Farm in the Library

We are extremely lucky to have a magnet school in our community that focuses on urban farming. They've been great partners for programming, whether it was lending us cornstalks for a popcorn program or bringing in different experiences for our kiddos. Here are a few of my favorite farm encounters I've been a part of:

Grow, Eat, Grow!
For the summer reading theme year that focused on health and fitness we had an outreach person from the farm come with fresh veggies, picked that morning, and seeds. We tried zucchini, yellow squash, green beans, and carrots. I made some quick cheesy zucchini in the office toaster oven, just slice it in half length-wise, brush with olive oil, sprinkle with salt, pepper, and cheese (I use parmesan for myself, mozzarella for the kids). We sat in a big circle and the kids got to hold different seeds, smell them, talk about them, and then examine the veggies. Many tried things their parents said they avoid at home. Most of the kids loved the cheesy zucchini. It was a really simple but effective program for kids of all ages.

Llama in the Library
This one wasn't with the high school, it was a local farmer that does school visits with her llamas. In the scheme of outside programs it was pretty economical and it's pretty eye-catching to have a llama in the second floor children's room. I didn't plan this one, my coworker organized it but I ended up being the one overseeing it on the day of.
A few details particularly exciting to me:
-the llama arrived in a minivan with the seats taken out, much easier to maneuver than a truck or trailer
-it wasn't used to be high up, so it spent most of the time staring out our windows at the unusual perspective of the outside
-it made this quiet humming-groaning noise the whole time
-llamas only spit at other llamas, never at humans

It was really friendly and in addition to a story, details on llama goods, passing around yarn and other items, the farmer let everyone pet the llama and take their pictures with it.

Year of the Rooster
We have these laminated cards we show the kids at class visits talking about the different kinds of programs we have. One has a picture of a chicken visiting the library. All the kids think it's awesome and from the beginning of my tenure I longed to have a chicken visit the library again. It took over a year to find just the right timing for the farm high school and the library. When I saw that this was the year of the rooster in the Chinese zodiac, I knew I had to have a rooster come to the library to celebrate the Lunar New Year. We have a high number of Chinese families that attend our programs. We had to shuffle things around last minute but managed to schedule the rooster for the last weekend of the New Year celebrations. My first question when booking the rooster was are roosters even ok to meet? Are they aggressive? I was told they can be but the one at the farm was great with kids. And was he ever! Hatched at a daycare in a nearby town that doesn't allow roosters, only hens, Gertie was used to being in a classroom setting. The outreach person from the farm talked a little about roosters and then answered a deluge of questions. Everyone got a chance to pet him and hold him if they wanted. He was very patient and beautiful.

We even had a local online news outlet there covering it. I gave out a handout with all of the Chinese Zodiac animals on it and everyone figured out there personal one. We decorated cartoon zodiac paper lanterns printed out on red paper, using pipe cleaners and gold pens, I did the cutting beforehand because it's unlucky to cut things during Lunar New Year. I had an artistic library assistant put some greetings in Chinese pictographs on the wipeboard for people to copy. It was a fun combination of animal and cultural programs.