[Communications] [Test] Winter Newsletter

[CCGA]

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News for Community Gardeners

"Winter is not a season, it's a celebration"
— Anamika Mishra

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Celebrating Winter's Stillness

As we start to focus on the year ahead while our gardens hibernate under the snow, we’re sharing some news and events as well as some highlights from our work together the past year. With everything going on around us, we hope you’re finding ways to celebrate Winter, whether that means getting inspired with gardening content and the new seed catalogues, planning a new garden bed, or finding moments of stillness in nature. We’re excited to share another year of growing together with you!
CCGA Monthly Meeting this Tuesday
Join us for our first monthly meeting of 2025 this Tuesday, January 21, at 6pm on Zoom. All are welcome! ** Details can be found on the CCGA website (https://chicagocommunitygardens.org/ccga-coordinating-meetings-2025/)
.
Winter 2025 Edition
* Volunteer with CCGA!
* Winter 2025 Seed Swap Events
* A few ways to Celebrate Winter
* Remembering Julie Samuels
* 2024 Highlights
* CCGA Legacy Gardener Film Project

Volunteer with CCGA!

CCGA is an all-volunteer collective of community gardeners and needs people power to thrive. If you have a passion for supporting our gardening communities (and have a little time to share) then you have come to the right place!

The ** Communications team (https://chicagocommunitygardens.org/communications-team/)
needs help supporting all of CCGA’s communications including (but not limited to) the website, community garden map, social media, newsletters, writing, graphic design, photography, and some workshop/special event technical support and promotion. You don't have to have professional experience to be on the team, just a zest for communications and amplifying all the amazing work gardeners and growers are doing in Chicago!

The ** Advocacy & Outreach team (https://chicagocommunitygardens.org/advocacy-outreach-team/)
is focused on tackling bigger-picture issues and helping to create policies that support the sustainability of green space in Chicago and all of us who are growers. While Chicago’s neighborhood gardens are our immediate focus, we also engage with issues that affect our larger shared environment by working with the City and other partners and organizations to get things done.

The ** Resources & Distributions team (https://chicagocommunitygardens.org/resources-committee/)
always needs help with growing seedlings and distributing plants and planning workshops. We would also like to hear from you if you learned/tried something in your garden last summer that you’d be willing to share with other gardeners this winter at a workshop. Last year, community gardeners shared their knowledge about growing luffas, cultivating sprouts indoors and planting containers for pollinators. Please email ** resources at chicagocommunitygardens.org (mailto:resources at chicagocommunitygardens.org)
if you’re interested in sharing your skills through a workshop!
Find a Seed Swap!

National Seed Swap Day is January 25 and the U of I Extension, Cook County created a handy interactive map to help you locate a seed swap. It's inspiring to see so many swaps happening around the city and suburbs! To add your swap to the list please email sbatka at illinois.edu. Thanks to Sarah Batka from U of I Extension for compiling and providing access to the seed swap map!
** Seed Swap Map (http://go.illinois.edu/SeedSwaps)
For more events and workshops, check the ** CCGA events calendar (https://chicagocommunitygardens.org/events/)
and follow us on ** Facebook (https://www.facebook.com/ChicagoCommunityGardenersAssociation/)
and ** Instagram (https://www.instagram.com/chicommgardeners/)
! If you'd like us to share your event, you can add it to the calendar and send an email to ** communications at chicagocommunitygardens.org (mailto:communications at chicagocommunitygardens.org?subject=Please%20share%20my%20event%20(W2025%20newsletter))
for us to share a post on our social channels.

Ways to Celebrate Winter

1. Make Seed Bombs. Some of us have bags of seed pods in our freezers needing to be stripped of dried petals. ** Seeds can be rolled into seed bombs (https://chicagocommunitygardens.org/2020/04/22/for-earth-day-or-any-day-make-a-seed-bomb/)
for easy planting.
2. Make Pine Cone Bird Feeders. Find a large and open pine cone and attach string, wire, or pipe cleaner to the top to create a hanger. Then smear it with sunflower butter (no allergies) and roll it in sunflower seeds or another birdseed.  For a gardener’s upgrade, add native tree fruit that you might see locally, like hackberry drupes, sweetgum, catalpa pods, and sycamore balls. Dark-eyed Junco like to stay on the ground but will eat seeds that fall from feeders. The Northern Cardinal, Carolina Chickadee, Red-breasted Nuthatch, and the Blue Jay will love this biodegradable wildlife fodder. ** Here are some helpful instructions. (https://carnegiemnh.org/make-your-own-pinecone-bird-feeder/)
3. Do Some Birdwatching. There are no longer leaves to break the fall of the sun, and cold bare branches are truly not silent. The birds mentioned above are still here and watching them can help you understand ecosystems and how creatures respond to environmental changes. It’s easier to spot birds in winter (especially for little eyes). The stillness of winter allows for bird calls to be crisper and clearer. ** Merlin, by Cornell Labs (https://merlin.allaboutbirds.org/)
, has a great website and apps to help with identification.
4. Try Identifying Trees in Winter by Their Bark. Oh, what a challenge but a glorious endeavor if you can find a walk led by someone knowledgeable. ** Take a virtual walk with Tom Ebeling (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0818Rf0Ewto&t=1381s)
, an Openlands community arborist, and begin to identify trees in Winter at the Garfield Park Conservatory!

