At the Living Local Harvest Festival on Oct. 3 and 4 at the Agricultural Hall, the West Tisbury Free Public Library, Island Grown Schools and the Farm Institute will launch a new community seed library initiative, to be housed at the West Tisbury library.

“The seed library will be a place where our community can get free, locally saved and locally adapted seeds, while learning about the age-old practice of seed saving,” says Noli Taylor, Island Grown Schools program leader.

At 7:30 p.m. on Oct. 3, the combined groups will host a free screening of Open Sesame: The Story of Seeds at the Martha’s Vineyard Film Center in Vineyard Haven. The film seeks to educate viewers on the challenges facing the global seed supply and what communities can do to help save, celebrate and protect seeds for the future.

Ken Greene, owner of the Hudson Valley Seed Library seed company and founder of the country’s first community seed library, is featured in the film and will lead a seed-saving workshop at Living Local on Saturday, Oct. 4, at 1 p.m. Community members are invited to bring their favorite locally grown tomatoes, bean pods and dry lettuce flower stalks from healthy, open-pollinated (rather than hybrid) plants to work with at the workshop on the Oct. 4. People are also welcome to bring other seeds they’ve saved to talk about or to enter into the new seed library catalog.

The Martha’s Vineyard Community Seed Library coalition plans to offer on-going workshops, educational events and seed celebrations through the course of the year, to help engage the community in seed saving and sharing. For more information or to join the Seed Library mailing list, email noli@islandgrown.org, or come to the free seed saving workshop at Living Local Harvest Festival.