What’s new at ELSEE? November updates

We are always thankful for our volunteers. We are in a propagating frenzy these days and could use some eager volunteers. We are already working on the regenerative farm model for the Agrihood in our gardens at the ELSEE lab and at Hester School!

Your help now can contribute to more innovation in regenerative farming practices. We hope this eco-friendly model will become the new norm in urban agriculture. You can help us show folks how much food we can grow while preserving habitat and biodiversity.

Since our last newsletter, we’ve had exciting developments on work toward the Agrihood in the Valley Fair area, had a tour of the ATT Park garden and got a great donation from a local salvaged lumber company. You can catch up with all the things we’re doing and learn about aquaponics, November’s plant of the month and more with the articles below.

Sincerely,
Alrie Middlebrook

CNGF has teamed up with Travis Osterback and Eric Gorski of Good News Wood Salvation and parent Nate Pease to complete a native garden project at a local school. Read more about it here.

Around 30 community members, along with leaders, developers, CNGF team members and those interested in urban greenspace came together for a panel discussion on the proposed Agrihood development Nov. 3.
Check out this great article by Maria Judnick about the talk.
Read more about the exciting discussion on our blog.

Lara Hermanson of Farmscape, an urban farming maintenance contractor, recently gave a tour of the ATT Park garden to members of our Agrihood design team and Vince Cantore, from Core Companies. Lara and her team manage the stadium garden. Learn more about how the garden works within the community.

Please download and distribute this flyer to anyone interested in attending The Watershed Approach to Landscaping. CNGF is proud to be a co-sponsor of this event on Dec. 10 at San Jose Conservation Corp, 1500 Berger Drive, San Jose, from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m.
Register HERE
Morning session: Watershed Basics
Luncheon: California natives creatively used in free lunch provisions. Chef: Tess Middlebrook
Afternoon session: Hands on Landscape Design
Registration is required! See you there! Great day for networking!

At its heart, aquaponics is a pretty simple concept. Fish poop in water, which fertilizes a crop. The plants filter and clean the water for the fish. This is a natural relationship as old as time and with today’s technology it can be had right in your backyard.

But when the urban farmer dives into the idea for the first time they might feel like they are drowning in info. Luckily, CNGF’s Deeksha Chopra wrote this life jacket article that gives the ins and outs on aquaponics.

With an eye-popping, purple to red bloom that stays close to the soil and a bounty of edible seeds, Redmaids is not only a showstopper but it also makes for a good snack. Read all about November’s plant of the month in a piece by Angela Ngo.

We think our designers are pretty awesome. Read a note from Carolina, one of the movers and shakers on the team.

Upcoming Events of Interest:

Wild Cylamens lecture at the California Horticultural Society, San Francisco, Nov. 21
Wallace Stegner Lecture series in association with Open Space Trust, Mountain View, various dates
Watershed Approach to Landscape, co-sponsored by CNGF, San Jose, Dec. 10
Holiday Gathering at CNGF
Ladybird Johnson Wildflower Center workshops, classes and information, Austin, Texas

Our mission is to demonstrate the beauty, garden worthiness, and ecological appropriateness of

California native gardens and to advance knowledge of native plants and increase their availability.
Please join us to learn more about the Middlebrook Center.