Show Off Your Garden at the Champlain Valley Fair Aug. 22-31! 

• Youth and adults can enter vegetables, fruit, flowers, and preserves in the Garden Center competitions. Vegetable entries will be accepted from exhibitors age seven through adults on Thursday, Aug. 21, 10am-8pm. Each youth vegetable exhibitor and one accompanying parent or guardian will receive a free pass to attend the Fair on Aug. 23and participate in a face-to-face judging session.

• There is also a Community Garden category for thematic displays using a diversity of vegetables and flowers from your community, school, or neighborhood garden, combined with photos that show the garden site and gardeners.  This year's theme is "In the Garden." * Preregister with Garden Center Supervisor Michelle Perry at (802) 879-0900 or  [email protected] by Aug. 18 to make sure there is adequate space for your display.)
   
• Come see VCGN in the Garden Center on Saturday, Aug. 23 with face-to-face youth vegetable judging from 3-5pm and a Garden Summer Roll taste test from 11am-1pm.

For information on how to enter your items visit the Champlain Valley Fair Garden Center.

VCGN Compost Systems intern Shannan Webb staples a mesh liner to the recycled pallets that make up the 3-bin system she designed.  The mesh is fine enough to hold compost in while allowing air to move through the piles.

By Colin Reid 

VCGN's Compost Systems intern, Shannan Webb, researched, designed, and recently constructed a 3-bin compost system for the VNA Family Room Garden. The Family Room provides services to parents and their children from birth through five years including preschool, play groups, and parent education and support programs at its Allen Street site in Burlington. Most of the families who participate in programs live in Burlington's Old North End. The garden, located at Ethan Allen Homestead, was established in 1999. 

A 3-bin compost system can greatly benefit the garden and its users; when used properly it can produce more and better compost than a single pile.  

• 1st bin- This should be made up of alternating layers of green materials (food scraps, grass clippings, garden clean-up waste) and brown materials (straw, leaves, woodchips). Any time green materials are added, simply put a covering of dry brown materials on top - this will help with the decomposition process as well as minimize any odors.

• 2nd bin- This is the "working bin" and is where the majority of decomposition takes place.

• 3rd bin- The third bin is where the finished product is made. When the composted materials turn dark brown and can be sifted through without finding recognizable objects than the compost is ready for use.

*All stages of the 3-bin system can be sped up by occasionally mixing the materials.

Shannan expects that it may take a full year for all 3 bins to get full and working, but after that there will be materials in each stage of the system making fresh compost readily available. Each bin will soon have instructional signs explaining what materials go where.

The Toolshed: Tips for Garden Leaders

By Libby Weiland  

Your August tip:

• Donate to the Local Food Shelf.

• Host a Community Potluck

• Hold a Workshop on Preservation

• Share Recipes

• Get Creative!

Grow It! Fall Workshops

Join community and school garden leaders from around your region for this unique training series. Learn strategies to boost your garden programs and support growth, share stories and ideas, and celebrate this growing movement.     

• Woodstock Elementary School: Sept. 4, 15 South Street, Woodstock
• Hardwick Elementary School: Sept. 8, 135 South Main St., Hardwick
• Barre City Elementary & Middle School: Sept. 11, 50 Parkside Terrace, Barre
• Ethan Allen Homestead: Sept. 23, Winooski Valley Parks District, 1 Ethan Allen Homestead, Burlington
• Lothrop Elementary School: Sept. 29, 3447 U.S. 7, Pittsford
• Retreat House, Immanuel Episcopal Church: Oct.2, 20 Church St., Bellows Falls
• The Village School of North Bennington: Oct. 8, 9 School St., North Bennington 

Click here to register now! 

We are pleased to partner with Vermont garden expert Charlie Nardozzi on the Grow It! series. For more information, contact us at (802) 961-4769 or email Libby at [email protected].  

 Gardens For Learning Update 

Gardens For Learning Coordinator Maggie Callahan (center, green shirt) with the children at the St. Johnsbury School Garden.

By Colin Reid 

Gardens For Learning (GFL) participants at seven sites around the state have been busily harvesting, preparing, and cooking fruits and veggies this summer.  Salsa, pesto, and zucchini bread are some of the favorites so far.  Children have also enjoyed churning cream in to butter to spread on their bread and muffins, and creating garden flags.  

The Gardens For Learning program educates children how to grow, harvest, and cook healthy meals for themselves. VCGN adopted the Gardens For Learning program from Food Works at Two Rivers Center this spring. It's been great getting to know the gardens - and gardeners - and seeing the diversity of programs.

Campers in Bennington build a teepee in their three sisters garden.

"So far, the gardens have harvested basil, kale, some early tomatoes, green beans, strawberries, beets, cilantro, and several varieties of flowers and herbs," said Maggie Callahan, GFL Coordinator. "The site coordinators did a good job at incorporating MyPlate exercises and new, healthy recipes into the camp."  

Here is a sampling of activities that Maggie recorded from recent site visits:  

At Green Acres Housing in Barre, children made squash-onion-potato pancakes with vegetables they had just harvested from their array of raised beds.

In Bennington, GFL campers learned how corn, beans and squash benefit one another and then divided up a section of soil and each planted their own "three sisters" garden.     

• Family Center of Washington County, Montpelier
• Green Acres Housing, Barre
• Highgate Appartments, Barre
• Mount Anthony Union Middle School, Bennington
• Richford Health Center, Richford
• St. Johnsbury School, St. Johnsbury
• Tinmouth Elementary School, Tinmouth

Celebrate Harvest Season!  

BACG Summer Potluck: Sunday, Aug. 17  

 Save the Date:

Join the Vermont Community Garden Network and garden groups from around the city for a celebration of the season, garden tours, great food, and a special recognition ceremony. 4-7pm at Ethan Allen Homestead. More info coming soon!

Get your tickets now:
EAT x NE

Sept. 19-21
Oakledge Park in Burlington.

This FREE 3-day celebration of Vermont food includes music, seminars, and kids events. It's also a fundraiser for local organizations - including the Vermont Community Garden Network!  

Buy your tickets for the Brewhaha beer and cider tasting and the Great Harvest supper and sign up for the free seminars now at http://eatxne.com/   

Donations for Gardens  

Friends of VCGN have kindly donated gardening supplies. We have the following items that are looking for homes in community or school gardens: 

• Complete drip irrigation system, including all attachments
• One collapsible wire compost bin

These items are available to community and school garden groups. Please contact us at (802) 861-4769 if you can put them to good use! They can be picked up in Burlington.