The purpose of the Gardener's Spotlight is to celebrate and thank seed donors, connect the library patrons to folks in our community, and generate additional interest in the seed library. Each month, a chosen patron will have a box in the seed library dedicated to their donated seeds harvested from their plants/gardens as well as a small write up about the donor's gardens or gardening favorites. This will be followed up by an announcement of the chosen donor on Facebook as well as a spot on the Gardener's Spotlight page on this website! If you have any interest in being included, please reach out to Dave at Info@BloomSeedLibrary.org!

Dante LaRegina found a knack for gardening at an early age with the help of his family. He focused his efforts on ecological sustainability and started his own 50sq ft garden in 2018. Encouraged by some like-minded friends, his 2019 season moved towards hot pepper cultivation, growing more than a dozen varieties. His goal was to have a pepper eating contest with his buddies. During the pandemic in 2020, he found gardening to be a relaxing and grounding hobby that he could do with his family. His thumbs turned greener and greener and in 2021, he and his family expanded their garden size to over 750sq ft which they now call “Cool Beans Farm”. Using his new space and knowledge, he grew corn, cauliflower, kale, cabbage, eggplant, Brussel sprouts, potatoes, tomatoes, peas, beans, garlic, squash, and more, alongside 15 varieties of peppers. In 2021 his fruits of labor proved bountiful when Dante took third place in competition at the Bloomsburg Fair for his cayenne peppers and walked away with the first-place blue ribbon trophy for his now-perfected habaneros; seeds from both these lineages are available in his donation box! In 2022, Dante plans on keeping the traditional veggies while adding less known ones such as loofah and wasabi plants. And for his pepper dynasty, he plans to grow over 25 different pepper varieties, ranging from sweet bell peppers to his infamous superhots. He also hopes to get more involved in edible landscaping and bringing awareness to sustainable agriculture for his community in Sugarloaf. For any questions or help with peppers you can email him at dlaregina97@gmail.com