Enough harvests have gone by to see the library’s benefits, from flowering pollinators to harvests of food. A mere handful of seeds isn’t useful for the farm’s scale, Acworth notes, but for library guests, “If I have five sunflowers in my yard, five heads of lettuce, that’s great.”

Source link