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Join herbalist Mo Katz-Christy for a meander through Danehy park to meet wintertime city plants and explore their medicinal uses! We will explore weeds and cultivated plants, trees and shrubs, and have lots of space for questions and conversation. Bring a notebook if you like, and meet us at the parking lot on Sherman Street (if you're late you should be able to find us -- we won't move too far too fast!). Registration is required. This event has been rescheduled from 2/27/25

The City of Cambridge urges residents planning to celebrate Halloween to follow the guidance from the Massachusetts Department of Public Health and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) and to engage in only lower or moderate risk activities to minimize the risk of exposure to COVID-19. Halloween activities are subject to the current state gathering size limits as well as applicable any sector-specific workplace safety standards. Halloween activities are subject to the current state gathering size limits.

In March 2024, the City Council passed Policy Order 2024 #37, which asked the Community Development Department “to work with the chairs of the Housing Committee to create zoning language that effectively promotes multifamily housing, including income-restricted affordable housing with the goal of having viable housing for everyone especially lower-income residents.” A series of Housing Committee meetings will be held to discuss the proposal throughout the summer and fall of 2024. Additional information will be posted here as the proposal is developed.

The City of Cambridge offers free, one-on-one help to residents looking to lower their energy bills. Through the Cambridge Energy Helpline (617-430-6230), callers get connected to a trained adviser who can explain cost-saving programs, from fuel assistance and discount utility rates to solar credits and no-cost energy assessments. Support is available to renters, homeowners, and landlords alike—regardless of building type.

Uncover the radical roots of urban gardening with Kate Brown, author of Tiny Gardens Everywhere (2026). The history of gardening in European and North American cities in the 20th century is a story about ordinary people working with each other—and with plants and microbes—to cultivate life in the unlikeliest of places. Using the deluge of nutrients that flow into cities, working class gardeners regenerated wasteland, built the first garden city communities, and engaged in the most productive agriculture in recorded human history. Following the plants and microbes, urban gardeners also built mutual aid societies that advocated for equity, social welfare, and rights—rights not to liberty and the pursuit of happiness (who can eat that?) but to food, fuel, and shelter; to well-being for all. Kate Brown is the Thomas M. Siebel Distinguished Professor in the History of Science at MIT. Her prize-winning books include Manual for Survival: A Chernobyl Guide to the Future (2019), Plutopia: Nuclear Families in Atomic Cities and the Great Soviet and American Plutonium Disasters (2013), and A Biography of No Place: From Ethnic Borderland to Soviet Heartland (2004). Presented in partnership with City of Cambridge Community Garden Program.

Continued implementation of the Urban Forest Master Plan (UFMP) guides development of Cambridge’s tree assets and enables the City to expand the urban forest canopy and be more resilient to climate change. In FY22, Public Works reached the UFMP ecommendation of planting 1,000 trees annually. To increase long-term survival of newly planted trees, Public Works has improved pre-planting soil preparation and post-planting aftercare. In fall 2021, over 10 tons of soil from composted yard waste was used to plant 475 trees. Miyawaki Microforest.

Beginning Thursday, July 1, the City of Cambridge will offer free COVID-19 testing one day per week on Thursdays from 11:00 a.m. to 3:00 p.m. inside the CambridgeSide Mall. No appointment is needed. Thursday testing at the CambridgeSide Mall will no longer be drive-through testing by motor vehicle but will become a walk-in testing site without appointments inside the CambridgeSide Mall on the 2nd Floor above the Food Court. The current drive-through testing in the garage will shut down.

Learn how to be safer online with accounts and passwords. We will provide an overview of frauds and scams to watch out for. To view and register for other Basic Tech Classes at the Library, please go to tinyurl.com/basictechclass. Registration is encouraged, but not required.

Harvard Book Store and the Cambridge Public Library welcome Tourmaline—award-winning artist, filmmaker, writer, activist, and TIME 100 Most Influential Person in the World awardee—for a discussion of her new book Marsha: The Joy and Defiance of Marsha P. Johnson. Registration is required.

Young people ages 10 to 14 who love to write are welcome to share their ideas and writing. There will be time for share-outs/workshopping, as well as group or solo writing. Snacks are provided! This week we will be joined by guest author Kate McGovern. If you are attending for the first time, registration is helpful, but not required.