What’s the scariest book you’ve ever read?
In our year-long Bookworm Challenge, October is, of course, the month to get a taste of the horror genre. For your reading pleasure, we present a list that spans the barely-scary “cozy horror” to books you should read only during the daytime with all the lights on. We developed a ghost-rating system to make it simple.
Continue reading “Oh, the Horror! An October Book List”
A few weeks ago, we shared some free resources that can help you and your students with homework. Most of that post focused on helping younger students. “What about helping my middle and high schoolers,” you ask? “They have research papers, term papers, reports and presentations that can be pretty tough to complete.” We agree, and we have some help for your older students, too. Best of all, it’s available anytime and it’s all free.
Continue reading “Older students need help, too”
Did you eat a warm, juicy tomato from your garden this summer, only seconds after picking it? How many zucchini did you get from that plant you grew and tended all summer long? Are your cucumbers still going strong, even as the weather cools?
We hope your garden harvest was amazing but remember that it’s more than the fruit and vegetables, it’s also the seeds. Each seed that you save can grow into its own plant and feed you again next year. In one tomato, there are an average of 150 to 300 seeds. You could save the seeds from just one tomato and have way more than you and your neighbor need for next year.
We launched our Reed Seed Library in Spring and distributed a lot of seeds. As you close down the gardening season, think about saving seeds for next year – for yourself and to donate back to our seed library.
Before you save seeds, you’ll need to know if your seeds will be true-to-type. In its simplest terms, will your seeds produce the exact same plant next year? This all depends on pollination.
Some plants like tomatoes, peas, and beans are self-pollinators and will generally produce the same seed. Wind and insect-pollinated plants like squash, cucumbers, corn, and melons, are more likely to cross-pollinate unless you’ve taken precautions beforehand. If your plant cross-pollinates, the resulting seed will be a hybrid – a combination of both plants’ characteristics. A hybrid isn’t a bad plant, it’s just not the original. Don’t let the worries about cross pollination keep you from saving and donating your seeds. Those hybrid vegetables will still feed the family and taste amazing.
It’s a little different for each plant but harvesting your seeds is not difficult. Your garden crops (and their seeds) will either be dry-fruited or wet fruited. Example: Beans are dry fruit. If you leave a few green beans on the vine, in time the pods will mature, dry out and do most of the work for you. Collecting those seeds will be as easy as picking some of the mature, nearly dry pods and bringing them inside for further drying and cleaning.
Tomatoes are wet fruited. To harvest those seeds, you need to cut apart the ripe fruit and extract seeds from the flesh and pulp before drying them. When you are harvesting any seed, the most important thing is to make sure your final seeds are dried properly. Wet and mold are your enemies.
We’ve just skimmed the surface of pollination and seed saving. If you’d like to dive deeper into these subjects, we have some books to help, so stop in. You can also check out these great resources below.
The most important thing to remember is to make sure and label your donated seed properly, as in the illustration below. Then we can correctly file your seeds into the library.
If you’d like to package your seed in our handy, labeled folding packet, stop by the second-floor desk and pick some up or download and print them yourself. Once your seeds are dried, labeled, and packaged, bring them back to our staff at the second-floor desk.
Our seed library’s inaugural year was fantastic. With your help, we hope to make it even better next year.
Did you grow anything using seed from the library this summer? What was your best crop?
Why Realistic Fiction? Because it’s the genre that brings you stories so ordinary, you could be living them (except maybe with wittier dialogue and slightly better lighting). But like reality TV, reading about real life might not be as dull as you think it is.
In our year-long Bookworm Challenge, September is the month for realistic fiction. If you’re scratching your head about the genre, we’re here to help. While the challenge prompts may give you room to squeak through with another type of read, we encourage you to give it a try.
Continue reading “A September stroll IRL”
School is about to start and with it comes something dreaded by students, parents, and caregivers alike: homework. With some helpful, free tools that you can access at home, we can make it a little easier.
Continue reading “Help With Homework”
Planning on voting in the November election? Need to update your registration? Do you know whether you are registered or not? We can help you register to vote so you’re all ready when November gets here.
We always have voter registration forms on hand. Stop in anytime we’re open, any day of the year, and pick one up in the community information room. Take it home and fill it out or fill it out while you’re here. Turn it in to the Portage County board of elections or give it back to us and we’ll forward it to the board of elections; you choose. If you want to vote this November, the deadline to register is October 7th.
If you want to make sure your registration is up to date or aren’t sure whether you’re registered, before you stop in, you may look up your registration on the board of election’s website.
For absentee ballots, complete election information and all of the election deadlines visit the very helpful Portage County Board of Elections website or give them a call (330-297-3511).
Every year we get to vote on the decisions being made in our communities, state, and nation. This year is an especially important voting year, because of the November presidential election. Reed Memorial Library can help you make sure you’re ready to vote.
Science + Fiction = anything can happen. A sci-fi book can be one that occurs in outer space, another universe, or even here in our recognizable real world. The key elements are that it’s speculative (meaning, “What if”), and that it usually deals with real or imaginary science and technology as part of its plot, setting, or subject.
If you’re part of the Bookworm Challenge, you know that August is the month for reading science fiction. If you’re new to this genre, we’re here to help with a few recommendations and some links to help you find your next read.
Continue reading “Science Fiction Books (Bookworm Challenge Recs)”
We’ve done it before and we’re doing it again. It’s time to pick up a blank canvas, take it home, and cover it with your artistic vision. Then bring it back to join its companions for Reed Memorial Library’s Tiny Art Show. See your art alongside your friends’, family, and neighbors’ on display for the whole community to enjoy! Keep reading for details.
Continue reading “Make a Little Art: This year’s Tiny Art Show”
Blueberries for Sal by Robert McCloskey
Where to find this book at Reed Memorial Library:
Robert McCloskey’s Blueberries for Sal, published in 1948, is a well-known and timeless children’s classic. Annie in Youth Services warmly recommends this beloved book, in time for the local blueberry-picking season.
Continue reading “Blueberries for Sal: A Reed Reads! Book Rec”
Did you know you can read the Record Courier online, free, wherever you are? All you need is a digital device (for the reading online part) and one of our library cards. Even better, when you read it this way, you don’t get pop-up ads to distract you from the news.
Keep reading to get the scoop.
Continue reading “Read the Record Courier (free) Online”
Sincerely, Cornelius 