Wyoming Girl Scouts Sprout a Community Seed Library

By Amy Elliot, Wyoming Living Editor

Most people are familiar with the Girl Scouts motto “Be Prepared” which guides the girls as they get ready to help others and make a difference in the world. Wyoming Girl Scout Troop 41640 was more than prepared for the challenge when they decided to work toward a Bronze Award – the highest award available to Girl Scout Juniors in the fourth and fifth grades. 

“In working toward the Bronze Award, the girls had to identify a community problem, plan a solution, and get involved by spending at least 20 hours each to implement a sustainable project,” says Weslie Ostendorf, the troop’s leader.

The result? A new community pollinator seed library that will enable residents of Wyoming to plant their own butterfly gardens in support of greener landscapes and healthier environments.

Troop members include fifth-graders Adalynn Heisel, Amara Ulrich, Elise Kleinschmidt, Elsa Menninger, Genevieve Schulkers, Julia Erickson, Rosie Lawrence, Tamiyah Auld, and Whitney Jones.

A Multi-Step Process Produces Results

The young women started their quest in the spring of 2023 by meeting with then Vice Mayor Sarah Stankorb Taylor and Wyoming Elementary School Principal Gina Kirchner.

“We decided to do something for the environment,” says member Adalynn Heisel. “Our Mayor, Mrs. (Melissa) Monich, is a part of a Mayors for Monarch program, and she suggested we start a butterfly garden.”

But when the young minds began to plan their project, another question took root: Rather than plant a garden, why not do something that will have a longer, lasting impact on our hometown? 

They decided to create a local seed library of pollinator plant seeds so that anyone in Wyoming could start a butterfly garden for free. The initiative had many steps and moving parts and encourages the community to both garden and contribute. The scouts met with staff at the Wyoming Branch of the Public Library of Cincinnati and Hamilton County, and library staff agreed to house the library.

“Troop 41640 and the Wyoming Branch are helping to do our part in the beautification of Wyoming and surrounding communities, an effort that has been an ongoing goal for years,” says Tom Gardner, branch librarian.

“A Lasting, Positive Impact”

The scouts also made posters asking for seed donations, took classes at the Civic Garden Center on creating and supporting community gardens, harvested seeds, and asked for donations.

With the library’s support and the facilities in its Reading Library Maker Space, they decorated a special cabinet that houses the seeds. The girls also created a community notebook that provides details on the seeds that are available through the seed library, and they hosted a community lecture by a staff member from the Civic Garden Center on seed harvesting. An additional poster they created provides information about their seeds and what is needed to support seed germination.

“What’s so exciting is watching these young minds look at their community with new eyes and come up with tangible, innovative solutions that bring to life scouting’s ideals,” says Ostendorf. “Community gardeners have already responded by contributing many seeds. With their help in planting, harvesting, and donating seeds, the project will be sustainable. The girls really wanted to create something that will have a lasting, positive, and beautiful impact on their community. And with the continued support of this wonderful community’s gardeners, I think they knocked it out of the garden!”