[Communications] [Test] CCGA 8th Annual Conference Registration is Now Open • House Plant Distribution • Watch out for Jumping Worms!

[Lorraine Kells]

Every 3rd Tuesday of the month so coordinating meeting is Tues. Feb 18! Feb
18!

On Sun, Feb 9, 2020, 11:58 PM CCGA via Communications <
communications at chicagocommunitygardens.org> wrote:

> "Hi all. Here is a test email for your review. Only one thing that seems
> weird - the website post for the upcoming CCGA coordinating meeting says
> it's on the 20th, but the events calendar has it on the 18th. When is the
> meeting? Please let me know if you have any edits in the morning. We're
> aiming to send this in the early afternoon. Thanks! Amy" — Chicago
> Community Gardeners Association
> To send feedback about this test campaign, reply with a message above this
> bar.
> Join us for a Distribution of Houseplants  • Registration is open for the
> CCGA 8th Annual Gardeners' Conference  •  Jumping Worms - Beware!
> View this email in your browser
> <https://us14.campaign-archive.com/?e=&u=7f2904daf2a26a891c68f8bb0&id=38b92ac517>
>
> *News for Community Gardeners*
> *"Never doubt that a small group of thoughtful, committed citizens can
> change the world; indeed, it's the only thing that ever has."*
> - Margaret Mead
> *Hello Community Gardeners!*
>
> Many spent the early weeks of the new year reflecting on the year past,
> but we are gardeners; we are plant people. We more often look forward than
> back. We’ve already torn one page off a calendar and are eager to tear the
> pages until the first signs of Spring, until we can garden again to “plant
> dreams, pull weeds, and grow a happy life."
>
> Connection with plants and the environment has been an integral part of
> human culture. The process of making connections starts at an early age in
> life, even without conscious thought. Connection encompasses feelings of
> belonging that give us a sense of place, of identification, and of
> inspiration. This year’s theme, *Connections through Gardening: Plants,
> People and the Environment,* aims to explore and celebrate the
> interconnectedness of our shared garden work and to foster relationships
> and conversations that shape and support best practices for sustainable
> living and growing in Chicago. We hope you will join us on March 21st to
> discover deeper connections in your own communities!
> *Conference Registration is Open!*
>
> We're excited to invite you to our 8th Annual Conference on Saturday,
> March 21 at light-filled Whitney Young High School on the Near West Side.
> Check the CCGA web site <http://www.chicagocommunitygardens.org> and
> follow us on Facebook for all the details.
>
>
> *Workshops*
> We saw our theme come alive in many wonderful ways as we read through the
> proposals we received for conference workshops this year. Thank you to all
> of you who submitted proposals. To all past attendees: we heard you! This
> year’s workshops are longer, giving attendees more time for Q&A with the
> presenters.
>
> *Session 1 - 10:00am - 11:15am*
>
>    - WK1: Técnicas eficaces para la jardinera ecológica en pequeños
>    espacios (Spanish only)
>    - WK2: What does the environment have to do with my health?
>    - WK3: Treehuggers Unite!  Let’s plant and protect our trees!
>    - WK4: Sharing Notes:  Four Experienced Community Gardeners Talk About
>    Creating and Perpetuating a Community Garden
>    - WK5: Yard Sharing; Reimagining Community Gardening, Private Space,
>    and Cultivating Deeper Roots for Climate Resilient Communities
>    - WK6: Health and Wellbeing in our Community Gardens and Beyond:
>    Insights from Surveys and Practice
>
> *Session 2 - 11:30am - 12:45pm*
>
>    - WK7: Growing Community: Inviting Interaction through a Permaculture
>    Lens (English/Spanish)
>    - WK8: Mapping soil lead in Chicago and understanding it’s potential
>    uptake by vegetables
>    - WK9: Using Traditions to Build Our Gardens and Our Community
>    - WK10: Production Planning for Community Garden Systems
>    - WK11: Birds as Connectors to Nearby Nature (Great for kids!)
>    - WK12: The Offers & Needs Market
>
> Register for the conference
> <http://chicagocommunitygardens.org/conference/>
>
>
> *Growing with Purpose *
> *Keynote Address by Robert Nevel*
> Robert is an architect, urban farmer and pioneer in the food and eco
> justice movement. He is a former member of the Board of Advocates for Urban
> Agriculture, a current member of AUA’s Leadership Council and a past
> president of KAM Isaiah Israel Congregation. In 2009, he founded the award
> winning, nationally recognized Food Justice and Sustainability Program at
> KAMII. The program is focused on transforming unproductive urban spaces
> into micro-farms and food forests, improving access to fresh food, teaching
> urban agriculture and sustainability skills and advocating for healthy food
> systems and responsible energy, land and water use. The theme of his
> keynote presentation is *Growing With Purpose.*
>
>
> *Educational Table for Kids*
> The CCGA Education Committee is pleased to again host an educational table
> for kids! We’ll have fun activities and kids will also receive books (some
> in Spanish) to learn about bugs, gardening, harvesting rain, and being
> green. Each child will also receive a special gardening kit to take home!
