GARDEN FOR THE ENVIRONMENT
JANUARY 2012 NEWSLETTER
- JANUARY 2012 ORGANIC GARDENING WORKSHOPS
- EVENTS
- IN THE NEWS
- FREE FOR GFE MEMBERS: Free Finished Compost
- FOR THE COMPOSTER: A Wrung-Out Sponge
- FROM THE BORDER: Solstice Musing on Stewardship
- YOUTH IN THE GARDEN: Youth Education Internship
- VIEW FROM THE GARDEN: Holiday Party, Pruning and Greywater
to everyone who made an End-of-the-Year contribution to Garden for the Environment! Your support is essential to our continued success, and we are enormously appreciative of your very generous support! Thank you, Thank you, Thank you! ~ The GFE Team
GROW YOUR OWN FOOD: Organic Vegetable Gardening in January
Date: Saturday, January 14th, 2011
Time: 10am - 12noon
Location: Garden for the Environment, 7th Ave at Lawton Street, San Francisco
Instructor: Carey Craddock, Organic Gardening Instructor
Cost: $25 or $15 for GFE Members
Year-round vegetable gardening is integral to creating a food system whose values reflect seasonality, locality and clean food. To take full advantage of the unique gardening climate in San Francisco, it’s important to know your vegetable garden’s needs each month. Join GFE and guest instructor Carey Craddock as we take a closer look at what to do in your garden in January to ensure you reap a harvest that will afford you Victory Gardener status. This month will focus on preparing your garden for Spring; we will discuss soil fertility, weed management and what to plant now, as well as a tour of what's growing at the garden in January. Join us on the 2nd Saturday of every month to learn seasonal tips for year-round vegetable garden! Bring on the bounty!
ADVANCED PRUNING
Date: Saturday, January 14th, 2011
Time: 10am - 12noon
Location: Garden for the Environment, 7th Ave at Lawton Street, San Francisco
Instructor: Ann Kaplan, Sustainable Landscaper and Co-Owner Betula Gardens
Cost: $25 or $15 for GFE Members
This class explores the elements involved in pruning a shrub or tree that accentuate the grace and beauty of the plant. We will explore thinning and stylizing techniques that enhance the plant?s structure and visual appearance. In addition to learning practical ?how to? techniques and strategies, we will also consider the spirit essence of each plant and its influence on our own pruning decisions. Whether you?ve taken the Basic Pruning Workshop or have gained experience by pruning in your own back yard, come join instructor, Ann Kaplan, in expanding your artistic expressions through pruning. Bring your pruners and gloves for the hands-on pruning in the second half of class!
INTRODUCTION TO ORGANIC GARDENING
FEBRUARY 2012
Time: 10am - 12pm
Location: Garden for the Environment, 7th Ave at Lawton Street, San Francisco
Instructor: Ann Kaplan, Organic Gardening Instructor
Cost: FREE (sponsored by SFPUC)
2/4 - Intro to Organic Gardening, Part I (register here)
2/11 - Intro to Organic Gardening, Part II (register here)
2/18 - Intro to Organic Gardening, Part III (register here)
New to organic gardening, or gardening at all? This class is for you! Learn how to grow a healthy and beautiful garden that minimizes the impacts on the environment. You'll learn to build healthy soil, to select beautiful plants for your Bay Area garden, to design productive, low-maintence gardens and the best practices for an eco-friendly garden in the Bay Area's Mediterranean climate. This class is free, sponsored by the San Francisco Public Utilities Commission.
EVENT: EcoFarm Conference
Date: February 1st - 4th, 2012
Location: Pacific Grove, CA
The oldest and largest ecological agricultural gathering in the West, the EcoFarm Conference meets every year to create, maintain, and promote healthy, safe, and just farming systems. With over 1,500 attendees and 60 workshops, the three-day conference offers many opportunities to discover the latest agricultural developments and build sustainable agriculture community, while networking with farmers, ranchers, handlers, marketers, activists, students, and educators. Learn more and register.
EVENT: Good Living - Cooking and Nutrition Class @ 18 Reasons
Date: January 8, 22, 29th, 2012
Time: Sundays, 4pm - 6:30pm
Location: 18 Reasons, 3674 18th Street, San Francisco, CA
Learn how to eat well, feel good, and cook comfortably during this three-class nutrition course. Filled with no-nonsense, practical information, this series makes nutrition work for you. Instructor Jae Berman does not believe one size fits all when it comes to diet, but she does know that when we stop to consider why and how we eat we begin to take back control over the essential act of feeding ourselves and others. In this process, Jae will help you define what healthy means in your life and not just on your plate. Each class will be a combination of lecture, conversation, and cooking, with dinner created and served by you. More info http://www.brownpapertickets.com/event/212091
EVENT: Food Preservation Workshop Series
Date: January 15, 22, 29th, 2012
In San Francisco's Bernal Heights, Produce to the People is offering a four-part food preservation workshop series on jamming, fermenting, pickling, and sprouting. Workshops are hands-on, and you'll be sent home with a jar of something homemade and delicious. Learn more and register.
