Gardening Webinar Series
2026 Spring Gardening Webinars: Building Food Security in Maine
Join the University of Maine Cooperative Extension for our gardening webinar series! These one-hour and 15-minute webinars will include a 1-hour presentation, followed by Q&A and discussion.
- Tuesday, March 24, 2026 – Big Yields on Small Plots: Maximizing Your Garden’s Footprint
- Tuesday, March 31, 2026 – Helping Food Security from Your Backyard: Simple Ways to Grow for Good
- Tuesday, April 7, 2026 – Produce Sharing Tables: An Approach to Garden-Grown Food Access
- Tuesday, April 14, 2026 – Community Gardens and Food Security in Maine
Registration is required with a sliding scale program fee, self-selected during registration for each webinar. Participants will receive the Zoom information after registering for a webinar. If you do not receive the Zoom link within 2 hours, please contact us.
If you are unable to attend the live session, but would like to receive the recording (if available) and a resource list, please register.
Sliding Scale (select during registration):
- $15: Full-priced registration
- $10 (33% discount): Maine residents only. Suggested for those who cannot afford the full fee.
- $0 (100% discount): Maine residents only. Suggested for those who cannot afford to pay a fee.
All sessions will be recorded unless otherwise noted and shared with registered participants in about a week following the event.
If you need assistance joining the Zoom, please contact extension.gardening@maine.edu.
For more information or to request a reasonable accommodation, contact extension.gardening@maine.edu or by phone
Big Yields on Small Plots: Maximizing Your Garden’s Footprint
Tuesday, March 24, 2026
6 p.m. – 7:15 p.m.
Gardening in a small space doesn’t need to be limiting! In this workshop we’ll discuss strategies such as succession and companion planting, trellising, and season extension to maximize the harvest potential in your garden. Participants will leave with practical steps to grow more food for themselves, their families, and their communities.
Speaker: Carrick Gambell
Register Online: Big Yields on Small Plots
Can’t attend live? Register anyway to receive access to the recording and a list of related resources.
About the Speaker
Carrick Gambell, Urban Agriculture Professional, is working in a joint position with the USDA Natural Resources Conservation Service and UMaine Extension. He provides technical support, program planning, and education to support ecosystem stewardship and food production in urban settings.
Helping Food Security from Your Backyard: Simple Ways to Grow for Good
Tuesday, March 31, 2026
6 p.m. – 7:15 p.m.
Home gardeners can play a meaningful role in strengthening local food security. This webinar will provide a brief overview of our Harvest for Hunger efforts and walk through the key steps, from choosing what to grow and planting, to harvesting, distribution, and reporting your donation at the end of the season. You’ll also hear from dedicated volunteers who grow extra food in their own gardens and donate it to food pantries and hunger relief programs. They will share practical tips for working with donation sites, along with personal insights from their experiences. Whether you’re new to gardening or looking to maximize your garden’s impact, this webinar will offer actionable guidance to help strengthen food security right from your backyard.
Speakers: Kate Garland, UMaine Extension Horticulture Professional and Jane Trail, Master Gardener Volunteer in Oxford County
Register Online: Helping Food Security from Your Backyard
Can’t attend live? Register anyway to receive access to the recording and a list of related resources.
About the Speakers
Kate Garland, a University of Maine Cooperative Extension Horticulture Professional since 2010, dedicates her efforts to enhancing gardening efficiency and skills. Through workshops, newsletters, and personalized guidance, she empowers home, school, and community growers. Kate also supports Master Gardener Volunteers and Maine Harvest for Hunger Volunteers, who are civic-minded individuals educating and serving the community through horticultural initiatives, as well as addressing food insecurity through efficient growing, gleaning, and distribution efforts throughout the state.
Jane Traill is a Master Gardener Volunteer in Oxford County.
Produce Sharing Tables: An Approach to Garden-Grown Food Access
Tuesday, April 7, 2026
6 p.m. – 7:15 p.m.
This webinar will explore Waldo County Bounty’s Give and Take program, a stigma-free model for sharing surplus garden produce through community drop-off sites. Participants will learn how the program operates, how new sites are selected, and how to start a Give and Take site in their own community. Developed during the COVID-19 pandemic to address farm losses and food insecurity in rural Waldo County, Maine, where nearly 6,000 residents face food insecurity, the program connects local gardeners, farmers, and neighbors to expand access to healthy, local food.
