“Would you like some parsnip seeds?”

I was standing at the circulation desk in our tiny village library when she walked in with a brown paper shopping bag and a box of resealable sandwich baggies. She had come to share the wealth with the seed exchange that the library hosts, and stood at the central table to parcel them out. She gave me so many, I think that I’ll be sharing them as well.

The girls and I pulled in at 3:01 pm yesterday, thinking we’d be the first family in the door as they opened. I realized that was silly of me, following one car up into the half-filled lot with another coming in close behind us. When the library is open, the people come, and I am glad for it. If they are struggling to stay relevant, I am certainly struggling to see it as the library seems to be the epicenter of our little town. It’s the first place that I learned of our town newsletter last year, and one of our librarians kindly added me to the email distribution. Yesterday, I picked up the form for summer swimming lessons at the town beach so that we can get Swee registered. Our pumpkins are growing from seeds picked out of the library’s exchange, and it would appear we’re adding parsnips to the mix. The library is a vibrant and essential part of this community, and I am grateful for it.

This week we are:

– pulling chard from the garden in bunches, adding it to salads and feeding some to the chickens (if you’re local and want to barter, let me know – we have a lot)

– mending in the garden

– enjoying some new to us garden seating (and trying to choose a color for a facelift)

– surviving our first power outage in this rental – successfully!

Summer is almost upon us – what are you up to?