Garden Seed Program

Do you raise fresh vegetables for your local Food Pantry? Do you administer a Community Garden? Work with a 4-H group, or Youth Group Garden Program? Would you like to be able to give vegetable seeds to low-income families to grow their own vegetables? In what other ways could you or would you be able to put vegetable seeds to constructive use in community service?

Through a generous donation from a major distributor of garden seeds, Lake Valley Seeds of Boulder, Colorado, we are able to supply you with high-quality vegetable seeds of many varieties. We are very grateful for their generosity in addressing the issue of Hunger at the grass-roots level here in Oregon. Every local Grange in Oregon has, or will have, access to these donated vegetable seeds, and can distribute them in their local area as is needful.

In 2008, Winona Grange initiated a local effort to raise fresh vegetables, enlisting members and others to grow an extra row, or a whole garden, or to co-op with others at a local Century Farm. All the produce is goes to our local Food Pantry. As a result, we have seen renewed enthusiasm for community service, an increased community awareness of the Grange, more active participation at our monthly meetings, and some new members, too.

One of the Grange's original mandates was to provide seeds, supplies and equipment to farmers at reasonable prices, at a time in our history when merchants wanted to sell to them at retail, and then buy their produce below wholesale. We in the Granges of Oregon find ourselves returning to our roots in being able to enable others in needful community service programs all across the state.

If you represent an Oregon Grange wanting to participate in seed distribution for community service, please contact us. We are compiling a list of participating Oregon Granges, and will eventually post it on this page. Plant some seeds; grow some local community benefits.

If you represent a local Community Service Organization desiring vegetable seeds for your Garden Project, you have a few options. You may contact your local Grange, and ask if they are, or could be persuaded to be, participating in the Seed Distribution Program. You can also contact us at Winona Grange #271 directly. We will attempt to find a Grange near you in the program. Later on, you may be able to find a participating Grange in your area from the list mentioned above. In the absence of a local participating Grange, you may write us on your organization's letterhead, with a request for Seeds.

Febuary 2012 Update: Assortments are now available. Yes, we will be distributing garden seeds again in 2012. However, there are some things that are different this year: First, we don't have as many seeds as we did last year. We received 2 large boxes: Beans, Veggie Mix, and and some flowers Beans: lots of variety here; all kinds of beans. Flowers: needs no explanation. Veggie Mix: wide variety of all kinds of veggie seeds. Bottom line: Less variety overall, but not a bad mix. Every year's seed donation is different from the previous year. Second, as the rates for Priority Mail Flat Rate Boxes have risen slightly, again,  we have decided to use the Postal Service's Regional Rate Boxes. They are about 60% the volume of a medium flat rate box.

Contact us about Seeds

We are making the seeds available in assortments of two sizes, Large and Small, Large being whatever fits into a Medium Priority Mail Flat Rate Box.  At the bottom of the page, you will find the costs and some other choices to make.

Please feel free to contact us with any questions or comments you may have.

Assortments will be labeled as"Donated Seeds, Not for Resale" and "Distributed by the Grange." We are also able to furnish "Your Grange" labels for identifying "your" assortment as being distributed by "Your Grange."

Seed packets will be available at no cost, except for the cost of shipping via the US Mail. Priority Mail will be used, as the Post Office supplies the boxes at no cost.

Also, we are supplying some self-adhesive labels along with the assortments. There are multiple purposes for them. First, we are identifying the seeds as having been donated, and not for re-sale. This is important, because we are not in competition with the donor's retail dealers for their seed business.  Second, they should be good advertising, for the Grange in general, and for your Grange in particular.

For no additional charge, we include 30 self-adhesive labels (one sheet of the generic labels) with every assortment. For enough labels to so identify nearly all individual packets (90 labels or 3 sheets), we charge a nominal extra fee, to cover the label and printing expenses. These can have your individual Grange name and number on them. This presents you with an additional opportunity to raise your community's awareness of your Grange. Putting the labels on the assortment, or on the individual seed packets, is a job for the volunteers at your Grange.

Generic Label	"Your Grange" Label

Assortments are shipped in Regional Rate "A" Priority Mail Flat Rate boxes. The shipping costs are for shipments within Oregon. We intend to fill all orders from Oregon Granges and Oregon Community Sevice organizations first; if we receive any requests from out-of-state Granges, we will consider them next, as our inventory permits. Out-of-state shipping costs will be higher.

Contact us about Seeds

Community Service organizations and individuals may use this list to locate a participating Oregon Grange near you.