Speakers: Viña Lindley, UMaine Extension Horticulture Professional and Mattie John Bamman, Waldo County Bounty Communications Coordinator
Register Online: Produce Sharing Tables
Can’t attend live? Register anyway to receive access to the recording and a list of related resources.
About the Speakers
Viña Lindley is a horticulture professional with the University of Maine Cooperative Extension and implements programs that address issues in food access and sustainable approaches to horticulture. Viña’s focus is on empowering individuals, families, and institutions to enhance their understanding of sustainable practices grounded in research-based information. Viña coordinates the Master Gardener volunteers in Knox, Lincoln and Waldo Counties and helps support their efforts to expand food access, deepen knowledge, and support a healthy environment in the community. Viña was involved with launching Waldo County Bounty and the “Give and Take” program. She lives in Lincolnville where she enjoys growing food with her family and sharing the bounty with her community.
Mattie John Bamman (he/him) serves as the communications coordinator for Waldo County Bounty, a nonprofit organization that he cofounded during the pandemic to increase access to locally grown fruits and vegetables. Mattie has participated in the development of WCB programming, including the Farm-to-Pantry, Seedling-to-Pantry, Veggies For All Gleaning, and Give & Take Stand programs, which seek to support food insecure individuals and farms to strengthen the Waldo County food system. He is also a homesteader who grew up as part of the Downeast back-to-the-land movement, and has 20+ years of international food writing experience.
Community Gardens and Food Security in Maine
Tuesday, April 14, 2026
6 p.m. – 7:15 p.m.
Across Maine, community gardens are increasing food security by bringing people together to grow food for their communities. This panel will explore how collective garden spaces allow neighbors to work side by side to grow fresh, local food that is donated to food security organizations. Panelists will share real examples from across Maine and offer practical insights into how community gardens get started, build partnerships, and grow into lasting resources that strengthen local communities.
Speakers: Rachel Stamieszkin, Master Gardener Volunteer in Cumberland Coounty, Johnny Sanchez, Collective Gardens Program Coordinator and Volunteer Coordinator at Food And Medicine (FAM), and Julia St. Clair, Agricultural Programs Manager at Brunswick-Topsham Land Trust
Register Online: Community Gardens and Food Security in Maine
Can’t attend live? Register anyway to receive access to the recording and a list of related resources.
About the Speakers
Rachel Stamieszkin is a retired Project Manager. Upon her retirement from Unum she participated in the Master Gardener Class of 2017. Rachel has been intrigued and involved in growing vegetables since she was 3 in her own backyard in Pennsylvania, and in Maine since 1981. Rachel joined the Cape Elizabeth Community Garden at the Gull Crest Fields in the mid 2000’s, which had been established as a Master Gardener project by three Cape residents. After gardening at the Gull Crest Garden for a few years, Rachel put her corporate experience and love of gardening to work and became involved in managing the garden, a role she has played since 2010. Rachel’s big focus at the Gull Crest Garden has been helping gardeners grow their own organic produce, building community and growing food for the Maine Harvest for Hunger. Since its inception in 2002, this community garden has donated 10,000 pounds of food to local area food pantries.
Johnny Sanchez, Collective Gardens Program Coordinator & Volunteer Coordinator (he/him), joined the Food And Medicine (FAM) staff in 2021. Johnny was born in Albuquerque, NM and grew up on the Ohkay Owingeh reservation in northern New Mexico where he gained a passion for growing food and feeding people. After graduating undergrad from Dartmouth College, he further developed this passion by pursuing a Masters degree in sustainable agriculture from the University of Maine and managing a farm in central Maine before coming to FAM. At FAM, he has utilized these skills to help coordinate the annual Solidarity Harvest as well as outreach to farmers.
Julia St.Clair (she/her) is the Agricultural Programs Manager at the Brunswick-Topsham Land Trust and has been overseeing the Tom Settlemire Community Garden and the Master Gardener Volunteer Project, the Common Good Garden, for the past five growing seasons. Julia has lived and worked on farms across New England and has been involved in community gardens in Bar Harbor, Portland, and South Portland. When she’s not gardening, cooking, or talking about food, Julia can be found swimming in the ocean, reading on the couch with her cats, or traveling the world to try new foods.
You might also like to view our Victory Gardens for ME series for help with your first (or second!) vegetable garden, and our On Demand Webinars for information on a variety of topics.
The University of Maine System is an equal opportunity institution committed to nondiscrimination.