In my experience, gardening is a motivating and compelling force to bring people together. Even with our time and attention constantly split and fractured, we still find ways to come together over gardening - perhaps particularly so over food gardening. While there are pros and cons to the ever increasing presence of technology in our lives, many gardeners have found that technology can be an incredible boon to our gardening knowledge and resources and connections. Photo: Members of Chico Garden Share Project at a project-hosted permaculture workshop “Making Bokashi and Creating a Winter Garden with Sheet Mulch”. Members shown include Agb biotics, Rosie, Wendy and Joseph Wiklund, Leslie Wilson Corsbie, Laurie Niles and Monica Bell. (more…)

This week In a North State Garden had the pleasure of speaking with Stephanie Elliott, her two year old son, Collin, and Laurie Niles - all participants in Cultivating Community, a Chico-based project working to encourage the learning about and growing of good food, locally and on small, home garden and community scales with a long-term goal of improving health in the North Valley. Photo: A community garden supported by Cultivating Community and its partnering organizations. UNLESS OTHERWISE NOTED ALL PHOTOS ARE COURTESY OF CULTIVATING COMMUNITY AND THEIR PARTNER ORGANIZATIONS.

According to the Cultivating Community website, the initiative is “a multifaceted project supported by a 2011 California Department of Food and Agriculture Specialty Crop Grant and awarded to CSUC Research Foundation. The project aims to increase food security by serving the Specialty Crop food economy and system needs of low-income residents, local growers, and service agencies.” Photo: Re-sourced signage at the Bidwell Community Garden, supported in part by Cultivating Community and its partnering organizations. (more…)

This article originally appeared in the Butte Rose Society’s October 2011 Newsletter. Love roses? The Butte Rose Society’s annual rose show - A Festival of Roses is Oct. 22, 2011 from 1 - 4 pm at Our Divine Savior Social Hall, 566 East Lassen Avenue in Chico. Admission is free. For more information contact: www.butte-rosesociety.org.

Roses are like people – some just have nicer hips than others. Some have pretty faces, some have great legs, great shoulders. Some have good hips - especially in October. And I like good hips. To me, they speak of strength, fertility and beauty. (more…)

Autumn’s arrival for me is accompanied by a renewed sense of community. Perhaps it is the return of regular school schedules, and the return of regular monthly meetings for garden clubs and organizations. Perhaps it is the primal sense of oncoming winter and a need to come together and prepare. Perhaps it’s the anticipation and energy of the harvest – from the vast chartreuse rice fields and the statuesque almond, olive and walnut orchards running through our region, to the end-of-summer tomatoes, peppers, beans, and squash finishing up in our home gardens and now filling our kitchen counters, freezers and shelves. Cool, even cold, nights and days with a prospect of rain are returning. We are gathering, and we are planning and planting for the seasons to come. Photo: Rice fields, Central Valley in October. (more…)

Pam Geisel is the Statewide Master Gardener Coordinator for the University of California, and for the last few years she has lived and gardened in Hamilton City, a small scenic town in Glenn County. Being a North Stater herself now, she leads the charge in wanting to see more Master Gardener events and opportunities in the counties of the North State. She is very excited about the many Master Gardener programs now available in many North State counties - including Shasta, Butte and Glenn. While Shasta College has been a host of the UC Master Gardener program since 2003, Butte and Glenn counties have only more recently developed their programs. Trinity and Tehama counties are served by the Shasta County program, but Trinity County Cooperative Extension is hoping in 2012 to start their own program in Weaverville under the direction of UC Copperative Extension representative Carol Fall.

“The Master Gardener program has hosted many conferences around the state, and it was time to host one in the North State,” Pam says in our recorded interview this weekend on In a North State Garden. “While many of our educational conferences are for Master Gardeners only, we really wanted this one - with it’s wide topic range and wonderful panel of speakers - to be open to the public as well. We’re really excited to be hosting it! So many gardeners - new and experienced are hungry for this kind of information!” Listen to the full interview this Saturday Sept 3rd at 7:34 am and Sunday Sept 4th at 8:34 a.m. on Northstate Public Radio (KCHO 91.7 fm Chico/KFPR 88.9 fm Redding).

