Family F.Y.I. - Green Family
Let’s Grow a Garden
Family Garden Patch, based in Oakland, is an education and consulting practice working with Bay Area families to plan, design and care for an organic garden patch in their own backyards. The program was founded last year by Elizabeth Beak, who earned her formal training in gardening from the Center of Agroecology and Sustainable Food Systems at UC Santa Cruz.
With monthly meetings held April through November, Beak and the rest of her gang invite folks to learn and celebrate the seed-to-table adventure of our local growing season. For a membership fee (prices depend on a garden’s already or non-existing infrastructure), families receive monthly lessons, a monthly garden maintenance boost, a children’s garden kit and access to the Patch Family blog that connects other Patch families to help them answer gardening questions. Each season, 1 percent of Patch family membership proceeds are donated to a complementary project that serves meals to local underprivileged families. Patch families also have the option of donating their patch’s bounty to a community organization while they are on vacation. For more information on starting your own garden or to give a garden as a gift, visit familygardenpatch.com.
– Tiffany Carboni
Control Household & Garden Pests ... the Green Way!
Chemicals in pesticides designed for home use have been linked to adverse long-term health effects. Less than 2% of the insects you encounter in the garden will be pests! A great majority of insects in your yard are either beneficial or neutral. In the interest in keeping them alive, take a targeted, selective approach to dealing with the insects that are pests using as little pesticide as possible.
Indoor Pests: Ants, Spiders, Cockroaches, Fleas, Rats & Mice
Outdoor Pests: Aphids, Mosquitoes, Snails & Slugs, Yellow jackets
Take Action:
Use less toxic products and dispose of your chemicals properly. For store listings and IPM information on various pesticides visit flowstobay.org.
Find out what’s bugging your garden at: ipm.ucdavis.edu/PMG/menu.homegarden.html.
Locate an Eco Wise Certified Pest Management Professional.
– sustainabilityhub.net
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