After the Eaton Fire, seed library blooms among books ...Middle East

Almost six months after the Eaton Fire first erupted in the canyons above Pasadena, Nina Raj is still planting seeds of hope. The naturalist and master gardener is sowing the real stuff too, from poppies to rosemary, salvia and mugwort.

Raj, 35, was at the Altadena Library at Loma Alta Park Thursday to open a seed library, similar to Little Free Libraries, stocked with packets of seed instead of books. Raj, the founder of Altadena Seed Library, was already in talks to set up a seed station even before the Eaton Fire burned 14,021 acres, killing 18 and damaging or destroying more than 10,000 structures, according to Cal Fire.

Days after Jan. 7, even as the fire raged uncontained, she led a campaign that first focused on immediate needs such as PPEs and clothes and later morphed to a call for tools for debris clearance and also seeds to grow a collection to reseed the town when the time is right. Raj’s base was her north Pasadena home, spared from the blaze even though it sits half a block away from so much destruction in Altadena.

The opening of the seed library at Loma Alta Park strikes a hopeful note of connection for the community, she said.

“I think events like this feel like seeds of hope and resilience, instances when neighbors come together to support one another,” Raj said.

In the midst of immigration raids across Los Angeles County, she said she has looked into the 30 or so little seed libraries and found people have left little dried flowers or red cards to support their immigrant neighbors and “Know Your Rights” resources.

“So it seems like they blossom into resources that go far beyond planting and really about supporting one another and that feels really beautiful to me,” Raj said.

About 25 people dropped in to pick up little envelopes of seeds at the library at the park, the location selected for its proximity to so much of the burn scar, said Aaron Kimbrell, innovations librarian.

“The new seed library will live at this Loma Alta location and travel with library staff at events,” he said. The library will also play host to bi-monthly gardening workshops, the better to educate hopeful green thumbs on how to propagate from seeds and how to re-establish native plant life in the area.

The Eaton Fire left Mia Prosser’s Altadena home standing, but the windstorm upended her garden. The library assistant said she’s excited to have people pick up or leave seeds for native plants, wildflowers, fruits and vegetables at the library. She herself had milkweed, lavender, rosemary and sage in her old garden and is hoping to add more flowers to the new one.

The actual structure of the library came from a deodar tree that stood in Altadena, a way for that wood to come home in a new form, Raj said.

From her Pasadena seed outpost, Raj is still working on donating and accepting seeds, plotting to replant shade in town, shipping out “seed care packages” to survivors who might want to start a new green space in their temporary homes and educating anyone who cares about ecology.

She most recently worked with a high school student from the Palisades Fire who made seed balls for the library.

Raj said during a supervised, permitted visit to the burn scar with some experts, she saw many native plants thriving but also, many invasive species are growing in, such as black mustard, a weedy-looking annual.

“Summer is when Southern California gardens rest, and we can learn so much from that,” Raj said, recommending planting narrowleaf milkweed, if any. “I work on making sure my irrigation is working properly, pull out the last of the spring weeds, prune back some shrubs, and make sure everything is mulched so that the soil is nice and healthy for fall planting.”

The roots of Raj’s ecological mission started in her childhood in the shadow of Mount Tamalpais in Marin County, north of San Francisco. The family grew herbs in their front yard, and Raj learned even then about the delicate balance in any ecosystem.

“I learned to share with the wildlife, since the deer would eat most of the herbs,” she said.

“I was surrounded by so much nature, so I had an eco-spiritual lens from a young age, but I really came into plant-tending in the last decade of my life,” she added, right around the time she founded Altadena Seed Library as a network of seed exchange boxes and conservation resource.

Raj was a docent at Eaton Canyon Nature Center and works with Theodore Payne Foundation in Sun Valley, a nonprofit dedicated to native plants.

Through the distribution of free seeds, Altadena Seed Library is “working to expand equitable access to shade and green spaces, increase food sovereignty, connect neighbors, and restore local ecosystems. Following the Eaton Fire, we are providing free seeds and seed education to affected residents, remediating toxic soils, and working to establish conservation seed banks throughout the region.”

There are seed outposts in New York, Sonoma as well as the almost 30 in the Los Angeles area, including Sierra Madre and Glendale.

Miriam Carter of Arcadia, a retired schoolteacher, is trying to get a seed exchange station established at the Arcadia Library, where she is on the board of trustees. Her home garden of 60 years is replete with tomatoes, succulents, flowers and herbs. It is where hummingbirds know to stop and other birds sample kumquats, loquats and plums.

“I’ve always loved it,” Carter said.

For Raj, who said she can’t speak to the unique pain of losing a home, gardening is a respite from the chaos of the world right now.

“It’s something we can tangibly connect to, tend, learn from,” she said. “I definitely feel more expansive, patient, and connective whenever I take the time to care for the ecosystem around me. And many of us know that sometimes when plants are clipped back they grow back even stronger and fuller. As our neighborhoods face many changes, we can also take note that diverse gardens are the strongest, supporting more pollinators and wildlife, creating healthier soils, and plants that live longer lives.”

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