Bacon Free Library

Book Club
2024-03-26 18:30 - 19:30 (America/New_York) | Bacon Free Library, 58 Eliot Street, Natick, MA, 01760, United States
This month, we will read and discuss The Library of Lost and Found by Phaedra Patrick 2019
Join us at the library for the discussion.
Copies of the book are available at the library.
Order your own copy HERE
Digital Audiobook Instantly available on HOOPLA
If you are interested in attending, please contact Graziella at glesellier@minlib.net

Featured Artist - Rebecca McGee Tuck
2024-03-28 - 2024-05-14 | Bacon Free Library, 58 Eliot Street, Natick, MA, 01760, United States
Rebecca McGee Tuck is a sculptor and an ocean activist. Her work is a visual narrative of what she accumulates from a throw away society and as a result she gives new life to what others discard. Tuck has shown her work in multiple juried shows throughout the Northeast including the Danforth and Fitchburg Art Museums, Viridian Arts Gallery in NYC, and the George Marshall Store Gallery in York, Maine.
Tuck’s series of work called “Along the Wrack Line” deals with the overwhelming amount of debris and plastic trash that contaminate our local New England beaches. Tuck works among her menagerie of debris from her studio at the Mill Contemporary Art Studios in Framingham.

Join us for an artist’s reception: come to meet Rebecca McGee Tuck on Tuesday, April 30th from 5:00-6:30PM.

wracklineseadebriserosiondogood

Rebecca’s art, in her own words:
Wrack Line– A trail of debris left on the beach by the high tide.
I began walking the wrack line as a kid with my father—attracted to the sea glass and shells like a perpetual seaside treasure hunt. I learned in time that the real treasures were not always as conspicuous. The random debris that washed ashore after spending ages enduring the ocean’s churn and grasp held more mystery for me. Foraging at the high tide water mark has metamorphosed into my passion and catalyst for my work.
Fishing lines, rope, lobster cages and other marine debris are colorful, full of texture and ready-made to be woven into my assemblage fiber sculpture. But with each bag of jetsam collected, I felt the precarious weight of the impact of marine debris on our ocean. It has overwhelmed me and it became clear that I needed to take a more active role in the ocean’s protection.
“Along the Wrack-line” is the title I have given to my ongoing series of sculpture. With this work I raise awareness to the constant misuse of the ocean’s ecosystem by transforming pieces of marine debris into works of art and symbols of hope calling attention to the consequences of polluting our oceans and encouraging a new commitment to action!
Instagram: @Rebeccabombshellart /https://www.instagram.com/rebeccabombshellart/
Facebook: RebeccaMcGeeTuckArt https://www.facebook.com/rebeccamcgeetuckart/
website: Rebeccamcgeetuck.com https://rebeccamcgeetuck.com/

Paper Quilling - Quilled Heart Greeting Card
2024-03-30 11:00 - 12:30 | Bacon Free Library, 58 Eliot Street, Natick, MA, 01760, United States
Introducing our paper quilling workshop, perfect for beginners! In this 90 minute interactive session, we’ll delve into the world of paper quilling, exploring various tools and the endless possibilities that simple strips of paper hold. Participants will embark on a journey of coiling and shaping, experimenting with different random forms. Then, using the paper shapes they’ve mastered, they’ll have the opportunity to create their own one-of-a-kind collages. Whether you choose to transform your masterpiece into a stunning greeting card (an envelope is included!) or keep it as a captivating picture, the approximate finished size of your creation will be 5.50” x 4.25”.

Ages 12+

Dog Tales Story Time
2024-04-01 10:00 - 10:30 | Bacon Free Library, 58 Eliot Street, Natick, MA, 01760, United States
Muri and her human Cheryl will be visiting the BFL for a fun and furry story time! Join us for dog-approved stories and a chance to pet this calm, sweet, and soft therapy dog.