The details for the California Smart Landscaping Conference details are below and are taken from the conference website: http://ucanr.org/sites/casmartlandscape/, where you are also able to register on-line.

Event Details: California Smart Landscaping Conference
Date: October 21, 2011
Time: 8:00 AM - 4:00 PM
Sponsor: Statewide Master Gardener Program
Location: Masonic Family Center 1110 West East Avenue Chico, CA 95926

The University of California’s Statewide Master Gardener Program is excited to host the California Smart Landscaping Conference. Join us and learn how you can make some easy changes to your home landscape to become a smart and sustainable gardener. UC horticulture specialists, master gardeners and local landscape experts will be sharing their knowledge about attracting bees to your garden, water conservation, lawn alternatives, composting and much more! The keynote speaker is Rosalind Creasy, the esteemed author of Edible Landscaping. Rosalind’s presentation will focus on edible plants and maximizing your garden’s potential. The conference is for both gardening enthusiasts and for master gardener volunteers. Therefore, please share the details about the conference to both fellow and non-master gardeners.

Cost is $35 for the public and $25 for UC master gardeners (lunch included).

Register Today! Space is limited and the deadline to register is Friday, September 30, 2011.

The day will kick off with introductory remarks and thoughts on Sustainable and Smart Landscaping Practices by Pam Geisel - a bubbly and energetic speaker if ever there was one - from 8:50 - 9:45.

Attendees will then break-up into smaller groups for four, one-hour long breakout sessions, with lunch being served between the second and third sessions. The four break-out sessions include:

1A. Welcome Bees to your Garden - Shannon Mueller
2A. Irrigation Basics & New Approaches for Water Conservation - Loren Oki
3A. Backyard Vegetable Gardening - Sean Kriletich

1B. Natives Belong in your Garden - Jennifer Jewell
2B. Low Water Lawn Alternatives - Sandy Metzger
3B. Small Space Backyard Orchard - Chuck Ingels

Lunch

1C. Wise Water Use in your Sustainable Landscape and Vegetable Garden - Janet Hartin
2C. Right Plant, Right Place - James Sigala
3C. Composts & Compost Teas – Practical Practices - Kevin Marini

1D. All-Star Plants for Water Conservation - Ellen Zagory
2D. Beneficial Wildlife for your Garden - Scott Oneto
3D. Gardening for Less to the Landfill & Alternative Turf Varieties - Chuck Ingels

For biographies of each speaker and a description of their talk, please go to Speaker and Class details.

International garden writer, photographer, foodie and edible landscape design expert Rosalind Creasy will be the KEYNOTE SPEAKER, wrapping up the day’s offerings from 2:45 to 4:00 pm. Rosalind has a passion for beautiful vegetables and ecologically sensitive gardening. She began her career in horticulture in the 1970s as a landscape designer and restaurant consultant. By 1982 she had published her first book, “The Complete Book of Edible Landscaping,” which won the Garden Writers Association’s Quill and Trowel award, was chosen as a Book of the Month selection, and hailed by The Wall Street Journal as the best garden book of 1982. Considered a classic, it coined the term “Edible Landscaping,” now a part of the American vocabulary.

Rosalind shares her knowledge of gardening and cooking by writing, lecturing nationwide, appearing on television and radio shows, and working as a consultant to restaurants, growers, and seed companies. Rosalind’s recent publications include the ten book Edible Gardening series filled with beautiful photographs and recipes. The series was awarded a Quill and Trowel Award from the Garden Writers in 2001. Her latest book is a complete update of The Complete Book of Edible Landscaping, now called Edible Landscaping (2010). Recently, Rosalind was awarded a 2011 American Horticulture Society Book Award for Edible Landscaping. She resides in Northern California.

