How Green is Your Thumb?: L.A. Community Garden Council May Want you to Make a Presentation at Annual Gathering of Community Gardens
You're a gardening whiz.
You do magical things with compost.
Maybe you've got some special chicken-wrangling skills.
Or you spread the gospel of organic tomatoes like nobody's business.
Or you've worked with neighbors to transform a local school or vacant lot.
Whatever your unique talent, the Los Angeles Community Garden Council (LACGC) -- an organization that works to build healthier communities by facilitating the creation of community gardens -- is interested in hearing about your work.
On Saturday, October 19, they will host the 7th Annual Gathering of Community Gardens at the 24th Street Garden Classroom at 2055 West 24th Street and they are looking for presenters for the day-long conference.
The conference itself will bring together hundreds of gardeners and urban farmers from around the L.A. area for hands-on workshops, a moderated panel discussion, keynote speakers, an exhibition area, and a networking lunch.
To make it all work, they are looking for a diverse group of advocates to host information booths in the exhibition area or make engaging, hands-on, and/or experiential presentations for conference-goers. Translation will be available for those who wish to present in Spanish.
Whether you are a food security activist, horticultural therapist, forester, artist, educator, or landscape designer, you probably have something to teach fellow advocates. You are invited to fill out an application and send a proposal (by 5 p.m. this Friday!) to tweybright@gmail.com detailing your presentation, its relevance to community gardening or developing green space, and its practical application.
According to their flyer, some of the themes they are looking to address include:
Art and Culture: art in the garden, ethnobotany, cultural expression in gardens, multicultural. projects, intergenerational gardening, spirituality in the garden, arts programming.
Economic Development: garden micro-enterprises, workforce development, economic impacts of gardens and open space, community gardens and farmers’ markets.
Food, Health, and Nutrition: nutrition education, cooking from the garden, food preservation, local food systems, school lunches, horticultural therapy.
Gardens in Schools: school gardens and partnerships, teacher training, curricula, youth-led presentations, environmental education and action, job training.
Government and Advocacy: community garden policies and legislation, advocacy process, local action to preserve gardens, and land trusts.
Homeless Issues: community food security, involving homeless in your garden management.
Horticulture and Ecology: habitat conservation, stewardship, greenhouses and season extending, non-traditional spaces, organic growing methods, edible landscapes.
Land Acquisition: locating untapped gardens, leasing/renting, insurance and liability, securing land for green space.
Local Issues: Los Angeles local gardening and greening programs and projects.
Recruiting Gardeners and Garden Management: staff development, community garden management, coalition building, organizing, fundraising, in-kind resources, media, networking, volunteer programs, event and recreational programming.
Sustainable Systems: energy and resource conservation, green design and construction, composting, water conservation and collection.
Water Themes: water-wise gardening, xeriscape, rain water harvesting, aquaculture, rain gardens.
Youth Movement: getting local youth and young adults involved in your community garden projects.
If you'd like more information about presenting or would simply like to attend, please contact Teague Weybright at tweybright@gmail.com or 310-315-0430, or visit their website at www.lagardencouncil.org.
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