Story Time
2024-04-02 10:00 - 10:30 | Bacon Free Library, 58 Eliot Street, Natick, MA, 01760, United States
Join us on the Bacon Free Library lawn for stories, songs, and rhymes.
Bring along a blanket to get comfy. We are looking forward to seeing you!
Note: if the weather is wet or below 55 degrees, we’ll move this story time indoors.

Mystery Book Club
2024-04-04 13:00 - 14:00 | MA
Join us for a virtual Zoom discussion of Down the River Unto the Sea by Walter Mosley. Copies available at the library, or borrow as an ebook or digital audiobook through Libby. Please email cstirling@minlib.net to register and receive the Zoom link.

Jammin With You
2024-04-05 10:30 - 11:00, 2024-04-12 10:30 - 11:00, 2024-05-03 10:30 - 11:00 | Bacon Free Library, 58 Eliot Street, Natick, MA, 01760, United States
Be prepared to laugh, dance, sing, and jam your way through 30 minutes of non-stop family fun! This performance is geared toward kids ages 1 – 7, but fun for the whole family. With modern takes on children’s classics and classic original tunes, you’ll be humming and bopping all the way home.
If the weather is 55 degrees or warmer, the program will be held outdoors behind the library, so bring a blanket or towel for sitting on the grass. If it’s rainy or under 55 degrees, we’ll meet indoors and space will be available on a first come, first served basis.
Bring your own simple instruments if you can! We recommend shakers, rhythm sticks, and scarves, or homemade equivalents like a container of rice, a couple of wooden spoons, and a dish towel. Jammin With You has more instrument suggestions here.

Sponsored by Middlesex Savings Bank

Meet an Alpaca!
2024-04-06 10:30 - 11:30 | Bacon Free Library, 58 Eliot Street, Natick, MA, 01760, United States
Meet an alpaca at the BFL! Harvard Alpaca Ranch will be bringing one of their alpacas to the library for a visit. After listening to a presentation all about alpacas, you’ll have the chance to meet the alpaca up close. All ages are welcome. The program will be held outdoors on the library lawn, weather permitting.
Registration is required to ensure that everyone gets a chance to visit with the alpaca. Please register for each child attending.

Drop-in Eclipse Craft
2024-04-08 09:30 - 17:30 | Bacon Free Library, 58 Eliot Street, Natick, MA, 01760, United States
On the day of the solar eclipse, stop by anytime for a simple, eclipse-themed craft for all ages.

History Book Club
2024-04-11 11:00 - 12:00 | MA
Join us for a virtual discussion of: A spy among friends : Kim Philby and the great betrayal by Ben Macintyre
Copies of the book will be available at the Bacon Free Library. Call 508-653-6730 to arrange pick up.
Order your own copy HERE
For details on how to attend this virtual meeting via Zoom, please contact mking@minlib.net
The Zoom link to the discussion will be sent at a later date.

Français à la bibliothèque
2024-04-13 10:00 - 11:00, 2024-05-11 10:00 - 11:00 | MA
BONJOUR !

Vous parlez français ?
un peu, beaucoup, pas de problèmes.
Venez nous rejoindre pour parler ou pour écouter.

Closed for Patriots Day
2024-04-15 | Bacon Free Library, 58 Eliot Street, Natick, MA, 01760, United States
The BFL will be closed today, Monday, April 15th, in honor of Patriot’s Day.

Crankie Music Program
2024-04-16 11:00 - 12:30 | Bacon Free Library, 58 Eliot Street, Natick, MA, 01760, United States
The Magid Ensemble presents Shterna and the Lost Voice, a musical crankie Yiddish folktale. This new folktale by A.C. Weaver is inspired by mythical stories of Elyahu Hanovi and traditional Yiddish folklore. Shterna and the Lost Voice follows a young woman’s quest from the realms of the dead to the celestial gardens of the immortal – all to restore her friend’s lost voice. Shterna’s epic adventure is accompanied by live original klezmer music while the narrative unfolds through a papercut crankie. This dynamic performance is geared towards audiences of all ages!

