We started this project with the intention of connecting our local community through literature and transforming the lawn into a pollinator-friendly garden in the process. It was made possible by the advice, expertise, and time volunteered by our friends and family who have seen other little libraries installed. We learned a lot about local pollinator plants, sources for book donations, and had lots of neighbours express anticipation and joy at the addition to our street.
The plan was to utilize the lawn patch beside the sidewalk to install a little free library. First, the lawn had to be dug up with the help of my parents and my kids! It was tiring work but we learned a lot about setting up a new garden plot. This took us about two weeks, with 3-4 hours of digging each day. Once the forklift hopped onto our sidewalk and plopped down our new garden soil a week later, we were ready to create our garden landscape for the library’s natural background.
With the help of some AI as well as an expert gardener friend, we mapped out the space with pollinator-friendly plants, including bee balm, baby phlox, sweet alyssum, liatris, crocosmia and lavender. We got them all in right before the end of summer, and it’s exciting to see what the next spring blooms will bring. We also created an area around the garden that was drought-tolerant with a succulent garden, which may invite some fairies to move in…
Instead of buying a ready made library internationally, we reached out to two of my local carpenter friends and asked for help to build and install the library. They created a beautiful wooden library by upcycling an old kitchen cabinet, and we installed it with a metal and wooden post. This was the part of the project I did not have as much control over, as I was not sure if the post would be sturdy enough in the new garden space. I did not have any of the tools needed, but I did learn about the tool lending library on Commercial Street. Luckily, my friends are the experts, so I left it up to them and they installed it without a hitch!
We installed everything as the sun set, and I am so excited for our neighbours to discover and visit it throughout this week. I hope to see it grow and become a regular stop for them. I always get joy and connection from visiting other little libraries around the city… I wish the same for those who visit ours.
