Chicago Community Gardeners Association

Building a Community Through Conservation@Home: A Panel on Stewardship and Native Plant Gardening
2022-03-16 18:00 - 19:00 (America/Chicago)
Conservation@Home is an educational and certification program focused on promoting and celebrating the use of conservation-minded gardening practices. By recognizing community and school gardens that meet our criteria of environmentally sound gardening practices in biodiversity, water conservation, and healthy soils, this program helps create more connected landscapes throughout our communities. Community gardens that certify need to utilize informal/formal education tools to engage members. Panelists will present updates and share photos of their gardens, their experience with Conservation@Home for Communities in Chicago, successes and challenges with community building and gardening during COVID, and their tips for growing native plants. There will also be time for Q & A from the audience.
Facilitated by: Gemini Bhalsod, University of Illinois Extension Horticulture Educator
Panelists: Valerie Kehoe, University of Illinois Extension Program Coordinator, Alex Palmer, Urban Naturalist, and Emily Lambert, Kellogg Garden Club Co-coordinator

Urban Community Food Forests, Diverse Species Selection and Engagement Opportunities
2022-03-19 10:00 - 11:00
Learn and share knowledge about food-producing native, hardy species and the sites where they thrive. Showcase different examples of food forests and food forest stewardship. Highlight the importance of diversity in species selection. Explore different forms of engagement to grow volunteerism and increase community garden and green space access and awareness. Opportunity to partner together to plant food-producing shrubs and trees in fall 2022 and beyond!
Presenter: Trinity Pierce, Stewardship Manager, Chicago Region Trees Initiative

Houseplants & Coleus Distribution
2022-03-19 10:00 - 13:00 | The Hatchery Chicago, 135 N. Kedzie, Chicago, IL, 60624, United States
Houseplants & Coleus Distribution 3-19-2022 Flyer

How Much Lead is There in Chicago’s Soils, and What Can We Do About It?
2022-03-19 11:00 - 12:00
This presentation will overview recent University of Illinois research to identify soil lead contamination and risk reduction in Chicago. City-wide soil lead maps will be presented, and recommended steps to identify contamination in your garden discussed. How to reduce the risk of plant absorption of lead and human exposure from soil will be overviewed, presenting evidence from experiments conducted using Chicago soils with varying degrees of lead contamination. By providing recent scientific developments on soil lead contamination and urban agriculture risk specifically in Chicago, this session will prepare individuals with practical knowledge for safe gardening.
Presenter: Andrew Margenot, Assistant Professor University of Illinois

Community Food Navigator: Strengthening Community-led Food Solutions
2022-03-23 17:00 - 18:00
This hands-on session is to introduce the project to CCGA members, and demonstrate the digital tools and stewardship methods in development that are designed to support visibility and connection among growers and gardeners. Staff and a few of the project’s current community stewards and contributors will together share our work and engage attendees about their perspectives and feedback on the value and functionality of the tools as an opportunity to shape their continued development. The goal of this session is to be a living demonstration of a stewardship model and tools that are designed to benefit Chicago gardeners, who shape and sustain Chicago’s agriculture and food culture and landscape through their efforts in neighborhood engagement, food access, learning, education, and revitalization. This session will help gardeners to connect with the Navigator to shape the first versions of the project’s tools and methods for organizing, stewardship and engagement to ensure they are of use and value to them.
Presenters: Bahati Aimee, Project Manager/Community Steward, Deepa Gupta, Project Director, and Wendy Manning, Lead Engagement Strategy / Integration

Aliarse con la naturaleza para cultivar un jardín floreciente – Working with Nature to Build a Thriving Garden (Presented in Spanish)
2022-03-23 18:00 - 19:00
Mediante ejemplos de entreplantar y métodos naturales para controlar plagas empleados en el Jardín para donaciones de Garfield Park Conservatory Alliance, esta presentación en PowerPoint repasa técnicas sencillas y rentables para cultivar un jardín que crece con fuerza mientras respalda a la naturaleza.
Working with Nature to Build a Thriving Garden: Using examples of interplanting and natural pest control applied in the Garfield Park Conservatory Alliance’s Giving Garden, this PowerPoint presentation reviews simple and cost-effective techniques for building a flourishing garden that also supports nature. *This session will be presented in Spanish.
Presenter: Emilia Arellano, Gerente de educación de jardinería urbana, Garfield Park Conservatory Alliance (Urban Gardening Education Manager for the Garfield Park Conservatory Alliance)

