Four girls in scout uniforms outdoors. — (L to R) Charlotte Guess, Mary Alice Pitts, Charlotte Watts and Kinza Malik celebrate the ribbon cutting of their hand-made little seed library at Aldridge Gardens in Hoover. (Mary Helene Hall / Bham Now)

Walking around the Birmingham metro area, you may have spotted some “Little Free Libraries” filled with books, where locals are encouraged to take a book and leave a book. Thanks to this group of Girl Scout Cadettes, Hoover’s Aldridge Gardens now has a little library with a twist.

On Friday, April 10, a group of four Girl Scouts — Charlotte Guess, Kinza Malik, Mary Alice Pitts and Charlotte Watts — cut the ribbon on their new “little seed library,” giving visitors the ability to take a small packet of seeds home to plant in their gardens. After the plants are grown, borrowers are encouraged to save the seeds from the harvest and return them to the library.

The project was completed by Girl Scout Troop 26329 for their Silver Award, the highest honor a Cadette (grades 6–8) can earn, requiring them to identify a community issue and create a sustainable, 50-hour project.

Ribbon cutting ceremony with participants — Girl Scouts of Troop 26329 cut the ribbon on their little seed library alongside troop leaders, city officials and Aldridge Garden employees. (Mary Helene Hall / Bham Now)

Hoover Parks and Recreation partnered with them on the project, allowing them to not only install the custom-built library at Aldridge Gardens but also build birdhouses and create art for the site.

The girls, all in 7th grade, have mostly been together since they were Daisies (kindergarten). Some of them earned their Bronze Award together, which is the highest honor a Junior (grades 4-5) can earn. For that project, they built a donation box from scratch for a local animal shelter.

Person retrieving envelopes from box — Attendees of the little seed garden ribbon cutting browse the selection of seeds stocked by the Girl Scouts. (Mary Helene Hall / Bham Now)

“The girls wanted to do something outdoors. They wanted to build something…

“With the help of parents, dads, brothers, grandparents and neighbors, we built the seed library from scratch. We went to the lumber yard, bought all the wood, cut it, put it together, painted it and we harvested seeds by hand.”
Jamie Guess, Assistant Troop Leader for Troop 26329

Through the project, the 7th-grade students got experience working directly with city officials to plan their project and had to write a report about the project. The girls said that they learned more about themselves through the project, particularly improving their teamwork skills.

The little seed library is now open to all visitors of Aldridge Gardens, located at 3530 Lorna Road in Hoover, in the Field Trip Garden. Available seeds include flowers, fruits, veggies and herbs, each type in their own little packet.

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