** Remembering Julie Samuels ()
Captions

We mourn the loss of our dear gardening friend and mentor Julie Samuels, who passed away on July 19, 2024. A Celebration of Life was held for her in August in Oak Park. Many from CCGA attended and there were well over two dozen speakers who gave testimony to the grace, selflessness, and truth that Julie gave us with her friendship, as an organizer, and her propensity to propagate! Her online obituary can be found ** here (https://www.legacy.com/us/obituaries/legacyremembers/julie-samuels-obituary?pid=207356134)
and you're welcome to add a memory or story.

We’ve formed a committee working to create a lasting tribute to Julie and will share details as they develop. If you’d like to be a part of the committee or have any stories to share of Julie, please send them to us at communications at chicagocommunitygardens.org or message us on ** Facebook (https://www.facebook.com/ChicagoCommunityGardenersAssociation/ )
. Let’s share our treasured memories of our time working with Julie and her enormous impact on Chicago community gardens!
Looking Back on 2024, Thank You!

Clockwise: a beautiful selection of plants from Resources' fall distribution, a Garfield Park Garden Tour attendee at Kuumba Tre-Ahm Garden in August, and Ms. Erma Purnell and Ms. Juline Clinton at the How To Keep It Going event in May honoring our Legacy Gardeners.

While plans for 2025 are coming into sharper focus, we'd like to take a moment to look back at 2024 to acknowledge all the work CCGA volunteers and gardeners accomplished together. From the thousands of plants grown and distributed by the Resources team to the Garfield Park Garden Tour, we thank each and every one of you who lent your time and talents over the last year! We're also incredibly grateful to all of the community gardeners who participated in workshops, events and plant distributions! We are honored to support your work in your community gardens which forms a vital bridge between your community and the natural world. We’ve highlighted just a few of the many incredible things that happened in community gardens last year. Read our 2024 wrap-up on the website to learn more!
** Read 2024 Highlights (https://chicagocommunitygardens.org/2025/01/12/year-end-message/)
** CCGA Legacy Gardeners Film Project ()

The Legacy Gardeners Film Project was created to recognize those lifetime gardeners who have made an impact through their leadership and service. These gardeners have taught generations, showing us how to value hard work, nurture a tiny seed, and feed the soil and our communities. CCGA has been honored to create short films so far highlighting three amazing legacy gardeners:** (https://vimeo.com/532001628)
** Erma Purnell (https://vimeo.com/532001628)
, ** Doretha Penn (https://vimeo.com/532001226)
and ** Juline McClinton (http://Juline McClinton Legacy Gardener- 1080WebShareNamevimeo.com)
. This year, our goal is to learn about and record the personal histories of more of our senior garden leaders.

Do you know a Legacy Gardener? We want to tell their story! We aspire to feature those gardeners who have worked the soil beside us and, over a lifetime, have made an impact we can’t overlook. This is someone, still living, who has built a legacy, not intentionally wanting recognition or success, but someone who has given their energy and wisdom to fellow gardeners and their community through leadership and service.

Please forward the name of your nominee to the ** Education team (mailto:education at chicagocommunitygardens.org?subject=Legacy%20Gardener%20Film%20Project)
. Using the criteria in the paragraph above, please share why you nominate this person. You may give your name or remain anonymous. Nominations will be considered once we receive the permission of the legacy gardener to be videotaped.
** Support the Legacy Gardener Film Project (https://www.gofundme.com/f/support-the-ccga-legacy-gardeners-film-project)
** Facebook (https://www.facebook.com/ChicagoCommunityGardenersAssociation/)
** Instagram (https://www.instagram.com/chicommgardeners/)
** Website (https://chicagocommunitygardens.org/)
** Email (mailto:info at chicagocommunitygardens.org)
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