Soil prep, seeding and transplanting— it’s Springtime!

Radishes are poppin out! It’s finally that time again! With this beautiful (unseasonally warm!) springtime weather in Chicago, it’s a great opportunity to get a lot of gardening done. Soil prep at CYC Crown Center! The first step with springtime gardening is to add a layer of fresh soil and/or compost to our beds. This … Continue reading Soil prep, seeding and transplanting— it’s Springtime!

Sprouting Microgreens Indoors During Winter

Even though it’s the middle of winter, there are plenty of gardening activities that we can do indoors! Throughout the winter I’ve been running programs with Chicago Youth Centers (CYC) and Belmont Village Senior Living. Both youth and seniors get so much enjoyment out of gardening activities, even when it’s too cold to go outside. … Continue reading Sprouting Microgreens Indoors During Winter

Educational Aquaponics Program for Families!

I’ve been leading virtual aquaponics sessions with Chicago Youth Centers this fall as a part of their family engagement programs. All the families received an aquaponics kit with pea seeds, and we’ve been meeting and assembling our kits via zoom. We’ll be adding betta fish to the system, but already the pea sprouts have been … Continue reading Educational Aquaponics Program for Families!

Environmental Justice Changemakers Program

I'm thrilled with how this program went this summer! It was a 6-week long virtual apprenticeship program for 17 teens, in partnership with After School Matters and Carole Robertson Center for Learning. With their support, I created the entire curriculum from scratch! We learned about a variety of topics having to do with environmental justice-- … Continue reading Environmental Justice Changemakers Program

Chicago Youth Centers new garden space

Earlier this year, Chicago Youth Centers’s Bronzeville location Elliott Donelly Youth Center decided to create a large new garden space in their giant sand pit! Needless to say, I was absolutely thrilled with this idea. I designed a plan for the space during my Edible Landscaping and Container Design certification course with Windy City Harvest: … Continue reading Chicago Youth Centers new garden space