I’ve noticed that many of the people who care enough about landscaping and gardening to place fences and pergolas also care about things like organic gardening, protecting wildlife and generating a source of sustainable food. It’s hard to have enough of an enjoyment of the outdoors to invest in the means to spend more time in it without starting to think about some of these issues–especially if you get down into the dirt and do some gardening yourself.
That’s why the Milwaukee County Cooperative Extension’s announcement that the 8th Annual Wisconsin Local Food summit is on January 31st and February 1st caught our eye.
The summit takes place at Milwaukee Area Technical College on 1015 North Sixth Street. Its purpose is to “bring together community organizers, agency advocates, local food producers, students, and eaters to learn, network, and help shape our local food systems.”
You can get a registration form here. They don’t appear to have online registration, so you’ll have to print it out.
Of course, sustainable food systems can start in your own back yard. If you haven’t tried organic gardening this year is a great year to start planning and thinking about trying just that.
From a sustainability perspective an organic garden and a landscape full of native plants is just about the perfect combination. One feeds your family (and cuts your grocery bill). The other feeds and nurtures local birds and insects who are in desperate need of a safe haven.
Either make for a very pleasant place to sit on a sunny afternoon.
So join the summit! You might learn something new, and you might get some inspiration for the spring. If nothing else, you’ll learn something interesting.
