SOG programs are expanding
Senior Organic Gardeners has had a whirlwind couple of months preparing for its winter programs, including the horticultural therapy program, with the collaboration and contributions of Betty Weil as incoming Program Director.
Winter Programs
The program’s coordinator, Chelsea, will be facilitating a book club with two groups of Seniors, reading ‘Braiding Sweetgrass’ by Robin Wall Kimmerer. The book club will begin in late December and will meet four times, in December and January 2022. The book has been divided into four sections to be explored at each session, and each participant will receive a copy of the book and a journal with prompts to reflect on the themes highlighted in the book. Participants will have the option to sign onto Zoom video or call-in to contribute.
Throughout December and January, eighty SOG participants, at The Old Forge, Ottawa Community Housing, Bronson Center and Ottawa Immigration Services, will receive a garden activity box. Each box will include local agricultural products (jams, honey and teas), reading materials (donated by the Horticultural Society and Edible Ottawa) as well as small crafts and indoor bulbs. This will provide an opportunity for Seniors to establish connections and start conversations with other gardeners, in person or online, through their community groups.
Virtual gardening workshops will resume in January 2022, at the request of our partner organizations. Virtual workshops will be delivered to 4-6 communities each month during the winter, and will include topics such as native edible plants, composting and tending to in-home plants.
Funding, Fundraising and Planning
The SOG team has been working on grant applications to the Ottawa Community Foundation and Trillium, for its Spring-Summer 2022 projects.The $10k grant from the Ottawa Community Foundation was recently confirmed and will be used for the creation of an accessible website for senior participants and for the development of a manual/guide for the programs. (We do not currently have a SOG website, so this will be an opportunity to create an online platform for our seniors to connect and search for gardening information.)
SOG has been working on developing connections to offer horticultural therapy programming at the Perley Rideau, the Madawan Lodge, the Old Forge and the Ottawa Community housing. These programs will include virtual or in person gardening workshops during the winter months, and hands-on gardening support for next Spring.
The team is also working on the planning for the 2022 Garden Symposium, in its second year. The Garden Symposium will run from late February to April 2022, for 8 weekly sessions with a guest speaker and a new organic gardening topic each week. All profits from the workshops of the Symposium will go towards SOG activities
Also returning in 2022 is our wonderful Seed Sale, run by Margaret Tourond-Townson. Thank you Margaret!
