Hello All,

 

Please consider attending our FREE garden conference on Saturday, February 25, 9 am - 1 pm at the Aldo Leopold Center, 300 Femrite Dr. in Monona.  Details and agenda are below.  There will be ride-sharing available (please call or e-mail if you need a ride or can give rides, or need directions) as well as naturalist-led programs for youth.  Please call or e-mail by February 17 to register, especially if you are bringing children, as we need to know how many naturalists to have on hand. 

 

 

 

 

Dear Community Garden Leader,

 

We at CAC Food & Gardens Division are working with UW Cooperative Extension to plan a fun, free late-winter conference for community gardeners in Madison.  Please save the date and consider sharing your skills and ideas during this first-ever …

 

Madison Grow Together Conference

 

 

When: Saturday, February 25 from 9:00 am – 1:00 pm

 

Who: Bring the kids!  Bring the adults!  The event is free.

We’ll have lots of gardening sessions for adults; nature and gardening activities for kids;

materials you can take back to your garden; and

a light lunch for all of food prepared during cooking demonstrations by gardeners.

 

What:

Gardening tips sessions:  Extending the Season with Mini-greenhouses; Composting; Seed starting.

 

Garden leaders’ discussions:  Many Hands – Getting Everyone Involved at Your Garden; Garden Security & Reducing Theft; other topics depending on leaders’ interest.

 

Youth gardening sessions:  Make it Happen! Starting a School/Child Care Garden; Gardening with Kids:  The Secret to Success; Kid-Friendly Hands-On Gardening Activities (participants can take home a free copy of Got Dirt? A Wisconsin kids gardening curriculum).

 

Materials for your garden:  We’ll have lots of seeds and other supplies for garden leaders.

 

Cooking demonstrations; Favorite traditional dishes made with garden produce, explained step-by-step by Quann gardeners Ka Moua Thao and Reyna Gonzales.

 

Where: The beautiful Aldo Leopold Center in Monona, a sustainable building with

prairie & wetlands outside and a nature center inside.

 

Can you help with one of the garden leaders’ discussions or a cooking demonstration?  Please call or drop us a note at janetp@... or 246-4730 ext. 218.

 

More details will be coming soon, including registration & carpooling info.  Please forward this note to any community gardeners who might be interested; all are welcome to attend.

 

Hope to see you at Madison Grow Together!

 

Chris Brockel, Coordinator of CAC Food & Gardens Division

Ben Sommers, CAC Garden Technician

Joe Mathers, CAC Food Security Specialist

Dawn Burgardt, Volunteer, recent garden Vista Americorps

Janet Parker, CAC Leadership Developer / Garden Group Organizer

 

p.s. Why are we doing the Grow Together conference?   CAC has done some restructuring this winter and the gardens staff will be spread thinner than in years past.  We will also be helping to launch several new gardens this spring and build improvements at 6 gardens.  We’ll be busy!   So we will not be able to work as much this year with established gardens.  But we would like to continue to help all the gardens in Madison to be sustainable and learn from each other.  That’s why we are holding this new free Saturday conference for community gardeners, so that you can pick up materials for your garden and plan for a great season. 

 

Madison Grow Together will be a valuable opportunity for community gardeners to network with each other and with experts in Madison before the rush of springtime.  This fun event will be perfect for recruiting new members of your garden and for cultivating the next generation of garden leaders.  All are welcome!  

 

 

p.p.s.  With the help of many garden leaders, CAC has put a new Madison Community Garden Organizer’s Handbook, with tons of great resources for keeping your garden running smoothly, on our website at www.cacscw.org/gardens/handbook .  Please check it out!

 

 

 

Janet Parker

CAC Community Gardens

608-246-4730 ext. 218

1717 N. Stoughton Rd.

Madison, WI 53704

www.cacscw.org/gardens

janetp@...

Check out the new Madison Community Garden Organizer’s Handbook, with tons of great resources for keeping your garden running smoothly, on the web at www.cacscw.org/gardens/handbook