Growing Food In Southern California

...at The Learning Garden this Saturday, October 1st, with Gardenmaster David King. 

This 9 to noon workshop centers on what to do in the coming months as Southern California heads into our 'other Spring' and one of our best, and least understood, growing seasons! You'll learn what to plant and how to plant it, what varieties go best here and why and all about getting the best garlic you will ever have! 

Dress to get into the garden and get dirty, The Learning Garden can be cooler than you think any time of year, so dress in layers. Coffee and garden-made mint tea will be served please bring your own cup! 

Parking is available on Venice Blvd or Walgrove Avenue.  Email greenteach@gmail.com for more information. No need to RSVP – class goes on no matter what! $25 at the gate...

Hope to see you all there!  It's a good time to plant right now, one of our best gardening seasons ever!

The Learning Garden Closes Today At 2:00 PM

The Garden closes today at 2:00 while we all troop south for SLOLA's SEED Award presentation at the Hawthorne Ayers Hotel.  We resume normal hours tomorrow and have normal hours on Saturday for PESTO DAY . On Sunday we are closing at 3:00 so the Gardenmaster can pick up his Spirit of Venice award from the Abbot Kinney Festival Association.  

Busy week!

david

David King To Be Presented 'Spirit of Venice' Award!

Just three days after accepting the "SEED" Award from the South Bay Business Environmental Coalition on September 22, DAVID KING will be honored with the "Spirit of Venice" Award at the Abbot Kinney Festival!

Come out and celebrate with us as David -- the Founder and Chair of SLOLA and Gardenmaster of The Learning Garden at Venice High School -- receives this award at the annual Abbot Kinney Festival on Sunday, September 25.

The awards ceremony takes place on the Andalusia Stage (across the street from Intelligentsia) beginning at around 3:15 pm. Winners of The Spirit of Venice Awards are nominated by the community for their contributions to the heart and soul of Venice. David King's nomination was unanimously agreed upon by the committee members!

One of Southern California’s most popular community events, the 27th annual Abbot Kinney Festival will be held on Sunday, September 25, 10:00 AM to 6:00 PM. Held on the last Sunday of September since 1984, the FREE community festival features local artisans, live music, great food, family entertainment, and lots more.

 

Check out the indie band line-up at the Andalusia Stage produced by Milkmade. Head over to the Brooks Stage for live music and deejay tunes curated by L.A. Record and dublab. The Palms Stage at The Brig will showcase popular deejays from dublab. 

 

Organized by the Abbot Kinney Festival Association (AKFA), a 501(c)(3) nonprofit, the annual Abbot Kinney Festival has grown in size and popularity to become one of the largest of its kind in the country, attracting nearly 150,000 people. Proceeds from sponsorships, booth exhibitor fees, official merchandise, and event concessions benefit youth and families through the AKFA Community Grants Program.

 

During this year’s Abbot Kinney Festival, beginning at 3:15 PM on the Andalusia Stage, the AKFA board of directors will award grants to the following Venice nonprofits: 826LA, Beyond Baroque, Inside Out Community Arts, Venice Arts, Venice Oceanarium, and A Window Between Worlds.

 

In addition, the 2011 recipients of the AKFA’s Spirit of Venice Awards will be recognized. Nominated by the community for their contributions to the heart and soul of Venice, they include the following:

• David King, Garden Master of Venice High School Learning Garden and Founder & Chair of the Seed Library of Los Angeles (SLOLA)

• Venice Art Crawl (accepted by co-founders Daniel Samakow, Edizen Stowell, Mark Rojas)

• Yo! Venice! (accepted by co-founder Bret)

• Teresa Skinner, Sr. Lead Officer at Los Angeles Police Department

Parking & Transportation: Ride your bike, carpool with friends, or use public transportation such as Metro (www.metro.net), Santa Monica Big Blue Bus (www.bigbluebus.com), and Playa Vista Beach Shuttle. Venice Beach has public parking lots, but spaces fill early. Several parking lots are located near Windward and on Electric Ave., Washington Blvd. near Venice Pier, and in Marina del Rey. Look for spaces along Venice Blvd. west of Lincoln Blvd. and along Main St. 