Maximizing Winter Production in Community Gardens
2022-03-26 10:00 - 11:00
This presentation will cover techniques to increase winter vegetable production, including topics such as building cold frames, crops which can be planted early in the year and harvested over the winter, winter sowing seeds, use of mulch and green manure for insulation, and more. We will share many real examples from our current and completed projects!
Presenters: Michael Repkin, Executive Director, Urban Habitat Chicago and Alex Barnes, Soil Science and Horticulture student, Southern Illinois University

Greenspace for Whom?
2022-03-26 11:00 - 12:00
Join a discussion about the challenges of creating and maintaining sustainable community driven green spaces in gentrifying communities. El Paseo Community Garden in the Pilsen neighborhood of Chicago will be presented as a case study.
Presenter: Paula Acevedo, Co-Director, El Paseo Community Garden

Using Community Science to Build Urban Habitat for Monarch Butterflies (Spanish materials provided)
2022-03-30 17:00 - 18:00
Many people know about the staggering population decline in monarch butterflies and other pollinators. Community science programs can create an important point of engagement for community members from many backgrounds. For the last three years, as part of a Field Museum community science project, amateur scientists throughout the Chicago Region have monitored monarch caterpillars in their urban gardens for the Keller Science Action Center’s Monarch Community Science Project. Since 2020 this project has been available in both English and Spanish at bit.ly/monarchmonitors. As part of the monitoring protocol, participants submitted weekly data surveys. We will share the results of those surveys and what they have taught us about important traits of urban gardens that help monarch caterpillars thrive. This talk will describe key insights we have gained during the course of conducting this community science project and how we hope to engage gardeners in the future to make a case for the valuable role urban gardens play in providing pollinator habitat.
Presenters: Erika Hasle, Conservation Ecologist, Keller Science Action Center and Colleen McVeigh, Urban Conservation Education Specialist, Field Museum

Advanced Soil and Media Testing: Options for Community Gardens Using Soil, Pure Compost, and Other Media Blends
2022-03-30 18:00 - 19:00
Soil testing as a practice has often created confusion and uncertainty when it comes to soil and media management, especially for smaller-scale homeowners and community garden groups. This presentation will cover multiple testing options along a continuum of possibilities. Testing methodologies explored will include traditional soil testing options, saturated media extract/greenhouse media testing, plant tissue, plant petiole sap, and compost testing options. Also, learn about current work being conducted by the University of Illinois Extension to explore alternative testing options for urban growers.
Presenter: Zachary Grant, Cook County Local Food Systems and Small Farms Educator

Community Compost Collection
2022-04-07 11:00 - 15:00 | Plant Chicago ‘Firehouse”, 4459 S Marshfield Ave, Chicago, IL, 60609, United States
Plant Chicago
Saturday April 16, 11 am – 3 pm
4459 S Marshfield, Chicago
https://go.illinois.edu/CompostPlantChgo
University of Illinois Extension in Cook County and Plant Chicago have teamed up to keep food scraps out of landfills for Earth Day 2022.
Residents can drop off kitchen waste to be composted and pick up a bucket of finished compost. Please BYOB (bring your own bucket). Finished compost is first come, first served. At the event you can sign up for a chance to win a grow bag or bed, pick up free plant starts donated by Gotham Greens or a native tree provided by The Morton Arboretum/Chicago Region Trees Initiative, purchase locally-grown and made products, visit Plant Chicago’s indoor and outdoor gardens, learn more about how to compost, see a worm bin in action, talk to an Illinois Extension Master Gardener or Compost Ambassador, and take part in a free compost tea workshop from noon to 1 p.m. Please register in advance for the workshop.
Help us reach our goal of collecting 1 ton of compostable food scraps at this one-day-only event. This event is free and open to the public. I hope you can join us!

