Cornell Cooperative Extension Community Horticulture

Part writer, filmmaker, musician, photographer and best-selling author, Adam Leith Gollner is a true latter-day Renaissance man – and he’s coming to Ithaca. Gollner will deliver the second annual Elizabeth E. Rowley lecture, “The Fruit Hunters” in the Statler Hall auditorium on Wednesday, September 30, at 7:30 p.m. The presentation is part of Cornell Plantations’ annual free fall lecture series. A book sale and signing will follow the lecture.

Gollner’s lecture will focus on the fascinating subject of his recent book, The Fruit Hunters: A Story of Nature, Obsession, Commerce and Adventure. A New York Times Book Review Editor’s Choice and winner of the McAuslan First Book Award, The Fruit Hunters was described in a Sunday Times Book Review by author Mary Roach as “lustrous and exhilarating… jaw dropping… Adam Leith Gollner possesses a talent as rare and exotic as a coconut pearl…” The complete Times review, and more information about Gollner, can be found on his website, www.adamgollner.com

For his lecture at Cornell, Gollner will share stories about the otherworldly fruits he encountered while traveling to the Amazon, Borneo, the Seychelles and tropical West Africa. He will also discuss the idea of biophilia, the love of life that is behind fruit hunters’ obsessive quests. Attendees can expect to come away with a greater understanding of the intense relationships that bind different species of plants and humans, as well as a sense of the limitlessness and fragility of the biodiversity surrounding us.

Click here to find out about other lectures in the fall series

From:  Gary Oppenheimer, ,Master Gardener AmpleHarvest.org Founder, Rutgers Environmental Steward   gary@AmpleHarvest.org 973-409-4093

AmpleHarvest.org’s goal is to diminish hunger in America by enabling backyard gardeners around the country to find neighborhood food pantries eager for their excess garden produce – more important than ever because one out of eight Americans is food insecure.  Due to the AmpleHarvest.org design, it is not only helpful to gardeners looking for a local food pantry, it can also be used by the pantries themselves to list those store bought items they are most in need of – making the site of value to gardeners off season as well as those who don’t garden at all too.

The campaign has been endorsed by the USDA, Google Inc., VFW, YMCA, Garden Writers of America, food/hunger bloggers, numerous faith groups etc.  A sampling of some of the enthusiast feedback is available at www.AmpleHarvest.org/feedback.php.

For the past two months, a major effort to register food pantries around the country has been underway.  Nearly one out of every 50 food pantries in America have registered and more are signing up every day.

However we are now starting to shift our focus to informing America’s backyard gardeners about AmpleHarvest.org, and very much need the assistance of your Master Gardeners to help spread the word.  There are several ways they can do that.  They can:

1. share the information with other Master Gardeners
2. inform gardeners who call in to the Help Lines
3. tell garden clubs and community gardens in their communities about the AmpleHarvest.org campaign
4. ask their local nursery, garden store, and lawn/garden section of their local big box store  permission to post the attached document (also available at www.ampleharvest.org/downloads/GardenShop.pdf ) by the cashier or in another conspicuous area.  It can also be posted on library and supermarket bulletin boards.

Of course if the Master Gardener knows of a food pantry in their community, they are also encouraged to urge the pantry to register itself on AmpleHarvest.org.

We are available to answer any questions your Master Gardeners may have about the campaign – they can email info@AmpleHarvest.org or they can visit the site where additional valuable information about AmpleHarvest.org is available.

We would very much appreciate it if you would forward this message to all of the Master Gardeners in your program as soon as possible.

Although the economy is bad, AmpleHarvest.org helps people support their local food pantry by enabling them to reach into their backyard instead of their back pocket.

As one of my community service projects for our new Master Gardener Club, I have started a website that is dedicated to Master Gardeners nationwide.  This site will be a place where Master Gardeners can go to get all types of gardening information, share stories, swap seeds and much more.  There will be an online magazine starting February 1 (which will allow Master Gardeners to submit stories about their gardening experiences) and a photo gallery for members to upload their pictures to.

Many new features will be added as my time allows.  Please feel free to send feedback and let me know if you have any suggestions for the site.

Please visit: www.mastergardenersnetwork.com

Use the username: master and the password: gardener to browse the members only sections.

This log in will be available until February 20, 2009.  After that, all members will need to make their own usernames and passwords.

Thank you for your cooperation,

Dina Schoenfeld

Owensville, Missouri

Ps. If you have any content that would be beneficial to this site, please feel free to forward a link to the page(s).

The United States Botanic Garden has posters that we create in with the Northeast IPM Community Horticulture Working Group on display in their gardens and posted on their web site. So if you haven’t seen them yet, here’s your chance.
http://www.usbg.gov/education/events/exhibitors_map.cfm

Our lawn care display is under Bartholdi Park #32 Sustainable Turf Care, the bloopers are #33 Don’t Do This at Home. The site can be painfully slow…just hit reload if it gets hung up.

• If you click on an exhibit number (black circle) photos of that exhibit appear – these will be updated as the summer goes along.
• If you click on the listed exhibitor name then you see interpretive material, any resource material, and a link to your web site
• If you click on the gold star the over all exhibition introductory panels can be viewed
• If you click on the information icon (i) then the Exhibition Visitors Guide is viewable.

Happening in Oneida County…

Festival Brochure (PDF)

Saturday, June 28
9 a.m. to 3:30 p.m.
Farm & Home Center
121 Second Street
Oriskany
For directions:
(315) 736-3394 or visit
http://counties.cce.cornell.edu/oneida

is a community science project with the goal of increasing our understanding of where bees are doing poorly and how the pollination of our garden and wild plants
are being affected. We’re hoping you will join us by planting
sunflowers in your garden. Community, demonstration, and school
gardens are invited to participate.

