Volume 3, Issue 11 
Paintings and Prints by Molly Hashimoto
Exhibit opens November 3

We are very excited about the opportunity to showcase new work from local artist Molly Hashimoto this November and December. Paintings and prints will be included, featuring flowers, birds, and landscapes highlighting the seasonal joys of life in the Pacific Northwest.

The artist invites you to an opening reception this Thursday, November 3, from 5 to 7 pm.

Food and the City: Histories of Culture and Cultivation
reviewed by Brian Thompson

The UW Farm is a great example of the increasing interest in urban agriculture, but this is not a new movement. Food and the City: Histories of Culture and Cultivation provides historical snapshots of food growing projects from around the world, concentrating on the late 19th century through the mid-20th century. Two global depressions and two world wars made this a particularly difficult time for city dwellers.

These essays were developed from lectures given at a “Food and the City” symposium held at the Dumbarton Oaks research institution in Washington, D.C. in May 2012 that “…sought to historically contextualize the current discourse on urban agriculture.” I found the chapter written by Laura Lawson and Luke Drake of Rutgers University particularly engaging with its focus on American cities and because Lawson was a co-author of the 2009 book Greening Cities Growing Communities: Learning from Seattle’s Urban Community Gardens.

Both books bring an academic perspective on this very human activity of gardening. However, neither is locked in a strictly scholarly discourse. At the end of Lawson and Drake’s chapter in Food and the City, the authors conclude “In cities across America, food is being grown to feed families, to enliven communities, to provide economic opportunities, and to educate young and old…it is reassuring to realize that gardening for food is a normal part of the urban landscape...”

Have you seen these?
Parent/Teacher Resource Collection field guides

A favorite perch for book lovers of all ages, our children's corner looks out over the Union Bay Natural Area, where birders and other naturalists flock to observe wildlife, from dragonflies to bald eagles. Did you know, though, that you can find a wide array of plant and animal identification guides tucked under the bench seating there? Borrow one of these field guides before your next field trip (urban or otherwise) to help you recognize the diversity of life all around us.

Pictured at right: Plants of the Gulf and San Juan Islands and Southern Vancouver Island from the well-illustrated Raincoast Pocket Guides series.

New to the Library