Touring White River Junction Welcome to Garden Village  On an unseasonably misty day in August  a crew of local Upper Valley food  organizers, advocates and gardeners hosted the VCGN staff for a tour of White River Junction community and school gardens and public orchards. The Upper Valley region is recognized statewide as a hub for local food and garden activity. White River Junction alone is home to more than ten community growing spaces-places for community members to work together to grow, maintain, harvest and celebrate.  Click here for highlights, garden descriptions and pictures! Gardens for Learning At the Enosburg Public Library, one of nine Gardens for Learning sites this year, young children participated in a 4-week summer camp focusing on hands-on gardening, cooking, and nutrition activities. Highlights included “zoodling” zucchini (a vegetable spiralizer is an essential food prep tool for cooking with kids!) and making a “compost pile snack” using raisins for dirt, lettuce leaves for layers of green, and inserting pretzel sticks for worms. The t-shirts that children decorated during camp particularly caught our attention.  Karoline, the Site Coordinator, thinned out carrots and radishes from the garden, harvested a few Swiss chard and kale leaves, and displayed an assortment of plastic insects.  Then each child arranged their chosen vegetables and insects as stencils on a t-shirt and an adult sprayed diluted fabric dye all over the shirt. We love these simple, artistic, garden-themed stencil t-shirts! ROOFTOP Harvest Reception  A VCGN fundraising event at Dealer.com!   Thursday, September 27, 5:30-7:30pm, join us for live music from the Slow Cookers, spirits, snacks, and a silent auction featuring gift baskets, restaurant, spa and hotel certificates, museum passes, a vacation stay and more. Plus, Charlie Nardozzi will give a tour of the Dealer.com rooftop vegetable gardens which were planted and harvested to benefit area food shelves! Tickets are limited, so purchase tickets and reserve your cocktail table here! Pickling Workshop Hosted by VCGN & the Champlain Housing Trust  Learn to preserve your garden harvest so you can enjoy and share your gardening with others long after our first frost! Join us for a hands on workshop making quick pickles and herbed butter. We encourage you to bring veggies and herbs from your own garden if you have them along with a sharp kitchen knife and a cutting board. Additional vegetables and necessary materials will be provided. Tuesday, Sept 11, 6-8pm at the Bright St. Co-Op (37 Bright St., Burlington, VT) This workshop is FREE, but registration is REQUIRED! Please RSVP by e-mailing Anna Herman anna.herman@champlainhousingtrust.org or call (802) 861-7395 Click here for more VCGN events.    Fund your Garden Need funding for next season’s garden projects? Now’s the time to keep your eye out for grants – Go to VCGN’s Garden Grants page for a regularly updated list. Here are some, visit our website for details, links and rolling deadline grants. For Grassroots Groups The Grassroots Fund’s Grow Grants – September 15th Vermont Community Foundation’s Spark! – October 16th Seed Money – November 12th For Schools and Youth Projects Lowe’s Toolbox for Education – September 28th Project Learning Tree’s GreenWorks Grants – September 30th The Nature Conservancy’s Nature Works Everywhere Grants – October 5th Wild Ones Seeds for Education Grant Program – October 15th Whole Kids Foundation’s US Gardens Grant Program – October 15th Connect with other Garden Leaders Our closed Facebook group serves as a forum for your garden management questions, and as a place to post and request resources: Join the group! Follow the  Community Teaching Garden blog Up now: Tomatillos: What They Are and How to Use ‘Em!   Submit an Event to our Calendar Get the network involved by submitting your next event directly to our submission page (submit garden related events at least 2 weeks in advance) Partner Events  Master Composter Course: Registration is Open! September 13 through November 9, Thursdays 6-7pm Registration Deadline: September 12th Fee: $50 In state, $150 out of state go.uvm.edu/vtmastercomposter 100% Live Online-Topics Include: Soil and Decomposition Ecology, Biology of Composting, , Recipe Design, Disease Control, Site and Container Selection, VT Act 148, Managing the Compost Process, Troubleshooting, Educational Outreach, Worm Composting, *One optional hands- on session will also be offered on a Saturday in each region of the state Online Course: Pre-recorded Lectures, Live Q&A sessions, Homework, Final Exam, & 10 hrs. of hands-on volunteering in your area=Certified Vermont Master Composter Volunteer.  Course-Only Option: No volunteer service required and receive a Vermont Certificate of Home Composting Grow With Us! The Vermont Community Garden Network is growing a healthier Vermont by helping people of all ages access the space and resources to grow their own food and connect with each other. We need your help now more than ever – please make a donation today! Join the movement! Since 2001, the Vermont Community Garden Network has worked with hundreds of community and school groups to start, sustain, and grow gardens, building strong local food systems and vibrant educational sites. Contact us – we’d love to hear from you! Michelle Gates, Executive Director Libby Weiland, Statewide Network Coordinator Carolina Lukac, Garden Education Manager Ehrin Lingeman, Program Assistant Trish Laraja, Business Manager 802-861-4769 | info@vcgn.org | www.vcgn.org Copyleft 2018. Please share.