The Keene Public Library was buzzing with excitement last month at the grand opening of the newly renovated library, and launch of the Monadnock Grows Together Seed Library and Garden Tool Lending Library.
Small-scale growers and gardeners in and around Keene now have access to free gardening resources through the Keene Public Library. ‘Monadnock Grows Together’ is a new regional program that offers a range of education, technical assistance, gardening equipment and more, to residents interested and engaged in backyard gardening and small-scale urban farming.
New resources available at the library include a selection of quality home gardening tools that patrons can check out and take home, just like a book. Available tools include shovels, garden rakes, garden forks, hoes, a broad fork, small hand tools, hand trimmers, a push seeder, and more. Tools may be borrowed for one-week intervals and patrons can either call ahead, stop in at the library circulation desk, or visit www.keenepubliclibrary.org to make tool reservations.
Stop by the Kingsbury Makerspace inside the library for pick-up and drop-off. Additionally, the library now has over 800 packets of seeds, including more than 48 varieties of unique vegetables and herbs that are free and available to the public. The Seed Library works as follows: 1. Sign up for a free membership. 2. Choose and grow your seed, and 3. Collect the seeds from your plant to ‘return’ back to the seed library.
Returning seeds is not a required step to using the seed library, however, it is greatly appreciated because this helps replenish the communal resource of free seeds for the following growing season. For those who are interested in learning more about what seed saving is and how to do it, Monadnock Grows Together will be offering a Seed Saving Workshop at the library on Saturday, Sept. 28. Technical assistance is available at no cost to any small scale grower or gardener in and around Keene. If you have questions about gardening in general, or about the new resources at the library, you can reach out to your Urban Ag and Gardens Coordinator, Rachel Brice at rachel@cheshireconservation.org for assistance. Brice will also be available to answer questions in person at the library every Friday afternoon from 4 to 5:30 p.m.
Monadnock Grows Together is an Urban Agriculture project developed in partnership by the Cheshire County Conservation District, Antioch University’s Community Garden Connections, the Keene Public Library, and the National Center for Appropriate Technology. Funding for this urban agriculture conservation grant is provided through a partnership with the National Association of Conservation Districts and the U.S. Department of Agriculture Natural Resources Conservation Service to boost technical capacity nationwide.
If you’d like more information about the seed or tool library, send an email to rachel@cheshireconservation or visit www.cheshireconservation.org/monadnockgrowstogether.