 

NOTE: The Abbot Kinney Festival and Los Angeles Triathlon have worked together to minimize early-morning inconveniences that any street closures from both events may cause. Festival organizers have been informed that the westbound lanes of Venice Blvd. will be kept open at all times and that the eastbound lanes of Venice Blvd. are expected to be open no later than 11 AM.

Shine Up Your Tastebuds! Pesto Madness Returns!

Gardenmaster David King serves up his garden-based pesto demonstration in 2010

Come on out and support 

THE LEARNING GARDEN at Venice High School 

as we host our 

8th ANNUAL “PESTO MADNESS” FUNDRAISER

SATURDAY, SEPTEMBER 24, 2011; 2 to 5 pm

$10 entry includes Pesto Pasta meal, featuring garden-grown, garden-made pesto, to benefit 

what a lot of folks call a 'local gardening treasure!'

On Saturday, Sept. 24, from 2 to 5 pm, PESTO MADNESS returns! This annual fundraiser for THE LEARNING GARDEN located on the campus of Venice High School, features the sale of our Famous Pesto Madness Pesto (only $8 a jar!).

A $10 entry fee gets visitors a pesto-making demonstration, a tour of The Learning Garden, and a plate of Pesto Madness Pasta, made with the best basil fresh from the garden, heirloom garlic, fresh olive oil and the highest quality Italian cheeses and other ingredients, plus dessert!

No reservations needed; just show up, eat up and take home a jar for future feasting!

The Learning Garden, a 501(c)3 non-profit organization, is located on the campus of Venice High School. Out of a vision of a garden that serves the community, The Learning Garden blossoms from what once was an underutilized, weedy portion of Venice High School into an outdoor learning center with hands on education in horticulture, permaculture, herbology, botany, nutrition, art, photography and environmental science. The Learning Garden not only beautifies the community, but serves as a place of peace and serenity in an often turbulent, concreted world.
 

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The Garden tends to be  open 10 – 5 Wednesday – Sunday. We are also available at other daylight hours by special arrangements.


Join us for our pot luck every Friday at 12:30 pm. on any day you don't need to put on a heavier jacket!

david

A New Seed Saving Seminar With David King!

It's about time.  Last January we had a seed saving seminar with SLOLA Chair and Founder, David King that was thoroughly enjoyed by every one.  We have finally pinned the dates down and are very pleased to announce our next offering: 

Essentials of Seed Saving

Generations before us understood the importance of saving seeds. It was an essential part of the lives of all our ancestors. This vital connection was lost as we began to purchase our seeds from seed sellers. In recent times, the specter of GMOs and monster corporations controlling the seeds they created and the very real prospect of seed corporations having control over our food supply.

October 20, 27 and November 3, 6:30 PM to 9:30 PM, at

The Learning Garden,

SE corner of Walgrove Avenue and Venice Blvd.

310.722.3656 or greenteach@gmail.com

Saving our own vegetable biodiversity today provides us

• those old open pollinated varieties that taste good.
• a wider range of vegetable varieties and more control over what we can have.
• a closer participation in the cycle of life. In our gardens.
  
• a hedge against personal financial misfortune.
• a safeguard against food shortages.
  
• our own way to mitigate against climate change and it's impact on agriculture.
• the means to fight our shrinking biodiversity.
  

Upon completing this short course, participants will know why we urgently need to learn how to save seeds, the basics of saving most vegetable seeds, optimum conditions for seed preservation, how to preserve the genetic lines of different types of seed and short-cuts and tips from someone steeped in the seed saving ethic.  

David King began his time in the garden at his Grandfather's knee back in northeast Kansas.  He has been an avid gardener for most of his life and has taught gardening and horticulture at UCLA Extension and UC Cooperative Extension.  He has been with The Learning Garden at Venice High School for over ten years and is the Chair of the Seed Library of Los Angeles. He has written the LA Garden Blog for over three years as well as several columns for periodical publication.  A course of information, delivered with passion and humor is guaranteed.

Date Enrolled

Before10/13/2011 $40.00 After 10/13/2011 $45.00 At The Door $50.00

It's a Busy Time In The Learning Garden

A few seconds after this was snapped, these figs tasted delicious!

