Schedule

• Purchase heirloom seeds, unique seedlings, and other inspirational garden materials to jumpstart the growing season.
• Participate in Family Take Home Planting Activities—grow a pizza garden in the Elizabeth Morse Children’s Garden.
• Attend Mini Workshops free of charge, hosted by the Chicago Department of Transportation. (Workshop Sessions begin @ 10:15 am. Registration begins @ 9:15 am on day of event. Limited space available—arrive early if you want to attend all the workshops.)
• Landscape Maintenance Classroom Sessions
  Presented by The Chicago Department of Transportation (CDOT) Streetscape and Sustainable Design Program
  • 10:15 am – 11:00 am: Session 1: Landscape Maintenance
    Find out more information and have a chance to question experts on basic plant care, recommended low maintenance/native plants and weed identification. Presenters will include Kevin Carrol from CDOT and Grace Koeher from Pizzo Associates.
  • 11:15 am – 11:30 am: Intro to GreenNet
    Find out more about the organization responsible for the Green and Growing Fair and how you can become involved.
  • 11:45 am – 12:30 pm: Session 2: Sustaining Community Spaces
    Community gardens and landscape improvements in the public way have to start somewhere. Find out how community members have gotten involved to improve their neighborhoods. Presenters will include Siobhan Gregory of the Sangamon Paseo Community Garden and Janet Attarian from CDOT.
  • 12:45 pm – 1:00 pm: Intro to GreenNet
    (Repeat) Find out more about the organization responsible for the Green and Growing Fair and how you can become involved.
  • 1:15 pm – 2:00 pm: Session 3: Sustainability/Live Green
    From composting to rain harvesting, there are many ways to utilize sustainable practices in the garden. Find out more about methods to collect stormwater, compost through vermiculture and other green methods. Presenters will include staff from the Chicago Department of Environment
• Outdoor Demonstration Stations on the Bluestone Terrace
  • Rot Pot Seed Starting
    Make your own pot to plant straight into the ground using a newspaper and a wooden soon. Activity provided by Garfield Park Conservatory Alliance volunteers.
  • Garden Tool Sharping
    For a small fee, bring your garden tools to the Chicago Botanic Garden Green Youth Farms’ tent, and get your tools ready for thier ground breaking!
  • How to Hold a Chicken and More
    Jennifer Murtoff of Home to Roost Urban Chicken Consulting will be providing informational sessions on chicken anatomy and assessing the health of a chicken. She will also have a display of chicken-related materials and information on her consulting business.
• The Winner of ONE SEED CHICAGO’s Seed of the Year is Announced Today!
  Each year, the One Seed Chicago folks select a group of seed contenders for Chicagoland growers to vote on. 2011’s candidates are:
  • Radish
  • Eggplant
  • Chard

  To meet the candidates and cast your vote, visit One Seed Chicago. Voting ends April 1st, and the winner will be announced and free seed packs distributed at the Green and Growing Fair. Then complete the season by showing what you’ve grown at the Garfield Park Conservatory’s Annual County Fair, September 17, 2011, in our annual Harvest Showcase.

• Share food & live music with friends in our Horticulture Hall
  Please visit Horticulture Hall, where live music and living seedlings are scattered throughout. And make sure to purchase some delicious food at Inspiriation Kitchen’s Food Table.
  Music Line-up for the Day:
  • 10:00-10:45 am The Talons- Mike and Sommer Tolan of Talons’ new release ‘Songs for Boats’ is an album of love songs at the end of the world. It is a new folk music made to resonate now rather than endure for decades. Written while Mike was living/studying in Spain and the world was sliding into recession, these boat songs came into being as he wondered how he would get home once the world fell apart.
  • 11:00-11:45 am Compass Rose Quintet- a fresh approach to world music, playing sophisticated original compositions inspired by a wide range of international cultures.
  • 12:00-12:45 am Tarima Son plays Son Jarocho, a traditional music style of Veracruz, Mexico, as well as Caribbean influenced tunes.
  • 1:00-1:45 pm Community Student Spring Music Recital- Come listen asstudents from the Ravinia Festival Lawndale Conservatory, the Suzuki-Orff School of Music, the DePaul Community Music School, and the Michel Chatara-Morse Guitar Studio all come to share their talent. There will also be a performance by the Ravinia Guitar Trio. Music will span from classical, to folk, to motown to, to jazz.
• Shop our used gardening book and magazine sale
• Participate in a Silent Auction of Urban Gardening Treasures
• Gather Resources for Starting Community Gardens @ GreenNet Member “Stop & Grow” Member Stations throughout the Conservatory
  GreenNet is a network of different “green resource” providing organizations that come together to share information with each other and with the public. Please visit the “Stop and Grow” stations below, to find out what each of these organizations has to offer to citizens. Stop, learn, and grow your knowledge about community gardening by visiting all the stations throughout the Conservatory, then get a prize before you leave.
  • Stop and Grow Station # 1: Growing Home
    Ask about where you can purchase our CSA’s and what farmer’s markets we will be selling at.

    What Growing Home Does: Provides job training through a non-profit agricultural business

    What We are Doing at the Green & Growing Fair: Showing folks who to graft fruit trees, start plants from root and stem cuttings, and more creative style “plant hacking” that shows how to grow plants in other ways besides the seed planting method.

  • Stop and Grow Station # 2: Openlands
    Ask us how we can help you start a community or school garden.

