I just saw Silvia//Oakland/9b invite to a garden party and I thought hers was such a wonderful idea. I am wondering if there are enough of us in the neighborhood to for an informal group and meet occasionally and share.

I have seen a few formal groups in the area but they meet too far from my house and their schedule do not work with my full time/working mother schedule.

I am also only occasionally on the board because of my work schedule so I do not know everyone but would be happy to organize a first meet. I live close to Books and Books in Coral Gables that has a great patio cafe.

Growing veggies here feels very lonely here too. Most of my neighbors must think I am crazy. It does not help that I have terrible allergies and hayfever and try and wear long pants and sleeves, scarves and hats in 90 degree weather.. I cannot wait for cooler weather. I can only last 1/2 an hour out and I am drenched in sweat and have to go in and change my clothes.

There must be more gardeners in the neighborhood though. I have seen a couple of veggies beds when I biked around my neighborhood in Spring.

Shall we wait a bit to see if more reply or shall we set a date? Once we have a date I can try and recruit a couple of people in my neighborhood whom I have seen growing veggies/gardners.

I'd love to catch up with those I've not seen in awhile and meet those I've never met.

Randy

Date: How about Saturday the 22nd or Sunday the 23rd? Can you tell me which you prefer?

Place: My recommendation is to meet at the Fairchild Tropical Botanical Garden. They have the Edible Garden Festival that weekend and have lots of talks and hands on workshops on gardening all for the price of the admission. I also have a membership and could invite three of you for free. They also have lots of great activities for kids (for the parents and grandparents) and food vendors and plants for sale.

Time: We could meet at 9a.m. at the door. The Garden opens at 9:30 and the talks start at 10a.m.. I put a link for details and copied and pasted the program below.

Details: Bring a hat and something to sit on if you do not want to sit in the grass.

Hopefully this plan will suit most of you if not I will propose an alternative or a second meeting for those who cannot make it.

Best,

The Edible Garden Festival:
When: Saturday, October 22, 2011 - Sunday, October 23, 2011 from 9:30 AM to 4:30 PM

The Edible Garden Festival will feature delicious food, cooking demonstrations, a scarecrow competition, plant sales and gardening demonstrations and lectures on how to create your own edible garden.
3rd Annual Scarecrow Competition

Enter into this year�s competition by creating an original botanical themed scarecrow!

All scarecrows will be showcased at our Edible Garden Festival through our Howl-o-ween event October 30. Guests will be able to cast votes to help us decide who will win the 2011 competition. Download a rules and application packet.
Garden Demonstrations (Cycad Circle)

Saturday, October 22

10:00 a.m. Carolyn's Simple Tips for Growing Herbs, Carolyn Coppolo,
Redland Herb Farm
11:00 a.m. Basic Cheesemaking Techniques, Hani Khouri,
Mediterranean Organics
12:00 p.m. The Tools You Need to Grow Vegetables, Muriel Olivares,
Little River Market Garden
1:00 p.m. Building Rich Soil, Ben Thacker, Troy Gardens
2:00 p.m. Local, Organic Eggs: Their Importance in Your Diet,
Alice Pena, PNS Farms
3:00 p.m. Setting Up an Organic Raised Bed, Andres Mejides
Sunday, October 23

10:00 a.m. Dehydrating Fruits and Vegetables, Leila Werner, FTBG
11:00 a.m. Planting and Caring for your Tomato Plants, Margie Pikarsky,
Bee Heaven Farm
12:00 p.m. Designing Your Edible Garden, Dylan Terry, Ready-to-Grow Gardens
1:00 p.m. The History of Beer, Larry Goeser, Good Beer Larry
2:00 p.m. A Garden at Every School, Mary Keppler, FTBG
3:00 p.m. Edible Landscaping, Melissa Contreras, Urban Oasis Project
Cooking Demonstrations (Garden House)
Saturday, October 22

11:30 a.m Lemon Zucchini and Traditional Green Papaya Salad,
Chef Johnson Teh, Lan Pan Asian and Yuga in the Gables
12:30 p.m. Local Wahoo Crudo, Chef Albert Cabrera, The Local Craft
1:30 p.m. Tempeh Curry with Sweet Potatoes and Green Beans
and Pumpkin Pecan Cookies, Whole Foods Market
Health Starts Here Specialists, Jessica and Amanda
Sunday, October 23

11:30 a.m. Herb Marinated Mahi-Mahi with Celeriac and Tomato
and Corn Relish, Chef Chris Bulgarin, Delicious Catering Services
12:30 p.m. Guava and Onion Crostini, Chef Alicia Toledo
1:30 p.m. Asian Shrimp and Vegetable Salad, Chef Brian Collaro,
Whole Foods Market

Lectures (Garden House)

