Volume 1, Issue 6

Featured Book: Backyard Bounty by Linda Gilkeson

New Society Publishers, 2011
Reviewed by Plant Answer Line librarian Rebecca Alexander

Amidst the bumper crop of recent food-gardening titles, Backyard Bounty: The Complete Guide to Year-Round Organic Gardening in the Pacific Northwest by Salt Spring Island, B.C. resident Linda Gilkeson stands apart. I put three recent edible plant titles by Northwest authors to the test by trying to find answers to commonly asked questions in them. Whether you are a beginning gardener or an experienced (or jaded!) old hand, this book will neither insult your intelligence nor blind you in a blizzard of technicalities. If you want to know about soil in raised beds, what to grow over the winter, or how to protect your grapes from predacious raccoons, this is the place. Though it lacks photos of primped and prinked up fruit and veggie glamour, the information is well-organized and clearly presented. I learned enough from reading it that I may just have to own a copy.

Story Program season wraps up June 14, to return in October

  Story programs at the Miller Library will embark on their tenth year this fall. We invite families with children ages 3-8 to join us one Saturday morning each month of the school year for stories and activities that celebrate gardens, plants, and nature.

Families attending the June 14 story program will have the opportunity to travel back in time as we read The Gardener (set in 1935), The Magical Garden of Claude Monet (set in the 1910s), and Mossy (an Edwardian fantasy). As usual, the 45-minute program begins at 10:30 that Saturday.

Summer Hours begin June 16

June 16 through September 15 the Miller Library will be open from 12 noon to 8 pm each Monday, due to the University of Washington interim.

We will be closed July 4, September 1 (Labor Day), and each Saturday in July and August.

Saturday 9 am to 3 pm open hours resume September 6, and Monday 9 am to 8 pm hours resume September 22.

Upcoming Exhibit: Mixed Media Sculpture by James Toner

Artist James Toner creates sculptures, furniture and lamps with a variety of materials including wood, stone, ceramic and bronze. Ceramic flowers and sconces made from handmade paper and birch bark are some of the items that will be featured in the library June 20-July 30. The artist invites you to join him at the opening reception Friday, June 20, from 5:00 to 7:00 pm.

New to the Library May 2014