Mercer County Library Blog

Strawberry season is around the corner. Coming just after Mother’s Day and the last risk of frost, I’m ready for their arrival along with the true warm days of spring. Fresh New Jersey-grown strawberries are just as wonderful as Jersey tomatoes. The grocery store options simply cannot compare with our locally grown strawberries (and later, our tomatoes) in season. Local Farms to Buy From or U-Pick There are many opportunities to purchase strawberries in our area directly from local farms. By the way, picking your own strawberries is a great family outing with children. The fruit is low to the ground, so easy to pick without any pesky thorns. East Windsor Lee Turkey Farm Hopewell Kerr’s Kornstand Chickadee Creek Farm and the new Foraging Forest Lawrence Township Terhune Orchards Village Farms Pennington Little Acres Farm Stand Plainsboro Stults Farm West Windsor Tindal Farms Local Farmers Markets While on the topic of shopping local farms, most municipalities in Merc...

“ When in April the sweet showers fall And pierce the drought of March to the root and all The veins are bathed in liquor of such power As brings about the engendering of the flower; ” April means “to open” in Latin. For most parts of the world, it is the end of winter and beginning of spring. According to Geoffrey Chaucer in his opening lines from The Canterbury Tales  (above), the beginning season of bird singing and flower blossoming enlightens people’s hearts and gives them spiritual renewal. In 1996, the Academy of American Poets with the help of publishers, librarians, poets, and teachers, designated April as National Poetry Month. Since then, April is like a holiday month for many people who love poetry across the United States. MCLS Poetry Circle is a dynamic poetry program that promotes poetry reading and poetry writing at the Lawrence Headquarters Branch of the Mercer County Library System. We have a steady group of avid poetry lovers and poets from Lawrence, West Wind...

It’s a not-uncommon problem – you’re on a walk somewhere in the outdoors, and you come across something intriguing. Could be a bird, a tree, or a flower, but you don’t know what it is. That’s where a field guide comes to the rescue! While the first thing that usually comes to mind when you hear “field guide” is likely to be a Peterson’s (first published in 1934) or Audubon paperback, the guides actually appeared in the late 1890s so folks could ID birds from a distance, as opposed to “in-hand” (much identification at the time was done after the bird had been killed via shotgun). The modern version of field guides was pioneered by Roger Tory Peterson, adding pointers to identifying characteristics for particular birds, as well as how they look in differing plumage (such as immatures, or seasonal variations). The plethora of field guides today share two common elements: color illustrations or photos; and information about the subject, such as size, distinguishing characteristics, rang...

National Grilled Cheese Day is April 12 th . Did you know grilled cheese is one of the top comfort foods on the planet? On the planet !  There are very few foods that people all over the world agree on, but it seems that the grilled cheese sandwich is one that translates into just about any culture. People have been enjoying cooked bread and cheese since ancient times.  The term “grilled cheese” was found in American recipes during the 1920’s. The best thing about grilled cheese is that they can be made with different kinds of breads, cheeses, and toppings. Every culture around the world has their favorite version, from a croque madame to a quesadilla. I discussed the topic of grilled cheese with my colleagues and it was amazing how many different favorite ways we came up with to make this seemingly simple sandwich. What is your favorite grilled cheese? My favorite is a caprese grilled cheese made with sourdough bread, Mozzarella cheese, pesto and sliced tomato. If yo...

In early January, New Jersey became the first state to sign into law a bill to make media literacy a requirement for K-12 schools . This news made me flash back to a conversation my cousin and his seventeen-year-old daughter had about her buying something off of a “sketchy” website. He saw that this site couldn’t be trusted right away, but she didn’t see the problem at all. Being good with technology is a trait society assigns to young people, but perhaps Governor Murphy is right and we need to do a better job of preparing young people for a world filled with misinformation and disinformation. The Mercer County Library System has lots of resources for people of all age groups on the topics of information literacy, media literacy, and internet literacy.  Learning About Media Literacy by Martha Rustad is a great book for our youngest readers. Media literacy isn’t exactly a fun topic - at least not in the way dinosaurs or superheroes are. However, this book uses straightforward text...

When I was assigned this blog post, I noticed the due date looked familiar—it’s the same as the due date for my second baby! It felt only fitting to talk about the huge impact the library had on my life and my family’s lives when my daughter Elena was an infant, and how the library continues to serve our youngest patrons and their families. The library actually helped me prepare for parenthood before Elena was even born. I was excited to learn everything I could about pregnancy and early childhood. I checked out parenting books from the library to snuggle up with on the couch when I was tired. I also used hoopla and eLibraryNJ to download audiobooks to listen to as I arranged the nursery and knitted Elena’s coming home outfit. Here are some of my favorite books our collection offers for new and expecting parents: Bringing Up Beb é by Pamela Druckerman I enjoyed this window into French parenting, and learned some helpful strategies for encouraging good sleep and eating habits. Thi...

April 7 th is National Beer Day. In 1933, the Cullen-Harrison Act went into effect, allowing the purchase, sale, and consumption of beer and [i] wine after years of Prohibition. After signing the law, President Roosevelt is reported to have said “I think this would be a good time for a beer.” In 2017, the holiday was made official by being read into the Congressional Record. 1 Largely promoted via hashtags and social media, it’s a day to celebrate craft brewing and a good time to check out your local brewery, or perhaps become your local brewery. Home brewing is a long-practiced art. My spouse and I have been brewing at home for, well, quite a long time. We’ve brewed some real winners, including a stout and a sour cherry ale that we still talk about years later. And there have been some disasters, too—like the time a full 5-gallon glass carboy broke, spilling wort (sugary, unfermented beer) all over the floor of our second-floor apartment’s kitchen. Nowadays, those are good stories ...