My mother and my brother as well as my grandfather, on my father’s side of the family, are known for their gardening. My grandfather’s garden even supplies my family with produce years after his death as a symbol of the life he led. I on the other hand, although I love plants and fruit trees, have not been gifted with the green thumb or at least with the opportunity to grow something. I recently visited the Orange Public Libraries blog (available through links on my blog as well as the url: http://orangelibraries.blogspot.com/ ) and was made aware of the “Garden of Renewal” initiative. This project, which is done jointly with the Seeds of Solidarity Education Center, involves teaching patrons best gardening practices while they are entertained by poetry(which I greatly appreciate), music and served with refreshments.
The overall aim of the project would be to provide patrons with valuable knowledge (through books and lectures by the Seeds of Solidarity staff) as well as to provide a place for rest, contemplation and fresh food.
As someone who knows the importance of gardening, both for the produce one can harvest as well as the health benefits(as a teenager I spent many an early morning reading in my mother’s garden so much at peace and happy), I must say that this initiative would be a great benefit to those who choose to participate (I expect that this should be a lot of persons since the programme is helpful and free).
This kind of project truly shows how important a library can be to its community since I believe this project would also help foster some pride in the patrons as well as develop a sense of camaraderie among them.
I feel sought of nostalgic(I even wish that my library would have an initiative like this) at the thought but supremely happy that such an initiative is being done. Best wishes to the staff at Orange and I hope that the project is a great success.
Libblogs 