For years, the Shawano County Public Library has been known as a place for more than books, videos and educational resources.
There’s the free Wi-FI, an escape room, free state park passes and the Library of Things that offers luggage, fishing poles, small kitchen appliances, puzzles and more.
Now, it’s home to a hydroponic farm that grows varieties of lettuce, bok choy, basil and more to be given away to patrons and other visitors.
The hydroponic farm, located in the front entry of the library at 128 S. Sawyer St., was paid for with a grant from Sanford Health-Marshfield Clinic.
“We didn’t just want to put fresh veggies on the pantry shelves,” said library staff member Tabitha Pierce, who wrote the grant with Staci Rubenzer, library director. “We wanted to meet the current needs of our community and expand on that with programs focused around topics like sustainability, food waste, nutrition and composting.” Pierce is now coordinating the project and related programming.
Flex Farms are vertical hydroponic farming systems that produce significant quantities of fresh food and are designed to fit small indoor spaces. The units include an energy-efficient LED light tower, submersible pump, grower tool kit and starter supply kit. Each unit enables the owner to grow more than 3,400 plants annually.
Rubenzer said the library received an email about the grant opportunity from the clinic.
“Some of our staff who work on the little food pantry project here at the library thought that this could be a good opportunity to pursue,” she said. “As we looked into it, it did not seem like a grant that would provide direct funding of the existing little food pantry, but it seemed like it could be something more. Sustainability and community education were large components of the grant that we submitted.”
The library board approved the grant plan in January, and the grant cycle runs through 2026.
“With the grant funds, we purchased the Flex Farm hydroponic tower and supplies for the first year,” Rubenzer said. “We intend for it to be a sustainable educational piece in the library from which the harvest can be shared with our patrons.”
The library’s first crop of romaine and green star lettuce was harvested the week of June 8-12. More than 70 bags of fresh greens were given to community members.
A second crop of butterhead lettuce, summer crisp lettuce, tatsoi, bok choy and basil is currently growing in the hydroponic tower.
“We anticipate a harvest the week of July 6 or 13, as it takes about one month from planting to harvesting in the hydroponic system,” Rubenzer said.
Feel free to peek inside the hydroponics farm, but staff requests you not touch the plants in the tower.
According to Pierce, the system itself does most of the work after the initial setup, which took about an hour to put together and another hour to get the water tanks filled, pH and TDS levels tested, nutrients added and water tested one more time.
Cleaning the system between plantings took some time, but that should get quicker as staff members become more familiar with the process.
“I’ve tried gardening before, but it didn’t go well,” Pierce said. “This is my first successful crop, and I’m so pleased to see the excitement in the patrons and the community.”
Part of the grant proposal was building community partnerships around this system.
Rubenzer said the library is partnering with Fork Farm staff and the county’s Extension Office 4-H leadership to present programs on sustainable and nutritious food sources and our relationship with the environment.
On June 24, a Fork Farm representative spoke on how sustainability and food waste prevention can help people save money and the planet.
“Working with our county’s 4-H youth development educator, Megan Suehring, has been very exciting, and we think that partnership is a natural match to this project,” Rubenzer said. “We are also hoping that community partnerships lead to groups ‘adopting’ the hydroponic tower (planting, water testing, harvesting, etc.) for short periods, so we are interested in creating more partnership opportunities and having more groups come to the library to check out what is growing here.”
The Sanford Health-Marshfield Clinic had been working with Fork Farms in Green Bay to place about 35 Flex Farms in community locations where the food can be used by school children, seniors and other community-based organizations.
kpasson@newmedia-wi.com
The public library’s first crop of romaine and green star lettuce was harvested the week of June 8-12. More than 70 bags of fresh greens were given to community members. A second crop of butterhead lettuce, summer crisp lettuce, tatsoi, bok choy and basil is currently growing in the hydroponic tower. (Contributed)
