Getting your Trinity Audio player ready...

SALUDA—Thanks to a generous Free Community Events grant from Polk County Community Foundation, and a partnership between Polk County Public Libraries and Conserving Carolina, a speaker series will take place at Saluda Library on the second Tuesday of each month at 2 p.m., from January to November 2024.

The first program in the series is “Fungi, Food, and The Future.” On January 9, Lizza Bixby, Director of Education at Mushroom Mountain, will explore the topic of sustainability and how mushrooms fit into a sustainable lifestyle. She will cover the importance of mushrooms and fungi in our food systems, their role in the ecosystem, innovative mycological solutions and the future potentials of mushrooms in our daily lives.

Brannen Basham and Jill Jacobs, owners of Spriggly’s Beescaping, will present “Native Pollinators and the Habitats They Require” on February 13. Take a deep dive into the life cycles of native bees, butterflies, moths, beetles, wasps, birds and more. Learn how to care for your space throughout the year to support the widest diversity of creatures.

The March 12 program, “Cherokees of the Carolinas,” will be led by historian Dennis Chastain. Learn about many aspects of the history and culture of the Cherokees, who occupied this area for a thousand years, including how they constructed their houses and other structures, the foods they ate, and the story of corn and how it changed the lifestyles of all southeastern Native Americans.

Polk County Public Libraries has two libraries, Columbus Library and Saluda Library, with books, movies, music, audiobooks, and downloadable eBooks and audiobooks available for checkout, as well as public computers and wireless internet access. PCPL also offers regularly scheduled virtual and in-person programs for all ages. To learn more, visit www.polklibrary.org.

Contact Pam Torlina at pam@conservingcarolina.org with questions or for more information.