Education


Lectures and single classes

  • Angelic Organics Learning Center
    Classes and events for adults or children
  • Creative Living in the City Lecture Series
    A series of free lectures at the Chicago Cultural Center, organized by Friends of the Parks
  • Garfield Park Conservatory
    Classes and demonstration garden for adults or kids
  • Green Tech U
    Lecture series from the Chicago Center for Green Technology (CCGT), Green Building Resource Center (GBRC), and certificate program on a variety of green building topics
  • U of I Extension
    Horticulture and Gardening Classes – Cook County
  • Kilbourn Park and Organic Greenhouse
    Spark your curiosity and explore the fun and educational offerings at the Chicago Park District’s only park with a teaching organic greenhouse.
  • Wicker Park Garden Club
    Lectures, classes, and events. This year’s Lecture theme: Native Landscapes.
  • Windy City Harvest
    Chicago Botanic Garden
    Food and ornamental gardening classes with 5–15 students at Arturo Velasquez Institute at 2800 S. Western Avenue, in the greenhouse. Register by one week before the class. Contact: windycityharvest [at] chicagobotanic [dot] org


Weekend/One-Day Workshops

Courses

  • Building Urban Gardens (BUGs)
    A weekly, eight-week, hands-on survey gardening course for backyard and community gardeners in the city, offered by Openlands
  • Chicago Conservation Corps Leadership Training Program
    City of Chicago Department of Environment
    Five 4-hour training classes to recruit, train, and support a network of volunteers who work together to improve the quality of life in our neighborhoods and schools.
  • Earth Team
    Friends of the Parks
    Ten-week teen program for natural area restoration in Chicago’s parks
  • Green Teacher Network
    Garfield Park Conservatory, Openlands, Chicago Botanic Garden
    Four one-day workshops for educators. Training to foster the implementation of plant-based learning in Chicago-area schools, and to support teachers’ efforts in creating and using school gardens as curricular tools.
  • Green Tech U
    City of Chicago Department of Environment
    Lecture series out of the Chicago Center for Green Technology (CCGT), Green Building Resource Center (GBRC), and certificate program on a variety of green building topics.
  • Home Grown Chicago
    Community Vegetable Garden Training & Support Program. An Openlands workshop and support program for Chicago residents who want to eat healthy food they grow themselves in community-run gardens.
  • U of I Extension – Master Gardeners
    Twelve weekly sessions, Master Gardeners participate in more than 60 hours of training on botany, vegetables, tree and small fruits, diseases, insects, soils, fertilizers, pruning, trees and flowers and organic gardening.
  • Midwest Gardening Certificate
    Chicago Botanic Garden
    Two-year skills and basic training with a practical user-friendly approach to make you a more successful home gardener.
  • Tree-Keepers
    Openlands
    Participants in the seven-week program meet every Saturday morning for three hours of hands-on instruction.
  • Windy City Harvest
    Chicago Botanic Garden and City Colleges
    Six-month City College organic-method vegetable- and plant-growing enterprise that provides certificate instruction in sustainable horticulture.

Paid Job Training

  • GreenCorps Chicago
    City of Chicago Department of Environment
    Twelve-month training program in landscaping and horticulture, environmental health and safety, electronics recycling, and weatherization. Professional development and academic enhancement are integrated into all aspects of training.
  • Green City Youth Farm
    Chicago Botanic Garden
    Paid training (4-20 hours/wk) each growing season for high school students to learn all aspects of organic farming — from planting seeds and starts to managing a hive of bees, from cooking with the food they grow to selling it at farmstands and markets.

Online Courses and Lectures

Books & Journals

  • Organic Gardening
    An indispensable tool for the organic gardener with growing guides, planting tips, regional gardening calendars, product reviews, and more.
  • City Bountiful by Laura J. Lawson
    University of California Press, 2005
    In this critical history of community gardening in America, the most comprehensive review of the greening of urban communities to date, Laura J. Lawson documents the evolution of urban garden programs in the United States. Her vibrant narrative focuses on the values associated with gardening, the ebb and flow of campaigns during times of social and economic crisis, organizational strategies of these primarily volunteer campaigns, and the sustainability of current programs.

Websites