    What Openlands Does: Openlands protects the natural and open spaces of northeastern Illinois and the surrounding region to ensure cleaner air and water, protect natural habitats and wildlife, and help balance and enrich our lives.

    What We are Doing At the Green & Growing Fair: Providing information on classes and courses that train urban citizens in starting school and community gardens

  • Stop and Grow Station #3: Greencorps Chicago
    Ask us how to get your garden certified so you are eligible for free seeds, plants, and other free resources.

    What GreenCorp Does: Advances the green economy while providing critical re-entry opportunities and skills to unemployed individuals. Provides resources to community garden spaces with free plant giveaways and garden structure support.

    What We are Doing At the Green & Growing Fair: Providing information on community garden certification and Greencorps Chicago grants.

  • Stop and Grow Station #4: Department of Environment’s Sustainable Backyard Program
    Ask about how to go about getting a compost bin, rain barrel, or native plant rebate.

    What the Sustainable Backyard Program Does: Provides educational workshops for City of Chicago residents, who then become eligible for rebates on compost bins, rain barrels, and more.

    What We are Doing At the Green & Growing Fair: Providing information to folks about how and where to get a mail in rebate for purchase of compost bins, and more!

  • Stop and Grow Station #5: Advocates for Urban Agriculture
    Ask us about potential implications of new urban agriculture zoning policies in Chicago, and how this effects community gardeners.

    What Advocates of Urban Agriculture Does: Chicago Advocates for Urban Agriculture (AUA) is a coalition of organizations and individuals open to anyone interested in learning about, networking and advocating for urban agriculture in the Chicago Area.

    What We are Doing At the Green & Growing Fair: Responding to questions about the current state of food and agricultural zoning policies in Chicago.

  • Stop and Grow Station #6: Friends of the Parks
    Ask us how to become involved with your local Chicago park’s advisory council.

    What Friends of the Parks Does: With its programs, Friends of the Parks mission is to protect, improve and promote the use of Chicago parks, forest preserves and recreational areas for the benefit of all neighborhoods and citizens.

    What We are Doing at the Green & Growing Fair: Providing visitors with a Park Advisory Council Guidebooks

  • Stop and Grow Station # 7: NeighborSpace
    Ask us about how we help community groups protect and secure thier community garden or park from potential development.

    What NeighborSpace Does: Helps community groups protect and secure their community garden or park from potential development; works in concert with many private and public partners to preserve and expand community managed open space in Chicago

    What We are Doing At the Green & Growing Fair: Distributing the democratically voted on free One Seed Chicago!

  • Stop and Grow Station #8: Chicago Park District’s Community Gardening Program
    Ask us how to become involved or start a Community Garden in a Chicago Park District.

    What Chicago Park District’s Community Gardening Program Does: Provides support for community gardens to happen in Chicago Park Districts.

    What We are Doing At the Green & Growing Fair: Walking folks through the process of getting involved in both existing and new community gardeners. We have manuals that walk you through the process!

  • Stop and Grow Station #9: Windy City Harvest (the Chicago Botanic Garden in partnership with Richard J. Daley College, one of the City Colleges of Chicago)
    Ask us to get a jump on your season, and when you can actually grow food in a greenhouse/ coldframe setting in Chicago!

    What Windy City Harvest Does: Windy City Harvest provides instruction in urban agriculture best practices, develops collaborations that benefit communities, and produces high-value, nutritious produce for sale at local retail outlets.

    What We are Doing At the Green & Growing Fair: Showing folks how to extend the vegetable growing season earlier in the spring and later into the fall? Experts will be available to answer questions and provide information on: recommended tools and resources, crop varieties, and blueprint plans for extending the season with cold frames, low tunnels and quick hoops.

  • Stop and Grow Station #10: The Garfield Park Conservatory Alliance’s Beekeepers
    Ask us why honey made in Chicago tastes different than honey from other parts of the world.

    What the Garfield Park Conservatory Alliance Does: The Garfield Park Conservatory Alliance strengthens community through the unique combination of the Garfield Park Conservatory Campus, other botanical resources, and the engagement of community members. With its innovative programs, the Alliance enhances the environmental, social and economic vitality of Chicago’s West Side and encourages the larger community to explore the fundamental connection between plants and life.

    What We are Doing At the Green & Growing Fair: Providing information about our beekeeping program, offering honey tastings, and sharing knowledge about beekeeping in Chicago.

  • Stop and Grow Station #11: Master Composters of the University of Illinois Extension Program
    Ask us about the difference between indoor worm composting and outdoor composting.

    What Master Composters Do: Teach the public about how to compost in the city and demonstrate ways that city dwellers can turn thier food waste into garden gold

    What We are Doing At the Green & Growing Fair: Demonstrating different types of composting systems that Chicago folk can utilize in their indoor and outdoor spaces.

  • Stop and Grow Station #12: GreenNet, Chicago’s Urban Gardening Network

    What GreenNet Does: Provides resources, connections, and information to community gardeners in and around Chicago.

    What We are Doing At the Green & Growing Fair: Hosting this fair all together, as well as mapping your community garden space and unveiling our new website.

Location

Contact

• Interested Vendors and Exhibitors should contact Julie Samuels @ 312-863-6256 or jsamuels [at] openlands [dot] org.
• Download the vendor/exhibitor application
• All other inquires should be directed to Robin Cline @ 773-638-1766 ext 18, or rcline [at] garfieldpark [dot] org.