What is a crankie? A crankie is a long scroll wound onto two spools that illustrates a story as it unwinds. Kiah Raymond’s original crankie incorporates shadow puppetry inspired by Jewish papercut art.

Shterna and the Lost Voice is presented by The Magid Ensemble (magid, meaning “storyteller” in Yiddish) –
a new collaboration featuring award-winning klezmer musicians and composers Mattias Kaufmann, Raffi
Boden, and Rachel Leader, Yiddishist storyteller A. C. Weaver, and visual artist Kiah Raymond.

Production by member of Mamaliga Klezmer Band. (Mamaligaband.com)
This event is generously sponsored by Combined Jewish Philanthropies, and the Natick Local Cultural, a local agency which is supported by the Mass Cultural Council, a state agency.

Ecosystem Explorers with the MHS Plantmobile
2024-04-16 14:00 - 15:00 | Bacon Free Library, 58 Eliot Street, Natick, MA, 01760, United States
Join us for a hands-on, science-based program brought to us by the Massachusetts Horticultural Society’s Plantmobile. Dive into the intricate web of ecosystems and learn how plants play a vital role in our environment.
Outdoors, weather permitting. Geared toward kids in grades pre-K to 5. Registration is required.

Environmental Book Club
2024-04-16 19:00 - 20:00 | Bacon Free Library, 58 Eliot Street, Natick, MA, 01760, United States
Join us for a discussion of The Blue Machine: How the Ocean Works by Helen Czerski
Copies of the book will be available at the Bacon Free Library.
Order your own copy HERE
Join environmental enthusiast, Arthur Ensroth, in discussing current, historical and future environmental issues through books! We’re finding ways to become more engaged and participatory in the natural world, educating ourselves on the climate challenges we face and looking at the history and philosophy of how the environment has been viewed through the ages.
The BFL is collaborating with Broadmoor, Mass Audubon with this book group. We thank them for sharing their mission with us.
Please email glesellier@minlib.net for the Zoom meeting details.

Sustainable Gardening
2024-04-18 18:00 | Bacon Free Library, 58 Eliot Street, Natick, MA, 01760, United States
Join the Virtual Bacon Free Library and Blackstone Valley Veggie Gardens to learn about Sustainable Gardening. Become a more efficient gardener by learning how to elongate your growing season and maximize your output, all while preserving resources.

This program will be held over Zoom. Please register below to receive the program link.

Drop-In Craft: Storybook Flowers
2024-04-19 10:30 - 11:30 | Bacon Free Library, 58 Eliot Street, Natick, MA, 01760, United States
Stop by to make a colorful flower with recycled book pages! All ages are welcome.

Book Club
2024-04-23 18:30 - 19:30 | Bacon Free Library, 58 Eliot Street, Natick, MA, 01760, United States
This month, we will read and discuss The Perfect Nanny: A Novel by Leila Slimani 2018 (translated from French)
Join us at the library for the discussion.
Copies of the book are available at the library.
Order your own copy HERE
Digital Audiobook available on OVERDRIVE
If you are interested in attending, please contact Graziella at glesellier@minlib.net

Nonfiction Book Club
2024-04-27 10:00 - 11:00 | Bacon Free Library, 58 Eliot Street, Natick, MA, 01760, United States
This month, we will discuss H is for Hawk by Helen MacDonald.
According to Grove Atlantic:
When Helen Macdonald’s father died suddenly on a London street, she was devastated. An experienced falconer—Helen had been captivated by hawks since childhood—she’d never before been tempted to train one of the most vicious predators, the goshawk. But in her grief, she saw that the goshawk’s fierce and feral temperament mirrored her own. Resolving to purchase and raise the deadly creature as a means to cope with her loss, she adopted Mabel, and turned to the guidance of The Once and Future King author T.H. White’s chronicle The Goshawk to begin her challenging endeavor. Projecting herself “in the hawk’s wild mind to tame her” tested the limits of Macdonald’s humanity and changed her life.
Heart-wrenching and humorous, this book is an unflinching account of bereavement and a unique look at the magnetism of an extraordinary beast, with a parallel examination of a legendary writer’s eccentric falconry. Obsession, madness, memory, myth, and history combine to achieve a distinctive blend of nature writing and memoir from an outstanding literary innovator.