We’ll send you some free native sunflower (Helianthus annuus) seed and
twice a month, we’d like you to time how long it takes for 5 bees to
visit that sunflower. This information will give us an
index of pollination that we can compare across the United States.
Once we know where bees are in trouble, we can start developing a plan
to help them.

You can see the details about the project and register at
www.greatsunflower.org or contact us at sfbee@sfsu.edu.

Do join us!

Thanks so much,

Gretchen LeBuhn
Associate Professor
San Francisco State University

Gretchen LeBuhn
The Great Sunflower Project
www.GreatSunflower.org

Tuesday, February 26, 2008
Livingston County Cornell Cooperative Extension, 158 Main Street, Mt Morris, NY
1 pm-3 pm
So You Want to Be a Berry Farmer?
Cornell Berry Extension Support Specialist Cathy Heidenreich from the Department of Horticulture, College of Agriculture and Life Sciences, Ithaca will present a program on berry growing on Tuesday, February 26 at the Cornell Cooperative Extension building in Mt Morris from 1 to 3pm.
The program will point out the keys to successful commercial and non-commercial berry farming including marketing, startup costs, site selection, preparation and layout, cultivar selection and planting, crop production and management, labor, and profitability. Strawberries, brambles, blueberries, currants and gooseberries will be included in discussions. Topics include nutrient management, weed, insect and disease management, trellising, irrigation and more. Printed materials are included in the presentation and production guides for brambles, highbush blueberries and strawberries will be available to examine for ordering.

There is no fee, but registration is suggested to assure notification of any change in scheduling. Phone 585-658-3250 for registration or questions.

Update…

APRIL 4 & 5 GREAT GARDENS AND LANDSCAPING SYMPOSIUM IS HOT!

For those needing Friday, or Friday and Saturday night accommodations,
please call The Reluctant Panther Inn (www.reluctantpanther.com
<http://www.reluctantpanther.com>) at (802) 822-2331. They are only one
block from The Equinox Resort – an easy stroll! If you need additional
assistance with lodging, please call the Manchester Chamber of Commerce at
(802) 362-6313.

Fifth Annual Great Gardens and Landscaping Symposium

April 4 & 5, 2008 at the world-class Equinox Resort in Manchester, VT

Sponsored by Bradfield Organics, Coast of Maine Organic Products, Davey

Hecht Woodworking, Dutch Gardens, Equinox Valley Nursery, Gardener’s Supply

Company, Messenger, People, Places & Plants, Proven Winners, SafeLawns,

TerraCycle, The Vermont Association of Professional Horticulturists & Garden

Arts Custom Landscapes

Friday 7:00 – 9:00 p.m., Saturday 9:00 a.m. – 4:00 p.m. Enjoy six dynamic lectures by renowned professionals in their fields. Last year the symposium sold out two months prior to the event. Guest speakers are Tara Dillard, a national award winning author, designer, speaker and former TV host on CBS from Atlanta, Georgia; Shepherd Ogden, a renowned speaker, author, teacher, horticulturist, and founder of The Cooks Garden (a pioneering organic seed company); Mardell Steinkamp from Sunny Border Nurseries, one of the largest wholesalers of perennials and new introductions in the northeast; Kerry Mendez, a popular speaker, teacher, writer, consultant and former TV show host; and Kelly Sweeney, master designer, landscaper and head gardener for the 700 acre Basin Harbor Club in Vermont (one of the Historic Hotels of America). Topics include The Art of Garden Design, New Perennials for 2008, Creating Focal Points In The Garden, Sensational Flowering Shrubs, Step-by-Step Organic Vegetable and Flower Gardening, and All About Annuals. Package price for one night’s accommodations at a four diamond resort, welcome reception with heavy hors d’oeuvres and cash bar, full breakfast, gourmet luncheon buffet, six garden lectures with handouts, garden gift, chance to win great door prizes, and all taxes and gratuities is only $276.97 single or $406.79 double ($203.40 per person). Two night packages available. Day rates available starting at $75. For package reservations, call the Equinox Resort (www.equinoxresort.com) at (800) 362-4747. For day rates and registration forms, as well as the agenda and topics, please visit www.pyours.com/Symposium2008.html or call (518) 885-3471.

“New Frontiers” in horticulture and gardening — March 22-26, 2009 Las Vegas

The Las Vegas International Master Gardener Conference will address issues that gardeners everywhere face — water conservation, proper plant selection, soil enrichment, pest control — while also presenting new concepts in environmental stewardship and “green” technologies. Since what is old has become new again, we will also explore historical and traditional plants and methods.

Workshop Topics:

Green Technologies, Water Conservation, Heirloom Plants, LEED, Healthy Gardening, Native Seeds, Farm to Restaurant, Ancestors’ Gardens, Trees for Tomorrow, Artful Gardening, Water Harvesting, Soil Microbes, Interactive Learning.

Tours:

Hoover Dam, Grand Canyon, LV Springs Preserve, Ethyl M Cactus Garden and Living Machine, Red Rock Canyon, Spring Mountain Ranch, Desert Rose Garden, China Ranch Date Farm, Gardens at the Bellagio and Wynn resorts.

Website here

Deadline: October 15, 2007

The National Gardening Association Healthy Sprouts Award helps support the growth of health-focused school and youth garden programs that teach about nutrition and the issue of hunger in the U.S. To be eligible, a school or organization must plan to garden in 2008 with at least 15 children, ages three to eighteen.

http://www.kidsgardening.com/healthysprouts.asp