In the community of Parrish Manor, the "Raise the Roots" crew is hard at work, teaching their neighbors how to garden and helping them build raised beds in their own backyards to get them started growing food! Four additional families have begun participating in the Backyard Gardening program. But a lot of knowledge goes in to gardening, so Inter-Faith Food Shuttle is holding workshops at the community center to help folks in the community learn how to manage their gardens sustainably.
Last month, we held a workshop on organic pest identification and control for winter gardens. IFFS Backyard Garden Program Coordinator Ana Duncan Pardo and Master Gardener Connie Schultz led the workshop hosted by the "Raise the Roots" Youth: Kiara Sanders, Mario Conyers, Seth Church, and Shawn Robertson.
Participants learned about how to identify common beneficial garden insects and pests, as well as in-depth identification, life cycle and organic control methods for three specific winter garden pests.
We enjoyed healthy snacks and a colorful slide show featuring tons of great insect photos, filled out pre- and post- workshop surveys to gauge learning. Each participating family took home an organic garden pest control kit with informational factsheets, insecticidal soap, spray bottles for homemade toxic-free bug spray recipes and a hand lens for bug identification.
The learning continues...next up, a workshop on season-to-season garden planning, featuring IFFS Farm Manager and Educator Sun Butler as the guest speaker!