UCF Community Garden Workday Jan 22

A community garden volunteer opportunity!

UCF Community Garden Workday

10 AM – 4 PM

UCF Arboretum

Spend some time up close and personal with an organic garden. The UCF Arboretum has a one acre community garden for students and also open to the public.

Please join in this day to help plant & pull weeds. The garden is well established with a great diversity of vegetables, herbs, & fruit trees. This garden workday is cosponsored by Simple Living Institute, Inc.

The UCF Arboretum is looking for ongoing support from the greater Orlando communicty and you may volunteer any time. Bring your tools, gloves. Carpooling is highly recommended as there is limited parking at the campus. Sign up if you would like to join in. info@simplelivinginstitute.org or call 321-228-4310

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Organic Grower’s Meeting Jan 20

It’s almost planting time… here’s another garden opportunity!

Organic Growers Meeting

7 PM – 9 PM

Camilla Room,
Harry P. Leu Gardens
1920 Forest Ave,
Orlando, FL 32803

The Organic Growers meeting is free and open to anyone interested in organic gardening, organic foods, or products. Arrive early (6:30ish) for socializing & food. After the meeting, the discussion continues til 10p at nearby Ethos Vegan Kitchen.

THIS MONTH

Tina Richards, Environmental Education at UCF Arboretum, will share her expertise & experience setting up the highly successful Organic Community Garden at the UCF Arboretum.

A follow up field day helping at the UCF Community Garden will be held Friday Jan 22nd from 10a to 4p.

A cooking, tasting demo is being added to the monthly meeting: Sign up to show how to prepare something from your garden.

Uncle Matt’s has shared some citrus for us to sample at the meeting.

MORE INFO

As always, bring any surplus from your garden to share, treats for the tasting table, and plants and gardening supplies for the raffle table. (Tix $1 each, 6 for $5) Every month an abundance of raffle items appear along with some tasty garden treats.

Our sales table items includes: totes & t-shirts @$10 $8 each for members worm bins & vermicompost products assorted plants & seeds burlap cloth and garden amendments Let us know if there are any plants or supplies you would like to buy. That’s also where the raffle tickets are sold. $1 each or 6 for $5.

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Composting Workshop

I’ve been scarce prepping beds and seedlings for planting later in late Jan and early Feb.  There’s a lot of good garden stuff going on around town.  Here’s one…

Turn your garbage into gold… Tia Meer, longtime organic gardener, will lead this hands-on workshop in how to build and harvest a compost pile. Divert organic waste from the landfill while using your yard clippings and kitchen scraps to make your own fertilizer. Participants get a bag of compost to take home.

WHEN & WHERE

January 30, 2010
from 1 – 3 PM at

Econ Farm,
16206 Hamilton Dr
Orlando, FL 32833

COST

Advanced Registration Required. Fees are

• $15 members
• $20 non-members

To Register email info@simplelivinginstitute.org Or call (321) 228-4310

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Organic Gardening Workshop by Simple Living Institute Sept 26

One for the food gardeners like me!

Sept 26, 2009 from 10:00am – 11:30am or 1:30 – 3:00 PM

Econ Farm
16206 Hamilton Dr.
Orlando, FL

An organic garden can provide top quality fresh produce, fun, exercise, and relaxation on your balcony or at your backdoor.

For a gardener at any skill level, this Simple Living Institute workshop will give you tips on how to start a new garden or cultivate an established garden. Learn hands-on how to design a garden, start seeds, rotate crops, improve soil structure, and control pests.

Participants will receive a handout with essential organic gardening information.

Cost:

• $12 members
• $15 nonmembers

Advanced Registration Required
To register, email info@simplelivinginstitute.org or call 321-228-4310.

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Exotic Invasive Plant Clean Up Workshop

Another interesting sounding workshop for Saturday! This one is in the afternoon.

Exotic plants are those not native to Florida. Invasive plants spread quickly. Exotic invasive plants are a threat to our natural ecosystem because they can grow rapidly with no natural predators and they can take over native plants by growing over them and strangling them out.

Come for this free workshop and learn more about exotic invasive plants and the Econ River as we remove water hyacinth and wedelia from the Econ Farm property. Be prepared for Florida wilderness and to get wet.
WHEN AND WHERE

Saturday, July 25, 2009

Econ Farm
16206 Hamilton Dr.
Orlando, FL

RSVP

Please let us know if you plan to attend!

To register, email info@simplelivinginstitute.org or call 321-228-4310.

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“Open Forum” Organic Growers Meeting at Leu Gardens July 15

For those interested in learning more about organic gardening!

Organic Growers Meeting
hosted by Simple Living Institute

July 15

7 AM – 9 AM

Leu Gardens
1920 Forest Ave.
Orlando, FL

The meeting is free and open to anyone interested in organic gardening, foods, or products. Arrive early at 6:30 for socializing, food, and beverages. Afterwards we continue the discussion nearby at Ethos Vegan Kitchen from 9-10pm.

This month Nick Francisco of Blodgett’s Nursery will chair an Open Forum on gardening successes and challenges. Bring samples of plants and or write your comments and questions on a note card. Nick will also discuss the BRIX quality evaluation system.

As always, bring any surplus from your garden to share, treats for the tasting table, and plants and gardening supplies for the raffle table. (Tix $1 each, 6 for $5)

Simple Living is adding a sales table to the meetings.  Items include wormcomposting products, garden patch boxes, totes & t-shirts.  2 gal banana plants at $8 each; 1 gal blueberry, pineapple & papaya plants @ $5.

For more info call  (321)228-4310 or email info@simplelivinginstitute.org

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Second Annual Kid’s Festival by Simple Living Institute

The Second Annual Kid’s Festival by the Simple Living Institute is coming on Sept. 20th! Here’s the scoop:

The Kids’ Festival is an event custom-made for children aged 5-12 to explore and engage in Simple Living-style activities including conservation and organic farming. This event will be held at the Econ Farm,which is a rustic outdoor setting, so come prepared for Florida weather. Activities will include a hydrology lesson/river swim, scavenger hunt, seed planting in the garden, and celebration and snacks at the end.

If you’d like to volunteer or help plan the event, drop them a line!

Read Full Post »

Second Annual Kid’s Festival by Simple Living Institute

The Second Annual Kid’s Festival by the Simple Living Institute is coming on Sept. 20th! Here’s the scoop:

The Kids’ Festival is an event custom-made for children aged 5-12 to explore and engage in Simple Living-style activities including conservation and organic farming. This event will be held at the Econ Farm,which is a rustic outdoor setting, so come prepared for Florida weather. Activities will include a hydrology lesson/river swim, scavenger hunt, seed planting in the garden, and celebration and snacks at the end.

If you’d like to volunteer or help plan the event, drop them a line!

Read Full Post »