Phoenixville Public Library offers programs in May

Phoenixville Public Library invites you to join Charlene Briggs on a foraging walk and tour of Living Landscapes’ Medicinal Herb Garden at Reservoir Park, 601 Franklin Ave., Phoenixville, on Sunday, May 15, at 1:00 PM. The free event is part of the Community Gardening around the Village program series, cosponsored by the Library and several community partner organizations. Learn about common landscape “weeds” and their traditional food and medicinal values. Learn how to grow, harvest, garble, tincture, decoct and infuse plants for meals and medicines from your own landscape. Drink some tea and get to know the medicinal plants used in the PXV CommuniTEA project. Certified in Herbal Medicine and Ethical Foraging from the Chestnut School of Herbal Medicine, Charlene Briggs has a life-long relationship and practice with herbs as food and medicine. This event is free and open to the public. Registration is required at https://ccls.libcal.com/calendar/Phoenixville/herb-garden-tour or by calling the Library at 610-933-3013 x132. Email mpinto@ccls.org for more information.

Learn about Phoenixville’s trees with Pennsylvania Master Naturalist Martha Cownap at a free “Tree Walk in Reeves Park” on Monday, May 16, at 7:00 PM. Participants will walk around Reeves Park, across from Phoenixville Public Library, and admire and identify the lovely trees there. Participants will learn about each type of tree’s historical and medicinal uses, and how trees help the environment. Martha will also touch on which trees are best to plant in our climate, and why. This is a “Longwood Gardens Community Read” event. Each attendee will be eligible for a drawing for a family pass to Longwood Gardens. The theme of this year’s Community Read is “Listening to Trees.” Longwood is encouraging adult readers to explore the concept of trees as nature’s great connectors with David George Haskell’s The Songs of Trees: Stories from Nature’s Great Connectors. Learn more about the Community Read at https://longwoodgardens.org/education/ community-read/community-read-2022. Participants should meet at the gazebo across Second Avenue from Phoenixville Public Library, 183 Second Avenue, Phoenixville. This event is free and open to the public. Registration is required at https://ccls. libcal.com/calendar/Phoenixville/tree-walk or by calling 610-933-3013 x132. Email mpinto@ccls.org for more information.

Phoenixville Public Library will host a free inperson presentation “Lyme and Other Tick-Borne Diseases: The Basics” on Thursday, May 19, at 7:00 PM. Doug Fearn of Lyme Basics will be the speaker. The presentation will cover what Lyme disease is, how you get it, what it can do to you, how it is diagnosed and treated, and why it can be difficult to get effective treatment. Other tick-borne diseases in our region will also be covered, along with their symptoms, diagnosis and treatment, and why they complicate the path to regaining good health. This event is free and open to the public. Registration is required at https://ccls.libcal.com/ calendar/Phoenixville/ lyme-disease or by calling 610-933-3013 x132. Email mpinto@ccls.org for more information. Phoenixville Public Library is located at 183 Second Ave., Phoenixville.

Free, in-person tech help is available at Phoenixville Public Library during selected hours on Monday afternoons and Tuesday & Wednesday evenings. Onehour appointments for assistance with your laptop, tablet or smartphone from the library’s volunteer tutors are available by calling 610-933-3013 Ext. 132.