Garden Care Workshop To Be Held In Davenport

The Center for Rural Affairs and Harold Stone of Stone’s Thoreau in Davenport will be hosting a free workshop on garden care. The workshop will be held on Wednesday, Aug. 15, at the Davenport Community Center, 110 South Linden Avenue, from 12:30-2:30 p.m.

Don Siffring, Extension educator, will be presenting pest and disease problems, watering techniques, and garden design.

Siffring is a six year master gardener with the University of Nebraska Extension in Adams County. He is a professor emeritus with the University of Nebraska, Institute of Agriculture. Don works part-time as a horticulture aide with UNL Extension in Adams County.

Dan Gillespie, soil conservation technician and no-till specialist with the USDA Natural Resource Conservation Service (NRCS) will also present at the workshop. He will demonstrate how best to capture and retain water in the soil with a rainfall simulator- something that is extremely important during this period of drought and beyond.

The simulator provides a powerful visual demonstration of how various soils absorb water, and demonstrates how to increase the productivity of water even in the driest of conditions.

“We are thrilled to have these gentlemen share their expertise,” said Kathie Starkweather Rural Opportunities and Stewardship Program director for the Center for Rural Affairs.

This is the fifth in a series of workshops that are supporting the development of a regional food system in Davenport, (including Thayer, Clay, Fillmore and Nuckolls counties). Harold Stone of Stone’s Thoreau is developing this project to assist local growers or those who want to start growing supply locally grown food to consumers in the four-county region.

The Center for Rural Affairs and Harold Stone are advancing the development of this self-sustaining system by hosting a series of free trainings on basic gardening and growing for markets that began in April. Programs will continue through September.

Please RSVP with name, address and email to Kathie Starkweather at kathies@cfra.org or call 402-617-7946. A detailed agenda will be sent to all who RSVP.

“We hope anybody in the area who wants to learn more about garden care attends this workshop,” Starkweather continued.

The workshop series concludes on September 19 with a discussion on harvest (harvesting for market, seed saving, canning, processing, preserving, and value-adding).

For more information visit www.cfra.org  or contact Kathie Starkweather at 402-617-7946, kathies@cfra.org.