We put the last touches on our  Little Free Library this afternoon, and put up the plaque they sent me.  Maria scraped the paint off the window glass and we screwed the official library plaque on.

We even have our own number registered to our library – 57046. Jay Bridge is coming over to put a poke in the ground and move the library to the front yard, where it will be visible from the road.

People are asking me if we need or want donations, we do not. The idea of the free library isn’t to give books away, but share the books we have read with others, and get some back in  return. Besides, we have hundreds of books and do not need any more here thanks.

It will be along time before we run out of books.

We know of one other free library in our town, it’s over on Route 313 near the Vermont border.

Perhaps other people will try it. People who have these libraries – most are in rural areas – say it takes awhile before people  get the idea – take a book and return a book – but that others usually sprout up once the notion spreads.

It does take some work and some money – they are not as simple to build as I would have thought. But we are pretty excited about our library, I think the colors are good.  (We also discovered today that we have a previously unknown pumpkin patch growing right by the hay feeder in the pasture.)

We have to figure out exactly where to put it. Not too close to the highway to be dangerous, not too far back to be  hard to spot.

Grass roots community building are spreading across the country, especially as news from our government becomes less and less bearable. I hope to look out of my study one day and see people stopping to take home one of the books we have  read. That will be a nice thing to see.

I have always hated to see my  books gather dust on shelves for years. They ought to be shared and have many lives. Now, that may be possible.

Jay is haying on his farm, it might take him a day or two to get here, but our library will be up soon.