Programs

The California Native Garden Foundation offers a series of classes on how to design, build, and maintain a California native garden yourself. These classes introduce you, the do-it-yourself native gardener, to creating a sustainable, low-maintenance, and water-conserving garden around your home.

CNGF Founder Alrie Middlebrook is available to give a lecture or workshop to your group, whether it's a garden group, a neighborhood group, a Homeowners' Association, or any group interested in learning more about native plants and water-wise gardening. Honoraria benefit the California Native Garden Foundation.

Some of her lecture/workshop topics include:

35 Ways to Garden for the 21st Century
12 Months of Color in the Native Garden
Designing, Building and Managing a Native Garden
Southern California Plant Communities
5 Alternatives to Lawn Culture
Designing California Native Gardens; the Plant Community Approach to Artful, Ecological Gardens – Tailored to Each Region
Design with Nature – Organic Style
Eating California
Drought Tolerant and Mediterranean Plants
San Francisco Bay Area Plant Communities
Marin Area Plant Communities
Art in the Garden
Sustainable Sites Initiative
California Ethnobotany
ELSEE (The Environmental Laboratory for Sustainability & Ecological Education)

For more information on a talk for your group, on announced classes/workshops, or to reserve a spot, please contact info@cngf.org.

Mark Your Calendar!

Artist and Technical Workshop Series at ELSEE

One Saturday of each month, a local artist conducts a materials and techniques workshop. On another Saturday each month, CNGF sponsors a technical workshop as well. All workshops, unless otherwise stated, are at ELSEE/Middlebrook Gardens, 76 Race Street, San Jose.

ELSEE Calendar

Oyster Mushroom Cultivation for Families with Chris Carrier

Saturday, February 18, 10 to 12:30
Picnic tables behind Lefavre classroom next to Veggielution Community Farm, 647 S. King Rd, San Jose, CA 95116

An ELSEE/Veggielution collaboration!

Learn how to grow delicious and nutritious Oyster Mushrooms in your home! We will teach you the basics of mushroom cultivation by going through each step of the growing process and making our own bags of layered spawn and substrate. These bags will produce beautiful blooms of Oyster mushrooms that you and your children can harvest from the kitchen. We will also explore how oyster mushrooms are being grown at Veggielution on a larger scale. We will use this hands on opportunity to teach children and their parents the magic of home Oyster Mushroom Cultivation.

Techie by day and mycologist in his free time, Veggielution's own mushroom grower extraordinaire, Chris Carrier, will be facilitating this workshop. He is a master of home cultivation and has a cultivation operation at Veggielution Community Farm.

Spaces available: 20; Age: 10+
Cost: $30 per adult $15 per child
Register on Veggielution's Event Registration page.

Whole-Stem, Rush-Twined Basket-Making with Charles Kennard

Saturday, March 24, 10 to 1
ELSEE/Middlebrook Gardens, 76 Race Street, San Jose

Using a rush (Juncus effusus) commonly found in Bay Area freshwater wetlands, we will make close-twined baskets. Patterns can be introduced by varying the weave, and crossing warps. Beginners and experienced weavers are welcome.

Charles Kennard of San Anselmo, Marin County, is a long-time student of central California-Indian-technique twined and coiled baskets, as well as of several European techniques, including bee-hive weaving. He has been giving presentations and workshops on traditional uses of native plants throughout the Bay Area for adults and youth for fifteen years. Tule-reed boats built in his workshops are in the collections of the Oakland Museum, the Academy of Sciences, and Lake County Museum. Charlie is active in habitat restoration with Friends of Corte Madera Creek Watershed in Marin County, and is also a professional photographer.

Charlie's workshops are always popular. You'll leave with a basket of your own making using native juncus. Great activity to share with your school-age child!

Participants should bring large scissors, a water bowl, and lunch.

The Workshop fee is $30. For members of the California Native Garden Foundation (CNGF), the cost is $25 and a 10% discount on any plant purchases. (Join CNGF at the workshop for $38 and save $10 on this class and 30% on workshops all year!)

RSVP at info@cngf.org with "Basketmaking" in the subject line. Payment can be made in advance through Paypal using the Donate button on the cngf.org website or at the event upon arrival.

Previous Artists and Technicians of the Month

Carol Braham, Artistic Creations (June, 2009, May, 2011)
Christina Yaconelli of Yellow Cottage Mosaics (July, 2009, October, 2010)
Charles Kennard, Indian-technique Basketry (September, 2009)
Noah Briel, designer and owner of Sierra Mirage Panels (November, 2009)
Lin Bowie, Foothill College Horticulture instructor, native plant wreath design (December, 2009)
Kristy Kent, owner of Frank in Los Gatos, found objects and art for the garden (February, 2010)
Tom Layman, blacksmith and metal sculptor (March, 2010)
Brandon Windt, designer of driftwood and succulent eco-systems (May, 2010)
Alan Hackler (Accredited LEED Green Associate and Certified Green Building Professional), Native Plant Bonsai (June, 2010)
Paul Holokow of Gardening Rhythms, Raising Chickens, Technical Workshop (November, 2010)
Charles Kennard, Indian-technique Basketry, Artistic Workshop (November, 2010)
Roy Nordblom III, Greywater Systems Technical Workshop (November, 2010)
Naturalist Anthony Fisher, Jewelry and Creations from Nature (January, 2011)
Beekeeper Wayne Craft, president of the Santa Clara Bee Guild (January, 2011)
Paul Holowkow, of Gardening Rhythms, Composting Technical Workshop (February, 2011)
Paul Kephart, Living Roofs Technical Workshop (February, 2011)
Eric Maundu of Kijiji Grows, Berkeley, Aquaponics Technical Workshop (March, 2011)
Emmet Brady of Insect News Network, "Insects in the Garden: The Good, The Bad, and The Ugly" Technical Workshop (June, 2011)
Cayce Hill, professional gardener, "Growing Edible Perennials" Technical Workshop (September, 2011)
Jim Adams, amateur winemaker, "Wine-making at Home with Fruits and Berries from Your Garden" Technical Workshop (September, 2011)