Copies of this book are available at the library.

Our discussion will be held in a hybrid format. The host will be in person at the BFL, while some members will join over zoom. You are welcome to join either way. For zoom, please register here to receive the meeting details:

Celebrate the Earth - Seedling Swap and Ask a Master Gardener Booth
2024-04-27 10:00 - 13:00 | Bacon Free Library, 58 Eliot Street, Natick, MA, 01760, United States
The Bacon Free Library is hosting an outdoors Celebrate the Earth event.
Join us on Saturday, April 27th from 10-1:00 outdoors on our lawn. Bring your homegrown seedlings (or store bought) to swap with others. Have 6 tomato plant seedlings and only need 2? Swap them for others that you need. 4 seedlings maximum to trade. Need seeds to sow in your garden? Our Seed Library will be available all day.

Stop by our Ask a Master Gardener Booth to ask the experts all of your gardening questions.

Cinéphile Mondays
2024-04-29 16:00 - 17:00 | MA
Cinephilia is an academic word literally meaning “love of cinema,” but it also contains hints of nostalgia and passion for a film art that was undoubtedly the defining media experience of the twentieth century.
As such, cinema has a variegated and fascinating history which extends well beyond the Hollywood we are all familiar with. Meant as a tribute to the film art around the world, from the days of silent cinema to the new waves and beyond, our cinephile Mondays is a slow and tasteful appreciation of the First Century of Cinema. The films will be selected on the basis of their relevance for the development of the film art. On the last Monday of the month, cinephiles of the world unite!
Watch a movie at home and then join Film history & Media studies Professor MV for a virtual discussion.
For Monday April 29
We will be discussing:
Last Year at Marienbad by Alain Resnais, France 1961.
Available on DVD HERE
Also available on CRITERION
If you are interested in attending this Zoom discussion, please contact Graziella at glesellier@minlib.net

Rebecca McGee Tuck - Meet the Artist Event
2024-04-30 17:00 - 18:30 | Bacon Free Library, 58 Eliot Street, Natick, MA, 01760, United States
The Bacon Free Library is hosting a meet the artist event with sculptor and social activist, Rebecca McGee Tuck. Come join us on Tuesday, April 30th from 5-6:30pm.
Rebecca McGee Tuck is a sculptor and an ocean activist. Her work is a visual narrative of what she accumulates from a throw away society and as a result she gives new life to what others discard. Tuck has shown her work in multiple juried shows throughout the Northeast including the Danforth and Fitchburg Art Museums, Viridian Arts Gallery, NYC, and the George Marshall Store Gallery in York, Maine. Her series of work called “Along the Wrack Line” deals with the overwhelming amount of debris and plastic trash that contaminate our local New England beaches. Tuck works among her menagerie of debris from her studio at the Mill Contemporary Art Studios in Framingham.
Wrack Line– A trail of debris left on the beach by the high tide.
I began walking the wrack line as a kid with my father—attracted to the sea glass and shells like a perpetual seaside treasure hunt. I learned in time that the real treasures were not always as conspicuous. The random debris that washed ashore after spending ages enduring the ocean’s churn and grasp held more mystery for me. Foraging at the high tide water mark has metamorphosed into my passion and catalyst for my work.
Fishing lines, rope, lobster cages and other marine debris are colorful, full of texture and ready-made to be woven into my assemblage fiber sculpture. But with each bag of jetsam collected, I felt the precarious weight of the impact of marine debris on our ocean. It has overwhelmed me and it became clear that I needed to take a more active role in the ocean’s protection.
“Along the Wrack-line” is the title I have given to my ongoing series of sculpture. With this work I raise awareness to the constant misuse of the ocean’s ecosystem by transforming pieces of marine debris into works of art and symbols of hope calling attention to the consequences of polluting our oceans and encouraging a new commitment to action!
Instagram: @Rebeccabombshellart /https://www.instagram.com/rebeccabombshellart/
Facebook: RebeccaMcGeeTuckArt https://www.facebook.com/rebeccamcgeetuckart/
website: Rebeccamcgeetuck.com https://rebeccamcgeetuck.com/

