Minnesota Prairie Roots

The vegetable garden on the side of Buckham Memorial Library, Faribault, Minnesota.

LEMON CUCUMBERS. Purple beans. Dill. Snap peas. Kohlrabi.

A developing ground cherry? Or something else?

Dill.

Ground cherries.

The list of vegetables grown in a community garden at Buckham Memorial Library in Faribault also includes ground cherries, tomatoes, Swiss chard, eggplant, cilantro, rosemary. Plus clover and sunflowers. And maybe some plants I’ve missed.

A vegetable blossom.

Several types of tomatoes grow in the garden.

Purple beans.

While I had hoped to harvest beans during a recent stop, I found them still too small and other vegetables (the ones I would eat) not yet ready for picking.

Sunflowers burst color into the garden.

Another view of the garden.

But I still took time to photograph this wedge garden, a project of Friends of the Library. The Friends Organic Learning Garden was designed several years ago as a place for folks to gather and learn how to:

• grow delicious organic food
• care for the earth and our water supply
• support pollinators
• connect with others in the community

There’s a bee lawn right next to the vegetable garden.

Another unidentified vegetable developing.

A warning sign next to the library and by the bee lawn.

It’s a great idea. Anything that brings people together, educates and meets a need—providing food—certainly holds value. I have, in past years, enjoyed vegetables from the library garden. That includes lemon cucumbers, which Lisa Reuvers, library employee and lead master gardener, says “were a hit a couple of years ago.”

The garden features a hummingbird sculpture, “The Color of Flight, by Jorge Ponticas. This was funded by the “Artists on Main Street” program several years ago.

I’ll keep an eye on those coveted orb-shaped cucumbers as they ripen and grab a few for salads…

TELL ME: Does your community have a similar garden? Or are you a gardener? I’d like to hear.

© Copyright 2020 Audrey Kletscher Helbling