Berries and Books: A Sweet Combination

One North Carolina farm is encouraging its visitors to linger over a good book while they enjoy freshly picked strawberries, blueberries, and other farm products.

My boys and I visited Smith’s Nursery in Benson to pick strawberries. While watching them pick three boxes of berries, I found a spot in the shade. Settling in a rocking chair on the back porch of the ice cream shack with a few scoops of chocolate, I noticed a Little Free Library. 

I looked through the books in the library box at Smith’s Nursery and found a novel to read while my boys were busy picking in the fields and playing on the playground. While rocking and reading, I realized what a great opportunity this was for farms to promote a love of literacy and agriculture by stocking agricultural accurate books.

The goal of Little Free Library, a nonprofit based in St. Paul, Minnesota, is to expand book access by providing free books for readers of all ages. This is a volunteer-led program that maintains book exchange boxes where people can take a book or share a book. The program is in all 50 states and 120 countries. The first book exchange was built in 2009. In March 2025, the 200,000th Little Free Library was stocked. The program has grants for “Impact Libraries” that focus on rural communities where people don’t have as much access to books. 

According to the Little Free Library website, more than 30 million adults can’t read or write above a third-grade level. It also states that the more books that are in or near a home, the more likely a child will learn and love to read.

It’s well known that consumers are disconnected from agriculture. Agritourism gives people a chance to learn about farming. Having a Little Free Library is an opportunity for farm visitors to take a book home, sharing accurate agriculture information with the entire family. By providing books about agriculture for children and adults, it also gives them sources of information about farming outside of internet searches.

At Smith’s Nursery, the farm offers people opportunities to pick berries and pick a book. One nourishes the body and the other nourishes the mind of its farm visitors.