Rosalind’s Presentation: Edible Landscapes, Maximizing your Garden’s Potential
One of today’s gardening buzzwords is sustainable. You’d be hard put to find a more sustainable landscape style than an organically grown edible garden. Rosalind Creasy, pioneer in the field of edible landscaping, award-winning professional photographer, and author of the Complete Book of Edible Landscaping, will give a mouth-watering slide presentation. Among the topics she will cover are an A to Z of her recommended beautiful edible plants for home gardens, an overview of the wide variety of edible landscapes, as well as the principles of landscape design particular to edibles.

View the conference website for registration, speaker & class details: http://ucanr.org/sites/casmartlandscape/

More of my environmental writing can be found in the Chico News & Review, and Pacific Horticulture. Follow Jewellgarden.com/In a North State Garden on Facebook.

To submit plant/gardening related events/classes to the Jewellgarden.com on-line Calendar of Regional Gardening Events, send the pertinent information to me at: Jennifer@jewellgarden.com

Did you know I send out a weekly email with information about upcoming topics and gardening related events in the North State region? If you would like to be added to the mailing list, send an email to Jennifer@jewellgarden.com.

In a North State Garden is a weekly Northstate Public Radio and web-based program celebrating the art, craft and science of home gardening in Northern California. It is made possible in part by the Gateway Science Museum - Exploring the Natural History of the North State and on the campus of CSU, Chico. In a North State Garden is conceived, written, photographed and hosted by Jennifer Jewell - all rights reserved jewellgarden.com. In a North State Garden airs on Northstate Public Radio Saturday mornings at 7:34 AM Pacific time and Sunday morning at 8:34 AM Pacific time. Podcasts of past shows are available here. Weekly essays are also posted on anewscafe.com a regional news source that is simultaneously universal and positively North State.

Recently, I was fortunate to visit the private Chico labyrinth that Marilyn Jennings, labyrinth- and peace-advocate, built and uses in her therapeutic work. As the driving energy behind the soon-to-be constructed public Chico Community Labyrinth, she reminded me that we are now in the final months of being able to participate in helping this public resource labyrinth become a reality. Earlier this year, the Chico Community Labyrinth Project announced an exciting partnership with the Rotary Club to install Chico’s first permanent public outdoor labyrinth. October 2011 is now set for the construction of the 32 ft. Chartres style labyrinth made of concrete pavers. Rotary has volunteered their services and support in making this a community built landmark for Chico. (more…)

“If you are going to love carrots, your best bet is to try them fresh from the farm - and Matthew Martin’s carrots are some of the sweetest carrots you are ever going to taste!” Gina Sims exclaims. Matthew Martin is the President/Owner and Head Farmer of Pyramid Farms in Chico. He is also the Farmer of the Month in April 2011 for 35,000 kindergarten through 12th grade public school students throughout the North State. (more…)

Renowned American wildflower and native plant advocate Lady Bird Johnson, founder of the Lady Bird Johnson Wildflower Center in central Texas, once wrote: “Wherever I go in America, I like it when the land speaks its own language in its own regional accent.” But of course in order to hear this language, we need to slow down, stop talking ourselves……and listen. As with any language, if we take just a little time to learn more about it - the language sounds so much more clear and mellifluous to the ear. Photo: Vernal Pool in flower, photo courtesy of Joe Silveiras, all rights reserved 2011. (more…)

There’s a lot to love about the garden in winter. But I do miss some things from the summer garden. For instance, I miss my bats. Of course, they are not technically “my” bats, but rather a small colony that roost in the eaves of my family’s home each summer. (more…)

I first met and wrote about David Grau in the spring of 2009, at the end of his first winter of the Chico Organic Gardening Class Series, organized by David and held at the Chico Grange. Now headed into the third winter of this class series, David Grau and fellow gardening and sustainability enthusiast/advocate Adrian Johnson have formed a the Chico Organic Gardening Society and are also producing the new monthly e-publication Valley Oak Magazine, the mission of which is to gather and share information and resources pertaining to sustainability in the inland California valley bioregion. The magazine is named after the Valley Oak tree which is a unifying and constant feature of California’s inland valleys. (more…)