Thanks to a recent grant Presque Isle’s public library can follow through with plans for a Children’s Garden outside the library.
What was part of the recent landscaping plan for the library was scrapped due to not enough funds, but a $5,000 grant from the Stephen and Tabitha King Foundation has allowed the public library to continue working on a garden space where children can see literature come to life.
“What we seek to do is to draw a kind of connection from literature to actual hands on growing so that kids learn that the thing they read in stories are actually things that they too can do,” Sonja Eyler, library director, said.
Eyler said the garden will be filled with inspirations from stories by Beatrix Potter. The project includes a wrap around bench for the garden’s tree, fencing, Peter Rabbit statues and plants such as carrots, radishes, cabbages and flowers.
“It’s really a space designed for children who are in the Story Time Program or who want to be in the Story Time Program to come and make the things they read in literature come alive,” she said.
The garden will be located on the north side of the library toward the back. There are already several plots ready for planting and the list of project items are on the way.
Several years ago the library featured a greenhouse for Story Time kids where children grew food and donated their crops to the local homeless shelter, according to Eyler.
Eyler said the space should be large enough to handle a group of 20 children. The grant funds will also help with an open house for the garden’s debut. And children who visit the garden will be allowed to pick vegetables while their parents relax on benches.
There are also plans on developing an adjacent garden inspired by the works of Shakespeare.
