Library
to Farm to Table
Public libraries increasingly offer
food production programs
Patrons are
rolling up their sleeves and getting dirty with the offerings cropping up at
public libraries across the country–farms, gardens, orchards, and food–literacy
classes, to name a few–and librarians say the grow–it–yourself movement is only
expanding.
For some libraries serving vulnerable
populations, food–producing gardens and nutrition initiatives
are
born out of necessity. Others have
launched programs to advance the causes of sustainability and education.
When David Mixdorf was named director of
the South Sioux City (Neb.) Public Library in 2009, he
was well positioned to establish the
library’s first community garden. Mixdorf grew
up on an organic farm and has worked the land in one form or another his entire
life. “We’ve saved seeds in my family for years and years,” he says.
In 2009, the
library was already giving out seeds to patrons. Within Mixdorf’s first year as
director, he established the community garden on nearby private property
donated by the library’s Friends group.
Mixdorf says it was
a practical addition to the library’s traditional services, as many area
residents are blue – collar workers
who live in food deserts, where grocery stores lie far away and
nutritional food options are scarce. He says his library’s extensive program
has come together through a mix of volunteers and residents paying the city $10
to $15 annually for the garden plots. “The majority of them get used every
single year,” he says.
The program has
grown steadily and now consists of two gardens with a combined 60 plots; an
orchard with more than 200 apple and fruit trees, berry bushes, beehives, and a
section for native prairie flowers; and roughly 20 classes a year on gardening,
canning–yes, you can check out canning equipment from the library–and grafting,
among other subjects.
Mixdorf says the
library donated 9,000 pounds of produce grown on its premises last year through
South Sioux City’s volunteer–run Voices for Food program.
Food literacy
and access to healthy meal options are also pressing issues in Sacramento,
California, according to Jill Stockinger, supervisor of the Rancho Cordova
branch of the city’s library system.
“Over 60 percent
of children in schools in our neighborhood are under the poverty level and qualify for free breakfast and lunch programs,”
she says, noting that more than half of the children in the community are
obese.
The first Read
and Feed Teaching and Demonstration Garden was launched at the library system’s
Colonial Heights branch in 2011 with a $13,000 grant from the Junior League of
Sacramento. A second garden was built at Rancho Cordova the following year,
Stockinger says. Both areas that the branches serve are considered food
deserts.
Rancho Cordova
serves 600 children annually, along with roughly 400 parents “who watch and
sometimes help,” according to Stockinger. More than 100 children and adults
attended the library’s March Feed and Read program, according to Stockinger.
Additionally,
the library has partnered with the California–based Food Literary Center–which offers
food education programs in California public schools–to provide monthly healthy–eating
classes at the Rancho Cordova branch. Testimonials from parents have bolstered
the library’s programming efforts, Stockinger says.
“One parent
said, ‘My
child had never eaten broccoli
before, but he grew it and now he wants to eat it.’”
While some food production and nutrition
programs have developed out of a need to make food more accessible, others
are a result of patrons simply wanting to
learn more about growing their own food.
Jill Youngs,
manager of the Cicero branch of the Northern Onondaga (N.Y.) Public Library,
says her
organization’s Library Farm program was
started about five years ago “because it was fun.”
About 35 to 50 “plotters,”
as they are called, run the library garden as volunteers, she says. “It’s very
organic,” Youngs jokes. “It depends on who shows up and with what tools.”
She says patrons in her
community have a general commitment
to sustainability, but the program has also
resulted in the donation of “well over 200 pounds of fresh produce” to local
food pantries.
“Some people don’t
have the space [for their own garden], and some people just want to learn,”
Youngs says. The library has strengthened its program by adding classes such as
“Beekeeping 101,” “Putting Up Your Harvest,” and “Organic Pest Control.”
Youngs, as well
as her counterparts in Sacramento and South Sioux City, says she is frequently
contacted by library administrators across the country looking to start their
own food–producing gardens.
At least one library
administrator, however, is looking toward the future of the library as a farm.
Jodi Shaw,
coordinator for the American Library Association’s Sustainability Round Table,
has been working to bring farms to the rooftops of libraries throughout
Brooklyn, New York. Shaw, a children’s librarian for Brooklyn Public Library
(BPL) who is working independently of the library system in her research, says BPL
has 60 branches with viable rooftop space, or what amounts to approximately 138
acres of farmland right in the heart of the city.
She acknowledges
that her “radical idea” would take massive resources or partnerships with existing
rooftop farming operations to make such a program a reality. She’s been closely
watching Bright–Farms, Brooklyn Grange, and Eagle Street Rooftop Farm–three operations
running rooftop farms in New York–for ideas and opportunities.
“It would take a lot for
libraries to convince people to do this,” she says. “The goal is get
every citizen in Brooklyn producing their own food.”
by : Timothy Inklebarger
Color :
1.
Green : Subject
2.
Blue : Verb
3.
Purple
: Clause
Vocabulary :
1. Patrons = Pelanggan
2. Sleeve = Lengan
3. Literacy = Melek huruf
4. Movement = Gerakan
5. Expanding = Memperluas
6. Vulnerable = Rentan
7. Necessity = Kebutuhan
8. Sustainability = Keberlanjutan
9. Grew = Tumbuh
10. Entire = Seluruh
11. Volunteers = Relawan
12. Plots = Plot
13. Majority = Mayoritas
14. Beehive = Sarang lebah
15. Pressing = Menekan
16. Poverty = Kemiskinan
20. Grant = Hibah
21. Efforts = Upaya
22. Accessible = Diakses
23. Strengthened = Diperkuat
24. Beekeeping = Peternakan lebah
25. Harvest = Panen
26. Amounts = Jumlah
27. Approximately = Kira - kira
28. Farmland = Lahan pertanian
29. Acknowledges = Ucapan terima kasih
30. Convince = Yakinkan
