November Book Club Picks

Here are what the Sandy and Hoodland book clubs have decided to read in November: 

Men's Book Club

Monday, November 2
7:00 PM
Hoyt Community Room in the Sandy Library

The Virginian by Owen Wister

For further information please contact Maureen Houck: mhouck@ci.sandy.or.us

Digital Book Club 

Thursday, November 5
7:00 PM
Online via Zoom

There There by Tommy Orange

For further information and to receive the Zoom link, contact the library: sandylibrary@ci.sandy.or.us

Women's Book Club

Thursday, November 12

6:00 PM

Hoyt Community Room in the Sandy Library

On The Road by Jack Kerouac 

For further information please contact Maureen Houck: mhouck@ci.sandy.or.us

Hoodland Book Club

Tuesday, November 17

4:00 PM

Hoodland Community Room

The Night Watchman by Louise Erdrich

For further information please contact Alex Steinmetz: asteinmetz@ci.sandy.or.us

Sandy Seed Library News - October 2026

 

Happy October, Gardeners!



All I’ve wanted to do this past month is get outside and harvest some seeds! In addition to the western bleeding heart, grape hyacinth, and California poppy I harvested earlier in the year, I recently collected lavender, allium, chive, peony, and zinnia seeds. In the library’s garden I harvested another kind of lavender just today (9/26/26) and during the summer was able to harvest some big-leafed lupine, California poppy, as well as Farewell-to-Spring. You will be able to find these seeds in the seed library as soon as I am able to finish processing them.

Last year, I attempted to save seeds from the dogwood tree in front of the library, but with no experience and a lack of bandwidth to dive deeper, I abandoned my collection. I bring this up because I recently learned through the Portland Tree Project that dogwood fruit is edible and is also called kousa dogwood berries! Read this blog post to learn more:

Kousa Dogwood Berries: A Hidden Culinary Gem

It is probably no surprise that I am subscribed to several OSU Master Gardener Extension newsletters. In the Clackamas County newsletter they highlighted sowing native seeds, and I wanted to share this resource with you as fall is a great time to start certain varieties.

Sowing Native Flower Seeds - a PDF

What seeds have you been able to save this year?

October Book Club Picks

Here is what the Sandy and Hoodland are reading in October! 

Digital Book Club 

Thursday, October 1
7:00 PM
Online via Zoom

The Buffalo Hunter Hunter by Stephen Graham Jones

For further information and to receive the Zoom link, contact Kat Aden: kaden@ci.sandy.or.us

Men's Book Club 

Monday, October 5

7:00 PM

Hoyt Community Room

The Dutch House by Ann Patchett

For further information please contact Maureen Houck at mhouck@ci.sandy.or.us

Women's Book Club 

Thursday, October 8

6:00 PM

Hoyt Community Room

Mutant Message Down Under by Marlo Morgan

For further information contact Maureen Houck at mhouck@ci.sandy.or.us

Hoodland Book Club 

Tuesday, October 20

4:00 PM

Hoodland Community Room

The Poisoner's Handbook by Deborah Blum

For further information contact Alex Steinmetz at asteinmetz@ci.sandy.or.us

September Seed Library News

 

Happy September, Gardeners!

Thank you to everyone who was able to come to our final seed library event of the year. We had some of what you might expect: tomatoes and squash, but we also had community members bring in elderberries, cucumbers, duck eggs, bulb onions and garlic! It has been a year of firsts with the additional swaps, and I am looking forward to growing and improving in 2027.

Note: Elderberries should not be consumed unripe, raw, or with the stems or leaves. These berries provide a lot of health benefits, but those benefits are only available after they have been cooked for at least 20-30 minutes. Consuming them raw could make you sick.

As we enter into the fall and winter seasons, I will be seeking out seed donations from various nurseries. We are also very happy to accept donations from our local seed savers. If you have any questions on how to donate to the seed library, please feel free to send me an email. I have the seed donation slip that I like to receive with each seed donation to help me get them ready for the drawer, and I will attach that here. I also have been asked what kind of container, whether its a baggie or envelope, to donate seeds in, and I would say, it is whatever is convenient for you! Since I go through the effort of creating labels and putting them in my own bags to allow for uniformity in the drawers, it truly does not matter too much.

September Book Club Picks

Here are what the Sandy and Hoodland book clubs have decided to read in September: 

Digital Book Club 

Thursday, September 3
7:00 PM
Online via Zoom

The Shadow of the Wind by Carlos Ruiz Zafon

For further information and to receive the Zoom link, contact Kat Aden: kaden@ci.sandy.or.us

Women's Book Club

Thursday, September 10

6:00 PM

Hoyt Community Room in the Sandy Library

Mink River by Brian Doyle

For further information please contact Maureen Houck: mhouck@ci.sandy.or.us

Men's Book Club

Monday, September 14
7:00 PM
Hoyt Community Room in the Sandy Library

Fire Weather: A True Story From a Hotter World by John Vaillant

For further information please contact Maureen Houck: mhouck@ci.sandy.or.us

Hoodland Book Club

Tuesday, September 15

4:00 PM

Hoodland Community Room

Same Author September - Jane Kirkpatrick

Read any book by Jane Kirkpatrick and discuss!

For further information please contact Alex Steinmetz: asteinmetz@ci.sandy.or.us

Sandy Seed Library News - August 2026

Happy August, Gardeners!

This year I challenged myself by incorporating more gardening swaps into the schedule, and I am hoping to close out the Sandy Seed Library Series of programs with a final swap: Share Your Bounty. With how popular our annual seed swap is, I thought about trying a seedling swap in the spring, and a harvest swap in the late summer. The seedling swap was on the smaller side but a hit with attendees, and feedback to make it an annual event. As I thought through what a harvest swap might look like, I decided it would be nice to keep the seedlings coming for folks that would like some late-season crops or even some plants that will overwinter.

There is room for this to grow as we get more experience under our belts and feedback from our seed library community.

August Book Club Picks

Here are what the Sandy and Hoodland book clubs have decided to read in August: 

Men's Book Club

Monday, August 3
7:00 PM
Hoyt Community Room in the Sandy Library

How to Know a Person by David Brooks

For further information please contact Maureen Houck: mhouck@ci.sandy.or.us

Digital Book Club 

Thursday, August 6
7:00 PM
Online via Zoom

West with the Night by Beryl Markham

For further information and to receive the Zoom link, contact Kat Aden: kaden@ci.sandy.or.us

Women's Book Club

Thursday, August 13

6:00 PM

Hoyt Community Room in the Sandy Library

Loves Music, Loves to Dance by Mary Higgins Clark

For further information please contact Maureen Houck: mhouck@ci.sandy.or.us

Hoodland Book Club

Tuesday, August 18

4:00 PM

Hoodland Community Room

The Correspondent by Virginia Evans

For further information please contact Alex Steinmetz: asteinmetz@ci.sandy.or.us