Rio Grande Nature Center And The Co-op

It’s just a hop, skip, and a jump from the Rio Grande Nature Center to the new Valley location, so it made perfect sense that we would want to team up for a neighborhood event. The valleys, both north and south, are tradi-tionally the agricultural areas of our city. Criss-crossed by the acequia system, the valley is home, still today, to numerous backyard farmers and gardeners. The beau-tiful bosque is the other feature that makes the valley so special and the Nature Center has done a wonderful job, protecting this precious resource and keeping it accessible for all of us. The Friends of the Rio Grande Nature Center have been doing their Celebration of Herbs, Wildflowers and Native Plants for a few years now. This year we welcome everyone to our collaborative event, “Valley Sprout & Shout: A Garden Party.”

Put on your favorite garden hat (you could win a prize) and come on down to the North Valley on Saturday, May 20 for the North Valley Neighborhood Plant Party and enjoy the festivities at both locations. The Nature Center’s Celebration continues on Sunday as well.

On Saturday at La Montanita, the First Annual Garden Party will feature: seeds; flower, vegetable, and herb bedding plants from a variety of our finest local and organic growers; workshops and seminars; great Co-op food; music; beanstalk planting; potato races for children; prizes in many categories for the best gardening hat; a community plant exchange table; and other great gardening fun. Don’t miss this wonderful event.

Workshops include: Joran Viers of the New Mexico Organic Commodities Commission on getting certified organic; Kathy Begeal in getting the most from your backyard garden; Monica Rude, of Desert Woman Botanicals, on growing your basic medicine cabinet; Aspen of Santa Ana Pueblo’s Gardening Center on creating habitat for birds, butterflies and other beneficials with native, drought-tolerant plants; and Mark Williamson on landscaping with native plants.

Other well-known farmers and gardeners will be on hand with bedding plants and informational booths including: master gardeners Joe and Diane Holdridge, Josie and Dennis of Silent Spring Farm, Mimbres (No Cattle) Farms, Rio Grande Community Farms, and the New Mexico Organic Commodities Commission, to name a few. The great folks from Soilutions will be providing the compost and topsoil for the children’s Plant your Own Bean-stalk activity, and will be happy to talk to anyone interested in composting

There will also be prizes in many categories for the best gardening hat. Do you have an old favorite, one beautifully decor-ated, one that has historical signi-ficance, the funniest, most creative, and downright funkiest (but it works). If you do, wear it on down to the Garden Party and you might just win a prize. Whether you stop by the Co-op before or after your visit to the Nature Center, you can enjoy great music from North Valley resident Bonnie Bluhm and other gifted local musicians, sample some great Co-op food, or treat yourself to a fabulous special Co-op lunch from our outdoor grill, purchase your organic bedding plants and get — dare I say all (?) — your gardening, herb, wildflower, or native plant questions answered.

Bike from one location to the other so you can take in all the great workshops and fun activities throughout the wonderful North Valley neighborhood. Watch for more information on the Nature Center’s Festival as well as a complete activity sched-ule for this fabulous North Valley collaborative event in the next issue of the Co-op Connection.