Hello
Gardeners!
Upcoming Events
The
Seed Library will be at the Harvest Festival. Hope to see you there!
YMCA Harvest
Festival, Sunday Sept 22, Noon-3pm
Join in celebrating community grown food from
12-3pm on Sunday, September 22. The second annual BearPower Harvest Party will again feature FREE small bites by local chefs. The event
will take place at the White Bear Area YMCA Community Gardens, (2100 Orchard
Lane) behind the YMCA building. We’ll be serving food until we run out, so join
the party early.
Food
Most of the produce was grown in local
community Gardens. Our own WBL School District (Central, Lakeaires,
Matoska and Oneka) the WBL Health Partners Clinic Garden, Tamarack Nature Center Garden and the YMCA
Community Gardens are all sharing produce for the event. Local organic farm, All Good
Organics, will again be
donating to round out our garden harvests.
Chefs Matt Ellison of Bonfire
Restaurants and Peggy Doran of Margaux’s
Table are donating their time
and talents to turn the food into tasty meals. Local fall veggies will delight
your taste buds- but the exact recipes will have to wait as the chefs see what
produce rolls in the day before!
Activities
BearPower is bringing family fun with giant
yard games and ways to make healthy eating and activities a part of your
routine. Everyone’s favorite carrot, Chomp, will be on site to get kids pumped
about living healthy. The YMCA will be holding a few Kids’ Fitness classes in
the garden. The
White Bear Lake Seed Library will be giving seed saving demonstrations and
information on their organization, housed in our downtown public library. The WBL schools will have a table about their
gardens, and teachers on site to talk about schoolyard gardens. Ramsey County Master Gardeners will be available for your gardening Q&A.
Forks
in the Dirt will have a table
about the impact of eating local, getting kids in the garden and gardening
tips. Our local WBL PD
will be there as well with ideas for staying safe while out and about.
October – Tuesday,
Oct. 8th, 6:30 pm – Seed Talk - Putting Your Garden to Bed
What
should you do before Old Man Winter comes? Learn how to take care of your
garden while it rests over the winter. What you can do to help make next year’s
garden even better.
October 15 – Tuesday,
7 pm - Wild Ones program
Lawns to Legumes Cost Sharing Grants Promote Pollinator Habitat
Lawns to Legumes Cost Sharing Grants Promote Pollinator Habitat
FamilyMeans building, 1875 Northwestern Ave, Stillwater, MN
Lawns to Legumes is a new State-funded initiative to protect pollinators, especially the rusty patched bumblebee.
This cost-sharing and technical outreach program is being set up for homeowners who want to enhance their landscape by adding pollinator-friendly habitat, including native plants. Priority is being given to areas in the State that can support the endangered rusty patched bumblebee. This includes most of Washington County.
We'll discuss the State-wide program and then details of how Washington County residents can participate. Free and everyone is welcome.
Program begins at 7pm, socialize 6:30 pm. All are welcome! You do not have to be a Wild Ones member to attend.
Lawns to Legumes is a new State-funded initiative to protect pollinators, especially the rusty patched bumblebee.
This cost-sharing and technical outreach program is being set up for homeowners who want to enhance their landscape by adding pollinator-friendly habitat, including native plants. Priority is being given to areas in the State that can support the endangered rusty patched bumblebee. This includes most of Washington County.
We'll discuss the State-wide program and then details of how Washington County residents can participate. Free and everyone is welcome.
Program begins at 7pm, socialize 6:30 pm. All are welcome! You do not have to be a Wild Ones member to attend.
WANTED
– SEEDS!!!!
The Seed Library is
down to only 400 packets of seeds. So far in 2019, over 2,200 packets of seeds
have found new homes. Every year we increase the number of packets finding new
homes, so we need lots of seeds for the 2020 season as well as native plants
seeds for this fall.
Please
save your seeds of non-hybrid, open-pollinated beans, peas, lettuce, sweet
peppers, tomatoes, annuals and native plant seeds!
If
you are unable to save seeds from your own harvest, please donate a commercial
packet of appropriate seeds.
A Special Note about
Harvesting Seeds!
Please
do not harvest seeds from seed pods that are still green (unripe). The seeds
will not be viable. In particular, do NOT harvest milkweed pods until the seed
pods in brown and partially open. Milkweed seeds from green pods will not
germinate.
Resources
I
have added a list of great resources to the Seed Library blogsite.
Blog
site: https://wblseedlibrary.blogspot.com/
Contact info for the
Seed Library:
Email:
wblseedlibrary@gmail.com
Blog
site: https://wblseedlibrary.blogspot.com/