>
> *Free on-site soil heavy metal screening at the conference!*
> Bring soil directly from your garden to be tested on-the-spot for heavy
> metal contamination! We're excited once again to host Dr. Andrew Margenot
> from the University of Illinois Department of Crop Sciences in
> collaboration with University of Illinois Extension to offer a free soil
> screening at the conference! Your soil must be dry to test, so be sure to
> collect it soon.
>
> *Sometimes Questions are More Important than Answers*
>
> New this year for our conference is a panel discussion on Health and
> Wellbeing in our Community Gardens and Beyond: Insights from Surveys and
> Practice.
>
> For our panel of professional researchers and medical practitioners, your
> questions are as important to them as their answers are important to
> you. This panel will present information in discussion format about health
> and wellness as surveyed in Chicago’s community gardens. Each of the
> panelists and our moderator will give a professional and personal take on
> the statement that gardening does provide substantial health benefits to
> those who garden. Take a minute then to think about what you’d like to
> learn from this panel of experts. What would you like to ask? You can ask
> it now in this informal survey. What do you want to know? For those of you
> shy about asking questions in “public” this is a good time to put your
> thoughts into words and ask! Send your questions to Lorraine at
> lxkells at gmail.com
>
> Who is on this panel? Two of the panelist’s researchers, Professors Howard
> Rosing and Molly Doane will draw from their broader studies in health,
> well-being, and social and behavioral issues and from their recent surveys
> of Chicago’s community gardens to provide you with insights and some
> interesting facts about community gardening. Dr. Miller and Dr. Rowin will
> draw from their practices to give community gardeners information about
> personal and community health and vitality. Vincent Gomez completes the
> panel, drawing on people-plant wellness concepts.
> *Share photos of your garden*
> Show off your garden! Each year we present a slideshow of Chicago's
> community gardens during lunch. Please send photos to
> photos at chicagocommunitygardens.org.
>
> *Join our Conference Support Team*
> We are looking for people to help out at the conference! Support Team
> members receive a $5.00 discount from general registration which includes
> workshops, breakfast, and lunch. Support Team members who don't
> attend workshops pay $15 for lunch only. To sign up, select the Support
> Team option on the main conference registration page.
>
> *Become an exhibitor*
> You're invited to share your valuable knowledge, resources and skills with
> Chicago’s community gardeners at our annual conference where up to 250
> community gardeners attend to network, attend workshops, and actively visit
> the tables of our exhibitors. There are still a limited number of exhibitor
> tables available! For an application, please contact
> communications at chicagocommunitygardens.org.
> *Upcoming CCGA Resources Committee Events *
>
> *House Plant Distribution on February 22*
> The Resources Team has been propagating house plants like crazy, and has
> taken cuttings for community gardeners. There will be a variety of plants
> available, and many can filter indoor air effectively. *Pothos*, with its
> heart-shaped leaves, is one of the plants NASA deems an indoor air
> cleaner. This event will take place at 9:30am at the Hatchery Chicago, at
> 135 North Kedzie. Follow us on Facebook for more details!
>
> *Getting Ready for Growing Vegetables Talk & Tool Distribution on March 7*
> Stay tuned for more details about a Resources Tool Distribution, March 7
> at CCGT 445 N Sacramento in the second floor classroom following a talk
> "Getting Ready for Growing Vegetables" with Dan Gibbs. Dan works with the
> Austin Green Team, where he is president and garden leader. The Austin
> Green Team converts derelict properties into gardens. Dan is a noted garden
> educator who works to make local food gardening accessible and easy for
> families through education, inspiration and ongoing support. Follow CCGA on
> Facebook for more information and to sign up for this workshop.
> *Beware of ... Jumping Worms?*
> *Adult jumping worms. Photo courtesy of UW Aboretum*
>
>
> There is a new pest in Illinois. Will you find it in your community
> garden? We look for earthworms in our gardens as a good sign. Worms help
> increase the amount of air and water that gets into the soil, and they
> leave behind castings that are a valuable type of fertilizer. That is
> rapidly changing; a new invasive and damaging pest may be in your gardens.
>
> A local landscape designer described the devastation she has encountered
> in containers with this detrimental pest this way: “Generally, at the end
> of the growing season when I remove plants from containers, the roots are
> woven thickly together making each plant hard to remove. This year, plants
> easily pulled out of my containers with no soil attached to the roots.” The
> infestation she found causes the soil to deteriorate to something akin to
> loose coffee grounds. As the worms fed on the organic matter in the
> containers, the plant roots no longer had anything to hold onto!
