Gear Up for Gardening

To stir up your spring spirit and get you growing!

Given the rapidly evolving COVID-19 situation in Maine, UMaine Extension has made the decision to cancel this event. We ask for your patience as we begin processing refunds. Thank you for your interest in this event and please do not hesitate to contact Sue Baez at sue.baez@maine.edu if you have questions.

Saturday, April 4, 2020
12:30 – 4:00 PM
(Doors open at 12:00 PM)

Moore Community Center, 125 State Street, Ellsworth

General Admission: $15/person
Student Admission: $10/person
Registration deadline is April 1, 2020

Join us!

Gardening in a Shifting Climate~ Panel Discussion

12:30 – 1:30 PM

Moderated by Jim Bradley, Master Gardener Volunteer

Dorcas Corrow – Project lead at Sweet Haven Farm, a Harvest for Hunger Master Gardener Volunteer site that grows and donates over 2,000 pounds of produce each year.

Paul Volckhausen – Owns Happy Town Farm in Orland with his wife Karen. The farm was certified organic in 1986. Paul has held leadership positions at MOFGA including Treasurer and Acting Executive Director, and is a constant presence at the Ellsworth Farmers’ Market.

David Handley – Vegetable and Small Fruit Specialist, Cooperating Professor of Horticulture for UMaine at Highmoor Farm, David carries out applied research regarding berry and vegetable variety evaluation and coordinates several statewide integrated pest management programs.

Jesse Wheeler – Jesse has led a crew monitoring long-term forest health in the northeast’s National Parks. He is Acadia National Park’s Vegetation Biologist, managing invasive exotic plants and protecting native plant populations.

Workshops 1:45-2:45 (Choose 1)

Grow Your Best Raspberries ~ David Handley – UMaine Cooperative Extension Vegetable and Small Fruit Specialist

Take a detailed look at growing raspberries including variety selection, planting, pruning, trellising and pest management to help you have a successful harvest of this wonderful fruit.

Grow Your Best Veggies ~ Marjorie Peronto – Educator for the UMaine Cooperative Extension who teaches classes in fruit and vegetable gardening, ecological landscaping, and pruning. She oversees the Master Gardener Volunteers Program in Hancock and Washington Counties, training volunteers to conduct community outreach projects that promote sustainable gardening and food security.

Keep up to date with critical information designed to help you grow your best vegetables, including sustaining healthy soil, selecting and caring for garden plants, and supporting the roles of all types of insects in the garden ecosystem.

Creative Frameworks for SEED Dispersal ~ Lee Lee -Founder of the SEED Barn in Blue Hill, Lee Lee is a visual artist who constructs community frameworks for participatory restoration projects and creative seed dissemination. She explores the impact of mobilities-centered culture, an emergent field of research that explores the movement of people, ideas, and things, as well as the broader social implications of those movements. Lee Lee works towards localization to promote food security in both Maine and Haiti. www.virtualvoices.org

Working at the intersection of art and ecology, Lee Lee will present her methodology in cultivating creative frameworks for public engagement around wild land restoration. Material will include cultivating networks of living SEED libraries, SEED Sensoria, HugelCULTURE and following seasonal rhythms to respond to specific attributes of place in culturally sensitive ways.

Workshops 3:00 – 4:00 (Choose 1)

Creating Biodiversity Gardens ~ Marjorie Peronto and Reeser Manley – Retired horticulture professor, passionate gardener, and author. He and his partner Marjorie have published two gardening books: The Life in Your Garden: Gardening for Biodiversity (2016) and The New England Gardener’s Year: A Month-by-Month Guide for Maine, New Hampshire, Vermont, Massachusetts, Rhode Island, Connecticut, and Upstate New York (2013).

Help stem the tide of species extinction by converting some or all of your landscape into a haven for insects, songbirds, amphibians and other wildlife. Learn about the plants that foster wildlife diversity.

Organic Gardening Techniques for Dealing with Climate Change ~ Paul Volckhausen -Owns Happy Town Farm in Orland with his wife Karen. The farm was certified organic in 1986. Paul has held leadership positions at MOFGA including Treasurer and Acting Executive Director, and is a constant presence at the Ellsworth Farmers’ Market.

Learn how organic gardening techniques can help mitigate the effects of climate change on your garden.

Incredible Edible Milbridge ~ Pam Dyer Stewart – Coordinator of Incredible Edible Milbridge, a food security project of the Women’s Health Resource Library. Community involvement in the success of pick-your-own public gardens throughout Milbridge and expansion of support for this incredible project are an impressive reflection of the efforts Pam has coordinated.

Begun in 2013, Incredible Edible Milbridge builds community as it builds food security in our corner of Maine. Pam will share what’s been learned and where Incredible Edible Milbridge is going seven years after its launch. Great chance for other communities to get ideas on replication of this successful effort.

Cooperative Extension in Hancock County