Volume 4, Issue 8
Anna Pavord comes to UW September 7:
 23rd Annual Elisabeth C. Miller Memorial Lecture

The Pendleton and Elisabeth C. Miller Charitable Foundation presents the 23rd Annual Elisabeth C. Miller Memorial Lecture with British author Anna Pavord. The well-known writer and gardener will speak about her latest book, Landskipping: Painters, Ploughmen and Places, a celebration of the power of landscapes to influence our culture and history. At the Miller Library, we have a selection of Anna Pavord's books available for borrowing.

The free lecture is Thursday September 7th at Meany Hall. For tickets, contact the Miller Garden now at info@millergarden.org or (206) 362-8612.

New project with UW Botanic Gardens summer daycamp
by Laura Blumhagen

Early in June I received an exciting message from the Arboretum’s School Age Programs Coordinator, Cait McHugh. Cait had a request: she’d like to send us the weekly themes for UW Botanic Gardens summer programs for pre-kindergarten, grades 1-3, and grades 4-6 and have librarians select and send a weekly care package of books to enrich their curriculum. Instructors would borrow the books about a week before the start of a new themed program, giving them time for lesson planning. Could we help? Of course! With our Story Time program on summer break, and most schools out for the summer, this would be the perfect way to get books from the Miller Library into the hands of kids and teachers.

I looked forward to choosing books, and the selection process would also be a great chance to work with library volunteers with years of outdoor education experience. For instance, retired educator and library volunteer Dr. Dorothy Crandell took a look at a recent week’s theme for students entering grades 1-3, Woodland Wonders, and set aside One Small Square: Woods (a picture introduction to biological sampling methods), Woodland Adventure Handbook (a new curriculum resource packed with ideas for outdoor learning and games) and Ancient Ones: The World of the Old-Growth Douglas Fir (a beautifully illustrated depiction of the layers of life in a Northwest ancient forest). For Northwest Naturalists (grades 4-6), a week focused on “living off the land,” Dorothy recommended we include resources like People of Salmon and Cedar (a picture book about Native people in the Northwest, and Keepers of Life (a full curriculum of Native North American stories and traditions), highlighting the heritage of the first people on this land.

This is an excerpt. For the full story, see the UW Botanic Gardens weblog.

Among Flowers: A Walk in the Himalaya by Jamaica Kincaid
a brief review by Miller Library volunteer Priscilla Grundy

This travelogue about Jamaica Kincaid's Nepal trek with Daniel Hinkley, searching for seeds to introduce to American gardens, is written from Kincaid’s experience as a neophyte mountaineer. Her focus is on finding seeds she can use in her home garden in Vermont. When she at last succeeds, the reader can share her excitement. She also makes very clear the challenges of this trip for her. She details extreme temperature changes, distances trudged up and down, scary foot bridges crossed, leeches removed. This was not an easy adventure. Throughout, however, she makes clear the struggles were worth it, and she would do it again.

Summer spotlight on food gardens

Susan Lally-Chiu's popular exhibit Drawings from Our Edible Gardens has been extended at the Miller Library through August 31. To complement her vivid work, we will be featuring library resources on urban farming.

Practical topics like city vegetable gardening, raising livestock in the city, and local food production are presented along with more theoretical works exploring everyting from the history of allotments to case studies in urban landscape design for agriculture. There is something for everyone!

New to the Library