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FOOD NEWS
Ojai Valley Green Coalition
For people who enjoy growing, cooking and eating garden fresh food.
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Greetings!
My New Year's intention is to become a better food producer. I want to walk outside to gather not just my salad makings, but fruits year-round,raised bed and root vegetables and especially... a LOT of killer tomatoes. (And I don't want to give it all away to the local wildlife. I don't mind sharing, but the gophers are ridiculous).
I want to create an aesthetically pleasing, guest-friendly, environmentally responsible, urban landscape rich with edible plants. Don't you? If you're going to feed and water plants, why not plants that nourish you in return?
Join my husband, Doug, and I as we explore the various elements of creating more home food production: Site Assessment & Garden Design; Intensive Fruit Tree Orchards; High Yield Vegetable Gardening; Chickens (breeds, needs & habitats) & Chicken-Coop Building; Pond & Aquaculture (small-scale fish production); Firepit Kiva and Bamboo Pavilion Construction, and if the ship comes in, a biological pool.
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Create an Urban Food Forest:
#1 Site Assessment & Garden Design
Saturday, January 12
9:30-3:00 pm
$35 includes lunch, handouts & seeds
We will be working with Devin Slavin, Certified Permaculturist, along with Pat and Lee from the Master Gardener's Edible Landscaping program for this first workshop in the series. They will share principles of site assessment, resources vs. challenges lists, designing with edible plants, using our land as the case study & field work.
9:30-10:15 Welcome - Dulanie & Doug La Barre
Introduction to Food Forests - Devin Slavin
10:15-11:00 Walkabout on property, site assessment, using lists of criteria & desires.
What resources & infrastructure are in place? What challenges are there?
11:00-12:00 Master Gardeners presentation on edible landscaping with handouts and
worksheets attendees can use at home as well.
12:00-1:00 Lunch (vegetarian) provided. Discussion about design ideas for garden food
forest, with feedback from Devin and Master Gardeners.
1:00-2:30 Home orchards. How to assess location, planting and pruning of fruit trees.
Help plant a few additions to the developing fruit tree orchard. Espalier
and combined-hole multiple planting.
2:30-3:00 Wrap-up and last questions.
Next session: #2 Planting by Design: The art of raised beds, netting or fencing alternatives, companion planting, natural pest barriers and Old-time Wisdom. (Time to be determined, late February or early March).
NOTE: Make reservations directly with me: [email protected]. We'll have Paypal set up shortly and folks do need to be paid in advance so we know how to plan lunch. $35 for non-members of OVGC, $30 for members (see coupon below).
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GROUND OPERATIONS: Battlefields to Farmfields
Documentary Screening Thursday, January 31 7:00-9:00pm  Museum of Ventura County CoHosts: Kaiser Permanente & Ventura County FOOD Share Invitation: http://groundoperations.eventbrite.com
A big thank you to all of you who attended our screening last month, here in Ojai. Your rousing response warmed our hearts!
We are doing a signature event in Ventura at the end of the month to raise funds for our marketing and distribution of the film.
We are thrilled to announce that our former California Secretary of Agriculture, A.G. Kawamura, will be our guest speaker, discussing his work with the VALOR program, training veterans in organic agriculture at the Great Park in Irvine. He will introduce our film.
Please send this along or share the invitation link with anyone in the Ventura County you think would like to join the mission to share the vision of veterans in agriculture.
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2012 Accomplishments at Ojai Valley of the Moon Community Garden
The Ojai Valley of the Moon Community Garden is an organic garden established in 2011 and located at the old Honor Farm (now the Help of Ojai West Campus). Robin Graham created this project under the umbrella of the OVGC and the organization provides three activities:
- A traditional community garden where individuals and families garden their plot. The annual cost runs $65-180, depending upon size, which pays for the lease and entrance gate. In 2013 so far, 14 participants have signed up to garden, all ages and cultures.
- The Help of Ojai Vegetable Garden is planted and maintained by Master Gardeners & volunteers who grew 1,100 pounds of food last year for the Senior Lunch Program.
- The UCCE approved this site for Ventura County Master Gardener training. It's a year-long program and each trainee eventually devotes a minimum of 50 hours each year thereafter to provide food growing and sustainability leadership in the community.
Kudos to Robin, the Master Gardeners, the families and all who have made this incredible community asset such a resounding success in such a short time. Way to go gardeners!
For more information: [email protected], or call her 805-640-0569.
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Sunday, Jan. 20, 1-3pm (Free)
Gut & Psychology Syndrome Diet
Mike Long, LAC, Coastal Accupuncture
First Baptist Church of Ojai, Smith Hall (in the back), 930 Grand
Sunday, Jan. 27, 1-3pm (Free)
Lacto-Fermented Foods Demo
Sue Luther
First Baptist Church (see above)
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Saturday, February 23:
2nd Annual Seed & Plant Swap
Hosted by the Ojai Valley Green Coalition & All Good Things Organic Seed Co.
Time & Place to be announced in next FOOD NEWS
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 Organic Seed Finder provides reliable organic seed availability information to facilitate the growth and success of the organic seed sector. It also supports farmer, certifier, and handler decisions for better meeting the national organic seed requirement and serving organic production, which remains one of the fastest growing segments of the U.S. food industry.
Contact: http://www.organicseedfinder.org
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End your promotion with a kick -- consider a postscript to reinforce one of the key product or service benefits.
Sincerely,
Ojai Valley Green Coalition
Ojai Valley Green Coalition
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323 E. Matilija St.
Ojai, California 93023
805-669-8445
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| Save $5.00 |
If you are a current 2013 member of the Ojai Valley Green Coalition you will receive a $5.00 discount on workshop. If you haven't renewed your membership, this would be the time to do so -- it will be matched (dollar for dollar), and you'll recoup it if you do most of this series.
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Offer Expires: January 11 at close of business day at the OVGC Resource Center or online.
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