Cornell Cooperative Extension Community Horticulture

Check out this article from the National Gardening Association it cover:

What a Seed Needs

How it Stores Food

The need for light and warmth

Troubleshooting…damping off , poor germination rate, spindly seedlings, pale leaves

also

Easiest Seeds to Start Indoors

More at:  http://www.garden.org/regional/report/arch/inmygarden/3049

Sony released anew Playstation game called “Flower,” which “explores the path of an urban flower that seeks to escape to the countryside.”

Click here for a video about the game.

Sony calls the game an “interactive poem, which uses abstract landscapes, and the flower is the gamer’s dream.”  According to Wired, “Flower lets the player explore the dreams of city blooms trapped in urban decay, longing to caress the soft grasses of the countryside.”

Sony designed the game to be “attractive and meaningful” for adults, and wanted to make it simple and accessible. Players can control the path of the flower, and its pollination of the landscapes. “The game explores the relationship between cities and nature, the complexities of ecology.”

Has anyone played this game? What do you think?

Greetings:

What do sod furniture, topiary, willow domes, large scale earth art, and table top vegetable art have in common?  They’re fun, of course – and also a way to meaningfully engage in the outdoors by creating art with plants.

Join us for a hands-on day of workshops that address these topics and more. Learn how to do a project that takes an hour, or an afternoon – and regardless of how simple or challenging, will show you how plants can transform lives in unique ways.  By popular demand, this highly engaging event will be held Wednesday, July 22 on the Cornell campus and at the nearby Cayuga Nature Center.

To learn more, print a program brochure, to register, and to find out more about what’s happening in the Ithaca area, please visit:

http://hort.cals.cornell.edu/cals/hort/news-events/livingsculptureworkshop.cfm

We encourage you to forward widely to your audiences!

All the best,
Marcia Eames-Sheavly
Cornell Garden-Based Learning Institute
Department of Horticulture, Cornell University, Ithaca, NY 14853
http://www.hort.cornell.edu/gbl
http://www.hort.cornell.edu/art

A must attend training, especially for your staff in Community Horticulture and Plant/Environmental Science 4-H Youth Development.

Facilitating Meetings and Building Teams CCE Training

Same training two date and locations. Choice the one that works best for you.

Tuesday April 28th from 9:30 a.m. to 4:00 p.m. at the DEC Stony Kill Farm facility just south of Poughkeepsie.

Friday May 8th from 9:30 a.m. to 4:00 p.m. at CCE of Monroe County

In today’s climate we must build skill to maximize our efficiency and effective engagement of volunteers.

It is estimated that 11 million meetings are held each DAY in the US and organizations spend up to 15 % of their budgets on meetings. Poor meetings and poor teams lead to loss of money, time and most importantly morale.

This training will help your staff plan and conduct meetings so you build effective teams to maximize your county programs’ impact. Walk away with new strategies to immediately apply in our extension work.

Consider sending a complete team from your county including a person from community horticulture, 4-H youth development, nutritional sciences.. If you’d like to also include a Master Gardener Volunteer and/or 4-H Volunteer contact Lori (bushway@cornell.edu) for space availability.

You can save your spot now by registering today.

The registration fee is $25 and includes beverages, healthy snacks and a light lunch.  Special funds awarded to our Community Horticulture Program Work Team allow us to keep the registration low.

To register: Email the following information to Max Welcome (mw45)

Facilitating Meetings and Building Teams In-service

Which location will you attend?

___ Tuesday April 28th at DEC Stony Kill Farm

___ Friday May 8th at CCE of Monroe County

Your Name _________________________

CCE County  ________________________

Cornell Email _________________________

Phone # ________________________

Your county assocaition will be billed for the $25 registration fee.

April 24 & 25 at The Mirror Lake Inn and Resort, Lake Placid, NY.

The symposium's web page, www.pyours.com/Symposium2009.html

Other events that might be of interest to NYS gardeners:

Native Plants and Organic Gardening day
Saturday, April 4th at the Glen Sanders Mansion in Scotia, NY

Perennial Gardening from A - Z
Saturday, May 2 at the Queensbury Fire department's meeting hall in Queensbury.

