"Grow a Reader" Community Garden Story Time

As promised, here are a blooming bunch of lovely photos from our recent "Grow a Reader" Community Garden Story Time, held last week in Ironton and provided by the Iron County Community Garden, Ozark Regional Library, the University of Missouri Extension Council (with refreshments courtesy of Kitty Hillquist of St. Paul's Episcopal Church).  Our program featured several garden-themed book choices (Tops and Bottoms by Janet Stevens and Muncha! Muncha! Muncha! by Candace Fleming), an interactive activity board that taught about food origin, a take-home flower collage kit, and some messy painting fun, making ground markers for one of the garden plots.  Linda Lane of the Community Garden also spoke with families about the Garden and provided plants and lots of information for the children to take home with them, while Debra Henk of the Extension Council gave a tour of the Garden and helped the children to plant bean and sunflower seeds.

Also, the library appreciates Emily Cooper for her kindness in snapping all these fantastic photos for us, so we could focus on the kids and the program!  Thanks, Emily!

Talking about foods that come from the garden versus foods that come from other sources.

Setting up our craft table after reading a few books.

Painting a ground marker for the kids' garden bed.

More painting!

And even more painting!

Refreshing with lemonade and chocolate cookies.

Getting hands dirty in the garden bed.

Debra Henk of the Extension Council talks with the kids as they plant beans and sunflowers.

A favorite photo from the program!

If anyone is interested in learning more about the Iron County Community Garden and how to get involved, please contact us at the library, either by phone or by email, and we'll get you in touch with the right people :)

As always, keep reading!

Shaen