Every year we seem to be busier and busier and lately it seems to have hit fever pitch.  This summer has been cool (until this week, at least), leaving tomatoes and figs to ripen later - it's rare for us to have three trees full of figs in September.  I usually take my August breakfast in the Garden - I'll walk to the fig trees with my cup of coffee and pick all I want for breakfast.  Here's the list of all we are busy with in September!

10 September - 9 to noon - It's Step Forward Day for the Pepperdine Waves!  We'll have about 50 volunteers from Pepperdine doing their annual service day.  It's a tradition for a crew of them to show up at The Learning Garden just after school starts; they clear out the high school garden beds so the current crop of high school gardeners this term can start with a clean 'slate.'  Come on out if you want to help supervise and keep the work moving forward.

10 September - noon to 1:00 The Seed Library of Los Angeles (SLOLA) Best Practices committee meets on our patio.  Best Practices is the committee that decides the seeds we need to save and how best to save them.

10 September - 2:30 to 4:00 SLOLA's monthly meeting takes place in our picnic area.  I'll present a short program on saving lettuce seeds (easy!) and we'll take care of a little SLOLA business. After the meeting, SLOLA members will be able to check out seeds from the library. $10 gets you a lifetime membership.

17 September - 9:00 to noon Westside Produce Exchange meets on or about our patio - in the AM folks come and drop off their excess produce; at noon volunteers come in and separate the excess into different bags - you come back later in the day and pick up a bag of everyone else's excess and they get yours!  It's a win/win kind of deal.

17 September - Time TBA - Our Time Bank has a potluck with new member orientation.  Check their website for updates.

24 September - 2:00 to 5:00PM - Pesto Madness returns!  Shine up your taste buds!  This is our annual fund raiser with jars of our famous pesto for sale, $8.00 each.  $10 gets you in and you get a pesto making demonstration, a garden tour, but most importantly, a plate of pasta with our famous Pesto Madness Pesto, made with our own home grown Italian basil, heirloom garlic, fresh olive oil and pine nuts and aged Parmesan cheese, Italian sausage, bread, ice tea and a desert to top it off!  

Take a gardening class from this man!

25 September - 1:00 to 5:00PM - Modern Backyard Food Production, a UCLA Extension Gardening and Horticulture class begins in the Garden, meeting until early December.  As of this writing, there are still a few spaces left in the class.

01 October - 9:00 AM - noon - Growing Food In Southern California with Gardenmaster David King. This 9 to noon workshop centers on what to do in the coming months as Southern California heads into our 'other Spring' and one of our best, and least understood, growing seasons! You'll learn what to plant and how to plant it, what varieties go best here and why and all about getting the best garlic you will ever have! Dress to get into the garden and get dirty, The Learning Garden can be cooler than you think any time of year, so dress in layers. Coffee and garden-made mint tea will be served please bring your own cup! Email greenteach@gmail.com for more information. No need to RSVP – class goes on no matter what! $25 at the gate... 

01 October 1 to 4 PM Victory Garden Classes returns!  Join Gardenmaster, Master Gardener David King for this University of California Cooperative Extension Common Ground Garden Program that certifies the students as Victory Gardeners - trained back yard (or front yard!) food growers!  $20 per class or $70 for the series of four...  Email greenteach@gmail.com for more information... 

And October looks like it will be just as busy, so make plans to come out to The Learning Garden sometime for one of our events!

david 

Growing Food In Southern California: What to Do & When To Do It

Would You Take A Class From This Man?  You Should!

This Saturday, September 3rd, The Learning Garden presents:  Growing food In Southern California with David King. This 9 to 12 workshop centers on what to do in the coming months as Southern California heads into our 'other Spring' and one of our best, and least understood, growing seasons! You'll learn what to plant and how to plant it, what varieties go best here and why and all about getting the best garlic you will ever have! Dress to get into the garden and get dirty, The Learning Garden has cooled down already, so dress in layers. Coffee and garden-made mint tea will be served please bring your own cup! Email greenteach@gmail.com or call 310.722.3656 for more information. No need to RSVP – class goes on no matter what! $25 at the gate...