More detailed information for these two events, as well as registration details, are at www.pyours.com/gardenclasses.html

As I am sure you are aware Cornell Cooperative Extension is committed to Equal Program Opportunity

Two of the responsibilities this brings to you:

1) You must put the following statement on every single extension printed publications which includes program brochure, advertisement, promotional material… Consider it part of your CCE or program logo.

Cornell Cooperative Extension provides equal program and employment opportunities.

2) You must include the following statement on announcements of events and activities. Fill in the italic sections with your local information.

Accommodations for persons with disabilities may be requested by calling (person or office) at (telephone number) by (date) to ensure sufficient time to make arrangements. Requests received after this date will be met when possible.

For more details see CCE’s Equal Program Opportunity webpage

http://staff.cce.cornell.edu/administration/program/epo.htm

You will find this 18 minute presentation most valuable:

 Narrated EPO Staff Presentation

See grant opportunities below…people are going to want information about starting community gardens.  We are ready to partner with them for gardening success …this site list some good community gardens resource. Do you have others?

http://www.mindspring.com/~communitygardens/start.html

Building capacity in evaluating outcomes: A teaching and facilitating resource for community-based programs and organizations provides 93 activities and materials for practitioners working in and with community-based programs to use in building the capacity of individuals, groups, and organizations in evaluating outcomes. It provides, in one place, a complete set of practical resources that can be readily used or modified when working with community-based programs, including:

• Eight units that cover the core topics of evaluation: getting ready; planning; engaging stakeholders; focusing the evaluation; collecting data; analyzing data; using data; and managing an evaluation. Each unit includes hands-on activities, handouts and a slide presentation.
• A Facilitator’s guide that provides resources and tips to enhance learning, as well as strategies to evaluate your own evaluation capacity building work.
• A glossary, key resource list, and bibliography.

Find out more here:

http://www.uwex.edu/ces/pdande/evaluation/bceo/index.html

Department of Agriculture and Markets

The Community Garden Capacity Building Program is intended to support proposals to build capacity of existing community gardens in New York State. The projects must involve outreach materials, organizational planning, community programs, leadership development, and/or fundraising training. The program will be divided into the Upstate and Downstate Regions with funding being split evenly between the two. There are no matching requirements. Projects for which funding is sought should be completed in 1 year or less.

ELIGIBILITY: Not-for-profit corporations or must be sponsored by a not-for-profit corporation or municipality to act as a fiscal agent for the grant funding.

FUNDING: Total funding for this program will be $50,000. Each applicant may apply for and receive up to $5,000.

DEADLINE: May 4, 2009.

FOR MORE INFORMATION: Contact Ann McMahon at Department of Agriculture and Markets, 10B Airline Drive, Albany, NY 12235, call (518) 457-7728; e-mail: ann.mcmahon@agmkt.state.ny.us; or visit the ‘‘Funding Opportunities’’ section of the Department’s Web site at www.agmkt.state.ny.us.

Housing Trust Fund Corporation

The New York State Community Development Block Grant Program (NYS CDBG) is a federally funded program administered by the New York State Housing Trust Fund Corporation’s Office of Community Renewal (OCR). The NYS CDBG Program provides funding to eligible communities for the development of projects providing decent and hazard-free affordable housing, access to safe drinking water, proper disposal of household wastewater, access to community-needed services in local facilities, and fostering economic opportunities through the support of projects that create and/or retain permanent employment opportunities principally benefiting low- and moderate-income persons. The 2009 Annual Competitive Round funds are available for the funding of community development projects in the categories of housing, public facilities and public infrastructure. The primary goal of NYS CDBG economic development funds is to create permanent, sustainable jobs that principally benefit low- and moderate-income persons.

ELIGIBILITY: Eligible applicants include non-entitlement units of general local government. Non-entitlement areas are defined as cities, towns and villages with populations of less than 50,000, except those designated principal cities of Metropolitan Statistical Areas, and counties with populations of less than 200,000.

FUNDING: The total funds available for these programs are approximately $40 million.

DEADLINE: March 27, 2009.

FOR MORE INFORMATION: Contact the Office of Community Renewal, Hampton Plaza, 38-40 State Street, Albany, NY 12207; or call 518-474-2057.