The Simple Way

Sometimes this is how our growing begins!

Any guesses why?

We have had a bit of a problem with rats eating our plant starts. We know they are going to be delicious, but we want a chance to taste them, so we are hoping for the best from this new system!

Everything was growing beautifully, but alas, we start again. Follow along to see what grows from under those crates.

Our gorgeous hive is BUZZING!

We got a brand new set up for our bees this year, thanks to a few neighbors who are letting us borrow all the necessary equipment!

Our bees were delivered and only a few tested their skill of stinging.

They seem pretty happy here in Kensington, which means we should have a pretty great growing and harvesting season!

Our first finished chapter book on our new Yoto Players!

Our sweet friend came to the library and read a chapter a day!

12 chapters total, what an amazing accomplishment!

Twins by Varian Johnson, is a story about two sisters who being to grow apart to seek their own identity and learn to work through change.

If you want to donate to our Yoto player library our older kids would really appreciate it!

NUMBER 100!!!!

Our neighbor April became our 100th library card holder!

We all stopped what we were doing, hooped, hollered and cheered! How amazing that almost one year into The Simple Library and we have 100 neighbors who have access to our shelves.

We have plenty more neighbors who access our free books DAILY! We share free books in our little library on our sidewalk as well as in our community space. Kensington is FULL of readers!

If you haven't received a library card please stop by because we have some amazing stories on our shelves.

Let's all join together to Read. Resist. and Reimagine. a better world.

We’re celebrating Asian American and Pacific Islander Heritage Month!

We decided to do so in a truly delicious way: we’re growing some vegetables and herbs often used by some of the AAPI communities that are right here in Philadelphia. We are blessed with the diversity that they bring and that diversity includes some super fun veggies!

We are growing ginger, as well as some varieties of eggplant that are more common in Asian and Pacific Islander communities, namely Ping Tung and Nagasaki. We have galangal, a close cousin to ginger and turmeric. We’ve got Kaffir Lime, a lime tree that is used for its flavorful leaves (pictured here). And we can’t forget taro, an ancient but still popular root crop that grows cute elephant ear leaves as it develops.

We’re excited to honor our neighbors and to get to help our youth and surrounding community experience these delightful foods!

The Poetry Performance was a hit!

Our performers worked all month on writing poetry and raps share with everyone this week. They were nervous to take the stage, but every single one of them practiced bravery and knocked it out of the park. These kids are truly inspiring: their courage, their writing skills, and the way they cheered each other was amazing to witness.

Some wrote about basketball being their favorite sport; others wrote about the realities they see around them every day. They had such a great time that everyone asked to do it all over again, and again they did! Once they found their footing, these kids loved being on that stage with a microphone in their hands.

Imagine the leaders in this room. Imagine what happens when young people use their voices — the impact they can make today, and the change they can spark for years to come.

Spring Clean Up with Eastern University!

We cleaned out our alleyways, lots of trash AND planted a plum tree!

Thanks for coming out and helping get us Summer ready.

Eastern University