UIC Heritage Garden - Spring Seed Swap
2022-04-09 11:00 - 14:00 | University of Illinois Chicago, Jane Addams Hull House 800 S Halsted St, Chicago, IL, 60607, United States
Join the UIC Heritage Garden for the annual Spring Seed Swap! We invite
gardeners, organizations, and community members interested in learning more
about gardening, environmental sustainability, and social justice. Anyone
can come to share knowledge, stories, and resources with others, and make
new friends from around the city.
Admission is free! Masks are required.
Participants do not need to bring seeds to attend.
Date: Saturday April 9th, 2022
Time: 11 am – 2 pm
Location: Fishbowl Room SES 221
Math and Science Learning Center at UIC
845 West Taylor Street, 2nd Floor SES
To RSVP scan the QR code or go to https://go.uic.edu/SeedSwap22
​​For access needs or questions, email heritagegarden.uic@gmail.com or call
312-996-3143. All audiences are welcome. Paid parking available. The space
is wheelchair accessible.

Spring Plant Distribution & Vegetable Planting Workshop
2022-04-16 10:00 - 14:00 | The Hatchery Chicago, 135 N. Kedzie, Chicago, IL, 60624, United States
4-16-2022 Spring Vegetable Distribution Flyer

Community Compost Collection
2022-04-16 10:00 - 14:00 | Garfield Park Conservatory, 300 N. Central Park Ave. , Chicago, IL, United States
Garfield Park Conservatory
Sat April 16, 10 am – 2 pm
300 N Central Park Ave, South Parking Lot, Chicago
https://go.illinois.edu/CompostGPCA
Residents can drop off kitchen waste to be composted and pick up a bucket of finished compost. Please BYOB (bring your own bucket). Finished compost is first come, first served. At the event you can also win a grow bag or bed, pick up free plant starts donated by Gotham Greens, trees from Chicago Regional Tree Initiative, learn more about how to compost at home, see a worm bin in action, and talk to an Illinois Extension Master Gardener or Compost Ambassador. If you’d like to tour Garfield Park Conservatory’s outdoor composting system and gardens, please make a reservation.
Help us reach our goal of collecting 1 ton of compostable food scraps at this one-day-only event.

April CCGA Coordinating Meeting
2022-04-19 18:00 - 20:00
NOTE: Until further notice CCGA Coordinating meetings are being held via Zoom. If you want to attend the coordinating meeting and are not already a member of one of the CCGA working groups send an email to: communications@chicagocommunitygardens.org and request to join the meeting.
Please join us for our monthly coordinating meeting. Representatives from all the working groups come together to coordinate our actions. Meeting locations All community gardeners and supporters are invited to attend.
Check the CCGA website for location details and as agendas become available. In person meetings switch between The Hatchery & the Chicago Center for Green Technology:
Chicago Center for Green Technology (CCGT)
445 N. Sacramento Blvd.
The Hatchery
135 N. Kedzie
NOTE: All CCGA coordinating meeting minutes are available for you to review on the website. Look under the menu tree at ‘Who We Are’ and then ‘CCGA Organization’ and you will see links here for the coordinating committee documents by year.

Mushroom Growing Workshop & Plant Sale Saturday April 30th at 10am
2022-04-30 10:00 - 13:00 | The Hatchery Chicago, 135 N. Kedzie, Chicago, IL, 60624, United States
[pdf-embedder url=”http://chicagocommunitygardens.org/wp-content/uploads/2022/04/Houseplants_April-30.pdf” title=”4-30-22 Mushroom Growing Workshop & Plant

May CCGA Coordinating Meeting
2022-05-17 18:00 - 20:00

Habitat for Monarch Caterpillars Workshop
2022-06-08 12:00 - 14:00
The Monarch Community Science Project works with the public to help researchers at the Field Museum understand how successful milkweed plants in cities and towns are at providing habitat for monarch caterpillars.

