Sign up here to get involved.

The LibraryFarm is an organic community garden on one-half acre of land owned by Northern Onondaga Public Library in Cicero, NY. Anyone can “check out” a plot for no cost. It’s purpose is to teach and learn “food literacy,” as well as to preserve knowledge that our grandparents might have had but that never got passed down, and to provide fresh organic produce for local food pantries.

If you check out a plot (see a PDF map of individual plots here), you plant whatever you want to do whatever you please with the harvest. By signing up, gardeners agree to follow organic growing practices, meaning no one can spray pesticides or add chemical herbicides or fertilizer to the soil. Don’t know how to make stuff grow without juicing it? No problem, we’ve got people involved who can help. Learning is whole point, so you’ll find support. Organic gardening works: one of our gardener’s cucumbers won first prize at the State Fair last year (Congrats again, Patti Herrmann).

Just under half of the lot is dedicated to a shared, public plot, where anyone can plant, work, and pick from. This shared lot allows people who can not commit to maintaining a garden here to still benefit from and be involved in the LibraryFarm. Most of the harvest from this area will get donated to local food shelters, but anyone can forage in it. The guiding rule is that you simply contribute the amount of labor that is commensurate with the food you pick. It’s such an easy, honor-based ethic. It works because think about it: are you comfortable mooching? Neither are the rest of us.

Saturday Classes

10:30 am at NOPL at Cicero

Next Class:

Saturday, June 18 Herbs.

Previous Classes

January 8 Succession planting. Ordering seeds.
February 19 Starting seeds indoors.
March 19 Compost, Compost, Compost!
April 9 Watering, fertilizing.
May 2-4,
6-8pm each day
Master Composting Class, with OCRRA’s Greg Gelewski ($15, registration required)

May 14 Pests and other problems.

May 21 LibraryFarm Kickoff event. Wear grubby clothes, bring your tools, your seeds, your kids, and your friends. Boy scouts will be hard at work building raised beds and compost bins. We’ll dig, haul compost, plant seedlings, paint signs. The more the merrier.

See what others are saying about NOPL’s LibraryFarm

Gardening humor from LibraryFarmer Patti:

You know you’re addicted to gardening when…
-Your neighbors recognize you in your pajamas, rubber clogs, and a cup of coffee.
-You grab other people’s banana peels, coffee grinds, apple cores, etc. for your compost pile.
-You have to wash your hair to get your fingernails clean.
-All your neighbors come and ask you questions.