Workshop

Unity Gardens Presents

Teaching Wind Power For Kids
Wed Jan 11th 5:30 to 7:30
At the Food Bank of Northern Indiana
702 South Chapin St
South Bend IN

Class is free , but space is limited so please call or e-mail
Sara Stewart @ 574-315-4361
growunitygardens@yahoo.com

Wind is one of the most poorly understood sources of power

This ia a hands on workshop designed to give you the necessary tools to teach youths about windpower

Come participate in this intro-ductory workshop to wind po-wer, where you will learn the basic concepts of wind power and how to design and build the wind power machines from broken down spare machine parts, and how to make them from scratch.

We will even see which design produces the most power and pumps the most water

We will use props and models to explain the properties of the wind and how it is used to calculate the design and power generation capacity of a windmill. All explanations are age appropriate for children 8 and above.

The answer my friend is blowing in the wind.

ABOUT THE TRAINER
KARANA OLIVIER

Peace studies, M.A
Anthropology, M.A.
Interpreter, French
Received training in building 1 KW wind-mills from car parts from Homebrew in Buckhorn, Colorado
www.otherpower.com/

Karana spends the bulk of his time in post conflit countries in Africa explo-ring cheap accessible ways to restore balance to ravaged social and econo-mic systems.
He will only be in South Bend for a limited time

Something to Think About

Nature provides our gardens with birds, bees, and all sorts of insects that are needed to pollinate our gardens. But in this day and age with urban sprawl. pesticides , herbicides , and mono crops we are having a serious impact on the very things that make our gardens thrive. When I grow my garden I always think of it as taking as opposed to giving. I turn the soil I plant the seeds , and then I reap the benefits of the harvest . If I am not careful I slowly strip the soil of nutrients. So of course I try to return as much as I can to the soil . Leaves , Clippings , and composted food waste , and to that end my soil is rich with dark brown loose soil.

JFNew in Walkerton

     But lets not forget our pollinators . We mow our lawns and pull our weeds , and kill our dandelions . So this year think about leaving the dandelions , and maybe leave a few weeds in the garden . Some milk weeds , some Poke weed , and anything that flowers . Did you know the Monarch Butterfly only feeds on milkweed, and birds will feed on Poke weed berries. If you grow a flower garden try to go native.Native plants draw in native butterfly's, and bees.  Herbs Basil, Lemon Balm, Cilantro , all bring in bees . One step further is to plan out a special garden just to attract these pollinators. There are many books you can buy on plants that draw in beneficial insects . Butterfly Gardens , Pollination stations , Bee Gardens , whatever you want to call it , its all about bringing  home the good guys . Unity Gardens will have at least one class on this on April 21st , and I am sure the Master Gardeners will also have a class .
Some Good Resources
JFNew   http://www.cardnojfnew.com/
http://www.birds.cornell.edu/celebration/gardening/greening

Bees at LaSalle Square

Something new coming to LaSalle Square Unity Garden in 2012 . Thanks to the Amazing work of Alex Lesniak better known as Bee Girl we will have bees. The Bees will help us educate , pollinate , and provide local honey. Check out her website to learn more.
http://www.peacebees.org/

Unity Class Sponsor

New Unity Gardens Class Sponsor

 

Thanks

Would your business like to help sponsor our classes ?
Call Sara Stewart 574-315-4361

New Collaboration

Unity Gardens is pleased to announce its collaboration with the Food Bank of Northern Indiana. The Food Bank is supporting the Unity Gardens with classroom, and office space at facility located at 702 S. Chapin St. This classroom, and office space will fit perfectly for our upcoming classes. Check above on our classes tab for a list of classes starting on Jan 21st .

Kind Donation

A while back I connected with a friend from my past , like many of do on Facebook . A few days ago this friend messaged me and said whats your address I would like to donate some garden sprayers made by the Company I work for ( Chapin Sprayers ) . Funny thing is the last time I saw Steve was probably the early 80's , and I was stocking shelves with Chapin sprayers at Brite-Way . ( Brite-way only exciting to the older crowd living in the Bend 1962 to 1987 . )  Anyway a few days later we receive a package. Thanks Steve Hickey . We have come along way since those days of running around town in our youth

A Picture Worth a 1000 Words



Thanks to Nate Bosch for putting our 3 Phase plan for LaSalle Square
Unity Garden into a plan everyone can see

Thanks to the Community Foundation of St Joe County awarding us a Grant for Phase II