Full details on the Monarch Community Science Project are HERE.

The project has several virtual training sessions planned for May/June and participants can register HERE.

Thursday, May 26, 6pm to 8pm
Wednesday, June 8, 12pm to 2pm

Monitors of all experience levels and gardens as small as one plant or as large as 500 plants are welcome. Anyone who participates in a training is welcome to come pick up free milkweed plants at one of our distributions in June located on the north, west and far south sides of Chicago.

Monarchs and Pollinators Team

Field Museum
1400 S. Lake Shore Dr.
Chicago, IL 60605
fieldmuseum.org

June CCGA Coordinating Meeting
2022-06-21 18:00 - 20:00

Edgewater Glen Garden Walk
2022-07-10 12:00 - 17:00
See how creative gardeners treat small urban outdoor spaces. Starting point & map at 1420 W. Glenlake (6100 North).

See details HERE.

Edgewater Glen Garden Walk
2022-07-10 12:00 - 17:00
See how creative gardeners treat small urban outdoor spaces. Starting point & map at 1420 W. Glenlake (6100N).

Community Compost Collection - Park Forest
2022-07-16 07:00 - 12:00 | Village of Park Forest, 297 Liberty Drive, Park Forest, IL, 60466
University of Illinois Extension in Cook County and The Village of Park Forest have teamed up to keep food scraps out of landfills this summer.
Residents can drop off kitchen waste to be composted and pick up a bucket of finished compost. Please BYOB (bring your own bucket). Finished compost is first come, first served. At the event you can win a grow bag, pick up free plant starts donated by Gotham Greens, learn more about how to compost, see a worm bin in action, talk to an Illinois Extension Master Gardener or Compost Ambassador, and more.
Help us reach our goal of collecting 1 ton of compostable food scraps at this one-day-only event.
No yard waste will be accepted at this years’ event.
Location: Parking lot at Forest Blvd. and Liberty Drive
Time: 7 a.m. to noon
If you have questions or need a reasonable accommodation, please contact Sarah Batka, 217-300-8636.
Event details are HERE.
To learn more about Illinois Extension’s composting efforts visit the Cook County Composting Initiative webpage.

CCGA July Perennial Distribution
2022-07-22 11:00 - 13:00 | New Horizons Community Garden, 401 S. Central Park, Chicago, IL, 60624, United States
7-22-2022 July Perennial Distribution Flyer

Community Compost Collection - Homewood Farmer’s Market
2022-07-23 09:00 - 12:00 | Homewood Farmers Market, 18000 Martin Ave, Homewood, IL, 60430
University of Illinois Extension in Cook County, The Village of Homewood, and the Homewood Farmers’ Market have teamed up to keep food scraps out of landfills this summer.
Residents can drop off kitchen waste to be composted and pick up a bucket of finished compost. Please BYOB (bring your own bucket). Finished compost is first come, first served. At the event you can win a grow bag, pick up free plant starts donated by Gotham Greens, learn more about how to compost, see a worm bin in action, talk to an Illinois Extension Master Gardener or Compost Ambassador, and more.
Help us reach our goal of collecting 1 ton of compostable food scraps at this one-day-only event.
No yard waste will be accepted at this years’ event.
Location: Homewood Farmers Market on Martin Ave (behind Homewood Science Center)
Time: 9:00 am – 12:00 Noon
If you have questions or need a reasonable accommodation, please contact Sarah Batka, 217-300-8636.
Event details are HERE.
To learn more about Illinois Extension’s composting efforts visit the Cook County Composting Initiative webpage.