Mystery Book Club
2024-05-02 13:00 - 14:00 | MA
Join us for a virtual Zoom discussion of Mastering the Art of French Murder by Colleen Cambridge. Copies available at the library, or borrow as an ebook or digital audiobook through Hoopla, or an ebook or digital audiobook through Libby. Please email cstirling@minlib.net to register and receive the Zoom link.

Zentangle
2024-05-07 17:00 - 18:30 | Bacon Free Library, 58 Eliot Street, Natick, MA, 01760, United States
The Zentangle® Method is an easy-to-learn, relaxing, and fun way to create beautiful images by drawing structured patterns (called tangles). In this workshop, learn the history of Zentangle, the basic steps of the method, and the tools used. Through step-by-step instructions, you will be immersed in creating an original Zentangle tile.

No artistic talent or experience is required. All supplies will be provided.

Rachel Slate-Ziman is a Certified Zentangle Teacher (CZT), educated by the creators of Zentangle, Rick Roberts and Maria Thomas. She has been learning and practicing the Zentangle Method for many years.
Registration required.

History Book Club
2024-05-09 11:00 - 12:00 | MA
Join us for a virtual discussion of: The girl with seven names : a escape from North Korea by Hyeonseo Lee
Copies of the book will be available at the Bacon Free Library. Call 508-653-6730 to arrange pick up.
Order your own copy HERE
For details on how to attend this virtual meeting via Zoom, please contact mking@minlib.net
The Zoom link to the discussion will be sent at a later date.

Nonfiction Book Club
2024-05-18 10:00 - 11:00 | Bacon Free Library, 58 Eliot Street, Natick, MA, 01760, United States
*Please note: this month we are meeting on the 3rd Saturday (the 4th Saturday is part of Memorial day weekend)

This month, we will discuss Maid: hard work, low pay, and a mother’s will to survive by Stephanie Land.
Stephanie Land is an author and activist whose writing focuses on social and economic justice, as well as parenting under the poverty line. Her debut book, Maid: Hard Work, Low Pay, and a Mother’s Will to Survive, was a New York Times bestseller and was adapted into a limited series on Netflix. The book details Land’s personal experience with poverty, relying on government assistance programs to support herself and her daughter. — From Stepville.com

Copies of this book are available at the library.
Our discussion will be held in a hybrid format. The host will be in person at the BFL, while some members will join over zoom. You are welcome to join either way. For zoom, please register here to receive the meeting details:

Great Blue Herons: A Study of Patience and Grace by Babsje
2024-05-21 - 2024-06-03 | Bacon Free Library, 58 Eliot Street, Natick, MA, 01760, United States
“Alas, my days of photographing the magnificent Great Blue Herons from the cockpit of my kayak floating on the lake have come to an end.” Posted by Babsje on December 20, 2023, shortly before her death in January. babsjeheron.wordpress.com.
Babsje was a local photographer who focused her lens on the Great Blue Herons in and around Lake Cochituate and on the Charles, including at the dam in South Natick. She spent many very happy days floating in her kayak, and the herons became so accustomed to her quiet presence that she was able to beautifully document their private grandeur for all to experience.
She is greatly missed.

Babsje_HappyBabsje Yoga Heron 3Babsje Yoga Heron 2Great blue heron preening Columbus Day weekend.Babsje great-blue-heron-fishing-near-reedsBabsje Yoga Heron 1

Visit the BFL to enjoy Babsje’s stunning photography collection, Great Blue Herons: A Study of Patience and Grace.
Photographs are available for purchase upon request
All proceeds from sales will be donated to Massachusetts Audubon Society
