Growing community through gardening

In the last few years, gardening has become a common topic of conversation for staff and patrons at the Banks Public Library. Everyone who works here has some interest in gardening, and the Homestead Series of programs for adults highlighted how many people in the community are interested in gardening, too. We also have an active seed library that has involved everyone from master gardeners to novices.

This summer, in addition to smelling the lovely jasmine that blooms on our green wall, we’re adding a teen community garden on a nearby plot of land. This garden will produce food for the local food bank and give teens a chance to dig into their community.

Enjoy these garden photos shared by our staff.

Colorful gardens for days

This year's summer reading theme is "Reading Colors Your World." At the Banks Library, we tend to lean into vegetable gardening, but how about coloring your world with some of these fun titles?

No matter the season or the size of your garden, the library is full of inspiration for green thumbs and black thumbs alike.

WHAT STAFF ARE READING

Books about food

Meet Susan Cackler, the library supervisor at Banks Public Library, one of the 16 Washington County public libraries that are members of WCCLS. She’s a small-scale farmer and voracious reader. Her Nubian dairy goats are like family pets, but they also provide milk for cheese adventures.

What are you reading?

We are What We Eat by Alice Waters.

Why did you choose this book?

The pandemic really brought to light how insecure the food chain in this country is, and Alice Waters is great at talking about local food. Also, I am hoping to host a community conversation about food and wanted to see if this would be a good resource to share with people before, during and after that conversation.

What do you think of it so far?

I’m enjoying the style and content. It’s easy to read and is a compelling support of many of the things I believe and try to practice around food. But it’s also giving me a new perspective on how fast food has become fast food culture and I’m excited to see what else it covers.

Where is your favorite place to read?

Under a cat.

How many books do you plan to read this summer?

I’ll probably read 20 to 25 books this summer. I try to read two a week – some of them are juvenile fiction. Since I am an all-ages librarian, I read from every section of the library.

What's your favorite thing to grow?

I am most excited about being able to pick a cucumber every day, hopefully by August.