CCGA 10th Anniversary Celebration
2022-08-19 17:00 - 21:00 | Garfield Park Conservatory, 300 N. Central Park Ave. , Chicago, IL, United States
Details coming soon. Save the date now – all community gardeners and friends of the gardens are invited!
Date: Friday August 19th, 2022
Location: The Garfield Park Conservatory

Visioning the Future for Our Gardens
2022-09-17 10:00 - 12:00 | UIC Behavioral Sciences Building, 1007 W. Harrison St., Chicago, IL, 60607, United States
Community gardens have the power to improve the lives of every Chicagoan, whether it’s a beautiful space to connect to nature for mental health, a pollinator garden to provide a food source for wildlife, an allotment garden where people can grow their own food, or its collective impact on improving climate change and building community.

ATTEND THIS WORKSHOP TO:
• Explore and learn innovative approaches to turn research into activism to drive urban planning and policies centered on improving both community and environmental health through community gardening.
• Provide your input to help create goals and policies to establish community gardens as an integral element in creating an equitable and resilient Chicago with the needed funding and support where Chicagoans in all neighborhoods have access to safe beautiful green spaces and gardens and the ability to grow healthy food through the We Will Chicago initiative.
This is a FREE workshop. Please register in advance. A light vegetarian lunch and refreshments will be provided. Attendees will also receive a We Will Chicago swag bag.

EVENT INFO:
When & Where
Saturday, Sept. 17 from 10am – Noon
UIC Behavioral Sciences Building, Room 2105
1007 W. Harrison St.
Chicago, IL 60607
Getting to the workshop
The easiest way to find the Behavioral Sciences Building (BSB) and classroom is to enter the UIC campus at Morgan and Harrison streets. We’ll have CCGA signs (and hopefully a few volunteers) posted at the BSB to help guide you to Room 2105, which is on the west side of the Behavioral Sciences Building on the 2nd floor in the Anthropology wing.
The easiest (and most accessible) way to find the classroom is to enter through the rear of the building (see map below). From Harrison and Morgan, continue walking west a half block and turn left at the large parking lot. Walk past the dumpsters and you’ll see a blue sign for the Behavioral Sciences Building and a ramped/accessible sidewalk to the entrance (see pic below). Once inside the building, go straight ahead and take the elevators to the 2nd floor. Turn right and the sign for the Anthropology wing should be visible. From there, Room 2105 is just ahead to the left.

Public transportation: The #60 Blue Island/26th and #7 Harrison CTA buses stop at Morgan and Harrison, right in front of the Behavioral Sciences Building. You can also take the Blue line to the UIC/Halsted stop, exit on Morgan St., and walk east past Congress to Harrison St. Cross the street and the Behavioral Sciences Building will be the brown brick building to the right.
Car Parking: The closest public parking lot is the Harrison Street Parking Structure, it’s just west of the UIC Theater at 1100 W Harrison St, Chicago, IL 60607 and is $7-9 (for 2-3 hours). Please note that the surface lots closest to the BSB are card access only.
Bike info: There is a bike rack outside of the Harrison St. entrance to the Behavioral Sciences Building. The closest DIVVY bike station is located at the Student Services building at Racine and Harrison, which also has a rack for locking bikes.
Refreshments & Lunch
Coffee and tea will be available. Please bring your own beverage container if possible.
Lunch is being generously provided by Crave Kabob: https://www.cravekabob.com/ and is a falafel wrap with chips.

September CCGA Coordinating Meeting
2022-09-20 18:00 - 20:00

October CCGA Coordinating Meeting
2022-10-18 18:00 - 20:00

November CCGA Coordinating Meeting
2022-11-15 18:00 - 20:00

Wreath Making Demo, Container Workshop & Holiday Plant Sale
2022-12-03 09:30 - 14:00 | The Hatchery, 135 N. Kedzie Ave, Chicago, IL, 60612, United States
Austin community gardener and expert plant designer Juline McClinton will demonstrate festive wreath making. Bridget Schroeder of The Contained Garden will lead a hands-on workshop on creating a beautiful holiday container. Plant sale to follow at 11am. Be sure to register by December 1st. See the flyer below for more details.
Note the address of The Hatchery is located at 135 N Kedzie Ave, Chicago, IL 60612 – right at the Kedzie Green Line stop.
12-3-2022 Holiday Workshop & Plant Sale Flyer
