Ingalls Memorial Library developing outdoor programming

Ingalls Memorial Library in Rindge has received funding and will receive thousands of native wildflower seed packets to create a spring and summer of programming for families.

The library will be partnering with Sun Moon Farm, the Rindge Conservation Commission and Cathedral of the Pines to create family outdoor programming to support the role of bees, butterflies and other pollinators. The #PlantWildflowers Initiative grant award is supported by Howard Hughes Medical Institute’s (HHMI) Tangled Bank Studios, PBS Nature, World Wildlife Fund and Air Wick Scented Oils, whose One Square Foot Initiative aims to replant 1 billion square feet of grasslands with native wildflowers.

The library was one of 50 selected nationwide, from more than 300 applicants. In addition to the monetary award, the library will receive seed packets of native wildflowers specific to the Northeast for free public distribution, along with informational and planting materials.

The library and the Rindge Conservation Commission will host a BioBlitz event, during which participants will create a snapshot of one of the town's conservation properties using the iNaturalist app. The library will also host a screening of PBS Nature’s “My Garden of a Thousand Bees,” a film that follows wildlife filmmaker Martin Dohrn, who during the pandemic lockdown turns his lenses on the bees living in his own urban garden in Bristol, England.

There will be two free showings on April 21 -- one at 3:30 p.m. and one at 6:30 p.m. -- both at the Rindge Meeting House, located at 6 Payson Hill Road. Interested adult and youth community groups, schools and other organizations interested in collaborating should contact the library at 603-899-3303 by mid-April.