>
> Jumping worms, *(Amynthas spp.)* were first identified in our region in
> 2015 in northern Illinois. These worms are native to East Asia, and they
> also have been called crazy worms, jumping worms, and snake worms because
> the worm thrashes wildly when handled or disturbed, and it can shed its
> tail in defense. The landscape designer we spoke with found these worms in
> Ravenswood Manor both in the ground and in containers, but she hasn't seen
> them elsewhere yet.
>
> Unlike red earthworms, these appear to be grey or brown. Jumping worms do
> not burrow far into soil – they live on the soil surface in debris and leaf
> litter. We are told to look for them in our gardens, in mulch, compost,
> potted plants and other suitable places. You will learn that the cocoons
> are nearly impossible to find; they are the size of mustard seeds, and
> although the cold kills adult worms, the cocoons protect them from cold.
>
> CCGA community gardeners should start looking for them just as soon as the
> temperatures consistently rise above freezing. They become most active in
> June, but we’re not sure the temperatures this winter have been cold enough
> to kill the worms, and we know the cocoons are not killed by cold. (After
> the polar vortex at Halloween, our gardener saw plenty of them.) CCGA
> gardeners must be very, very careful and aware of this threat, and look for
> their presence in any potted plants that are purchased or shared and in any
> compost or mulch. Use only compost that you know has been heated to
> appropriate temperatures and duration following protocols for reducing
> pathogens. Test your own compost and garden soil with this mix: For every
> gallon of water mix with 1/3 cup of ground yellow mustard seed and pour
> slowly into the soil. This will drive any worms to the surface. If you have
> jumping worms be sure to capture them and to drown them in vinegar or
> solarize them in a plastic bag before discarding them in the trash. Then
> report it to your state’s Department of Natural Resources (DNR) so that
> they can track the spread, and absolutely avoid moving plants, compost or
> soil from your garden.
>
> Please read through the information thoroughly on these websites. You’ll
> find Information for identifying the worms as well as recommendations on
> how to reduce their spread. At this time, there are no controls, organic or
> otherwise, to kill the worms or their cocoons. The WI DNR is doing some
> testing this coming year and we hope that their efforts will result in an
> organic method to rid our gardens of this terrible new pest.
>
> For further reading:
> https://ipm.illinois.edu/first_detector/Jumping_Worm_Handout.pdf
> https://dnr.wi.gov/topic/invasives/fact/jumpingworm/index.html
>
> *Upcoming Events*
>
> *Click on an event title for more info.*
>
> Y
> <http://chicagocommunitygardens.org/event/bilingual-vegetable-garden-basics/>outh
> Farm Facilitator Training
> <https://www.chicagobotanic.org/urbanagriculture/youthfarm>
> February 22 @ 8:30 am - 3:30 pm
> Farm on Ogden, 3555 Ogden Ave, Chicago, 60623
> Fee: $75
> Presented by: *Windy City Harvest*
>
> Avondale Gardening Alliance Seed Swap
> <https://avondalegardeningalliance.wordpress.com/>
> February 23 @ 12:00 pm - 3:00 pm
> Metropolitan Brewery, 3057 N. Rockwell, Chicago, 60618
> FREE
> Presented by: *Avondale Gardening Alliance*
>
> Beginning Beekeeping Class
> <https://www.eventbrite.com/e/beginning-beekeeping-class-registration-66253063697>
> February 29 @900 am - 2:00 pm
> Garfield Park Conservatory, 300 N. Central Park Ave, Chicago, 60624
> Fee: $56-70
> Presented by: *Garfield Park Conservatory Alliance*
>
> AUA's 8th Annual Urban Livestock Expo
> <https://www.facebook.com/events/2483196485294395/permalink/2483196491961061/?notif_t=page_post_reaction¬if_id=1577739236438455>
> February 29 @ 10:00 am - 1:00 pm
> Prosser Career Academy, 2148 N. Long Ave., Chicago, 60639
> FREE
> Presented by: *Advocates for Urban Agriculture*
>
> Fruit Tree Pruning Workshop
> <https://www.chicagobotanic.org/adult_education/windy_city_harvest/one_day_intensives>
> March 7 @ 9:00 am - 1:30 pm
> Washington Park Youth Farm, 555 East 51st St., Chicago 60615
> $75
> Presented by:
>
>
> *Windy City Harvest Check our Events Calendar
> <http://chicagocommunitygardens.org/events/> for more upcoming workshops
> and events. You can also submit your own event!*
>
>
> *CCGA Monthly Coordinating Meeting Thursday, February 20* </t
>
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