EVENT: How to Grow a School Garden: Fundraising Workshop
Date: January 25th, 2012
Time: 5:30pm - 7pm
Location: 18 Reasons, 3674 18th Street, San Francisco, CA
Please join us for the first event in a new training series specifically
designed for SFUSD school communities and based on SFGSA's book, *How to
Grow a School Garden: A Complete Guide for Parents and Teachers*. This
workshop will help you develop strategies for ongoing, site-based
fundraising to support your green schoolyard. The first hour will include a
question-and-answer session with a panel of speakers representing
development professionals as well as successful, PTA-supported school
programs. Learn more and register: http://www.brownpapertickets.com/event/220141
EVENT: Urban Permaculture Design Certificate Course
Date: January - March, 2012
Develop professional skills and get valuable education to enhance your current career or prepare you for your next venture. It is one of the few permaculture design trainings that match the schedule and tuition to the busy lives of urban professionals and full-time students. Learn more and register at http://www.upisf.com
Dinner Bell Farm's New Breed of Ranchers
SF Chronicle, Amanda Gold,
December 25th, 2011
Looking Ahead to Food Politics in 2012
SF Chronicle, Marion Nestle,
January 1st, 2012
Organic Can Feed the World
The Atlantic, Barry Estabrook,
December 5th, 2011
This Month, FREE to GFE Members:
FINISHED COMPOST!
Date: Saturday, January 21st, 2012
Time: 11am - 2pm
Where: Garden for the Environment, 7th Ave and Lawton Street, San Francisco
A WRUNG-OUT SPONGE
As Composters, both new and old, there is one phrase that you will come back to time and time again throughout your composting life: “Keep your pile as moist as a wrung out sponge”. Well, winter (hopefully!) around here can be quite wet and heavy periods of rain can adversely affect the air and moisture balance in your pile. Consequently, too much moisture in a compost pile calls for anaerobic conditions and smells that will drive all of your friends away! Here are a few tips that will keep your outdoor, backyard compost pile cooking with the consistency of a wrung out sponge throughout the winter rains of San Francisco:
o Be sure your bin has a lid, tightly sealed, to keep the heavy rains out of your pile and to help you better monitor the moisture content of your pile!
o Store incoming organic matter in a dry facility or outdoors with a tarp over top!
o Avoid turning your pile in the rain. Even the slightest drizzle can cause compost matter to become waterlogged. It’s better to let the pile sit than to turn during the rain!
o Conserve water! During dry spells, use stored rainwater to moisten your piles! Check out Greywater Action (www.greywateraction.org) to learn how to safely harvest and store rainwater!
Rot On!
Want to learn more about compost? Feel free to give us a call in the office or send Suzi an email at suzi@gardenfortheenvironment.org
SOLSTICE MUSING ON STEWARDSHIP
"There is something about the beauty of a mature garden bed, where texture and color get lost in the abundant, magical tangle of life's explosion and the human heart opens to something nourishing..."
Read more of the January From the Border
Join our team as a Youth Educator this spring!
Youth Education Internship
Tues & Thurs, 9am to 2pm
10 hours/week, unpaid
Feb 28th - June 1st, 2012
You'll guide youth, grades 3rd to 5th, through a series of stations as they explore decomposition, creative reuse, water conservation, pollution prevention, and urban food production at GFE's demonstration garden at 7th Ave and Lawton Street in San Francisco. It's awesome! Interested? Send a resume and cover letter to Nicole, GFE's Youth Programs Manager, at Nicole@gardenfortheenvironment.org
Last Month in the Garden: Holiday Party, Pruning and Greywater
Top: GFE & SF GSA Holiday Party!; Middle: 'Basics of Backyard Pruning' and 'Intro to Residential Greywater'; Bottom: 'Gifts for the Season' workshop at GFE.
Visit the GFE Flickr page for more photos from the garden.
(Photos by Blair Randall, 2011)
Garden for the Environment teaches youth and adults in San Francisco to garden organically. Founded in 1990, GFE provides hands-on education to 3,000 youth and adults each year at its ½ acre organic teaching garden.
The Garden for the Environment is a fiscally-sponsored non-profit project of the Haight Ashbury Neighborhood Council, supported by workshop fees, individual donations, with support from public and private foundations and city agencies.