Saturday, October 22

10:30 a.m. The Home Worm Production, Noris Ledesma, FTBG
2:30 p.m. Gardening with Your Children, Samantha and Jeff Wasielewski,
FTBG
Sunday, October 23

10:30 a.m. Home Beekeeping, Richard Campbell, FTBG
2:30 p.m. The Medicine Cabinet in Your Garden, Alison Walker, FTBG
Tours of the Edible Garden

Saturday and Sunday at 11:30 a.m.
Gardening at Fairchild: A Tour of our Edible Garden

Fall Beer Garden (Cycad Vista)
Sponsored by Whole Foods Market

Participants:

Whole Foods Market � sampling Holy Mackerel Special Golden Ale and
Holy Mackerel Panic Attack

Goldcoast Beverage

The Boston Beer Company � sampling Samuel Adams Boston Lager,
Octoberfest, Sam Light, Cherry Wheat and Latitude 48

Latis Imports � sampling PALM Belgian Amber Ale

Magners � sampling Magners Original Cider and Magners Pear Cider

Family Demonstrations
Saturday and Sunday

12:00 p.m. Bee Smart, Bee Cool with Bees, Noris Ledemsa, FTBG
Learn all about honeybees, their importance in our ecosystem and how you can have a safe bee hive at home.

1:00 p.m. Cooking with Plant Parts, Chef Kathleen Duran and Bonita
What parts of a plant are edible? Just the flowers? Or can you eat the stems and the roots, too? Find out how to create a salad using all the parts of a plant!

2:00 p.m. Building an Organic Edible Garden with your Family, Slow Food Miami
See how it easy it is create your own edible garden in your backyard - the whole family will enjoy!

Free Yoga from Rina Yoga, Saturday and Sunday

10:30 -11:15 a.m. Yoga (Adults)
1:30 - 2:00 p.m. Little Yogis (Kids)

I am planning to go to the garden on Saturday morning and hopefully some of you can make it. Let me know.

Justine, I'd love to meet up. One thing tho-if they do the Fairchild Gardens option, I wouldn't be able to go. It's more walking/standing than I can manage, and Idon't own a wheelchair, lol. If you get the chance, by all means, go. I have longed to go to Fairchild, but it's just not possible. If we end up meeting at someone's home for a swap, I would love to do that.

Justine, do you foster kittens through a rescue or on your own? I'd love to do that, but not able to. We had one rescue kitty this past Summer, and loved her so much, we ended up adopting her!

Randy

If you go to their web site and click on available cats, you can see my 4 foster kitties. They are Ana, Gamon, Moira, and Arthas. (My daughter named them:))

I also volunteer once a week at Petco in Plantation, where I go in and clean the cages, love on the cats for a while, and make sure they are all well. You are welcome to come and sit with the cats and visit while I clean if you ever feel up to it. I go in on Thursday nights about 6.

If you decide you'd like to join up to go to the gardens, let me know. I'd be glad to push you around if you needed.

Hopefully, we'll get a chance before too long to hook up and hang out with some other fellow gardening enthusiasts. If not, we'll make some time. I DO SO LOVE a good cup o joe and a good company. We'll make it work for us Broward-ites!
Warmly,
Justine

Randy

Thanks for the invite to meet at Petco at the cat room. I just might take a ride out there one of these days to visit with you and the kitties.

Randy

If you are still willing how about we organize two outings (since I am going anyway to Fairchild).

This Sunday at Fairchild. Tell me you will be there and I will wait for you at the door. Again I can take in three with me free on my membership. There are wheelchairs to loan there and even though they stop the shuttle on events days, they have little electric carts they use to transport those who need them from the door to the main gathering area. Once you are there it is very compact and there is not lots of walking. They have a picnic area where we can meet, sit and chat. But you need to let me know.

I have proposed Sunday as I am going on Saturday with some non gardeners friends. You are welcome to join us anyway since no one else seemed interested in Sunday. I will email you my phone number. We plan to go there early but one of my friends has a newborn and we were going to go whenever the baby is up.

HOWEVER: I tried to email you my phone number and I do not see anyway of doing that on your page. Either you do not have an email link or I am doing something wrong. Can you or someone else help? I can email you my phone number as soon as I can figure it out. I will check back here in the morning and we cannot figure it out I can leave you a ticket at the door. Let me know.

Sorry, I dropped out of this thread. It's too late for me to go to Fairchild. I wish I'd come back sooner! Sounds like it would have been an awesome time.

I'm still down for a Miami meeting sometime. I'm going to subscribe to the thread so I'll see any other posts.

Mark

I would still love to get together but how about after the holidays? There's nothing going on in late Jan/early Feb. and if we have the warm winter we're supposed to have it should be perfect. I promise to post early and give everyone plenty of time to arrange stuff.
Again, I'm so sorry for dropping the ball on this.

Randy