Libraries: Not Just for Books

I spent the afternoon yesterday at Longwood Gardens – a beautiful space with some amazing features including North America’s largest living wall!  That got me thinking about how I could incorporate more science with a focus on planting and growing into the library.  I’d love to create an outdoor classroom space where kids could explore, but that’s not currently in the budget, but check out what this library did!

The Northern Onondaga Public Library in Cicero, N.Y. created a library farm, that’s right, a farm!  This area of New York is very green conscious and since 2010 when the library farm was created there are now 30 gardeners working on 50 plots of land.  Part of the land is dedicated to offering gardening space for patrons while the other half is dedicated to space for a garden that donates all food to the local food pantry.  This is a great way to teach people about healthy eating, where their food comes from, how food grows and so much more.  This is definitely something that would be really cool – especially in an area with a number of apartment complexes where people have very little space to garden.

A library is about books (and I believe always will be in some capacity), but it’s also about teaching and learning and this is such a great way for the community to come together and learn!  For more information, read “There’s No Shushing at This Library—and You’ll Want to Bring a Trowel” on takepart.