Are you interested in preserving seeds, growing heirloom veggies and flowers, and have ever dreamed of selling your goods at the Farmer’s Market?  If so, then this week’s Backyard Conservation workshops are for you!  Seed Saver’s Exchange will be presenting at the Jefferson County Extension Office on Friday at 7pm – talking about the Biology and Ecology of saving seeds.  On Saturday, a panel of Farmer’s Market veterans will share secrets to their success at the Sustainable Living Coalition campus (find map here), with a catered lunch for just $7 (To guarantee your lunch, call 641-472-4166 ).  More information on each of these events can be found on the City’s Go Green website, www.fairfieldgogreen.com.

How dependent are we as a planet on our pollinators?  What kind of an impact to invasive species have on our local ecosystems – and how does that affect us?  How can I attract and encourage pollinators in my backyard and garden to their and my benefit?  How can I support native species in my community?  Answers to these questions and more will be delivered at our first Backyard Conservation workshops this Saturday.  If you want to attend both, no worries!  Pollinator workshops will be delivered on the hour every hour (starting at 9am) with rotating topics, including opportunities to order bees at noon and 4pm.  The Invasive Species workshop will be at 1pm at the Library.  More information on these workshops and our Backyard Conservation series can be found on our website, tell your friends!  http://www.fairfieldgogreen.com/backyard-conservation/

Best,

Scott Timm

Sustainability Coordinator, City of Fairfield/ISU Extension

Backyard Conservation Workshops have returned this year, with 23 workshops and 5 sales over three months to help Fairfield residents lead more sustainable lives.  This year 18 organizations partnered to develop educational programming on a wide range of topics including organic gardening, permaculture, composting, pollinators and beekeeping, DIY solar, backyard chickens, invasive plant species, stormwater management, food preservation, historic preservation and restoration, seed saving and much more. Jefferson County Extension is sponsoring the programming, and this year local sponsors have generously covered registration costs so that all of the educational workshops are free!  Local experts will lead many of the sessions, which will be held at various locations across the community.

The Backyard Conservation workshops have also developed some unique partnerships that will improve visibility and increase outreach.  The Fairfield Public Library is working closely with the presenters to have weekly displays prepared on resources specific to each workshop.  The Library will host four of the workshops, and will be available to help participants locate more resources if needed.  FPAC will be filming many of the workshops, archiving the videos, and will weave them into their regular programming for residents who could not attend in person. Workshops begin March 12^th and run through the end of May.

The Fairfield Go Green website contains full program information, social media tools for the events and links to our sponsors.  On the Fairfield Go Green website you can sign up for our mailing list, which will provide you with weekly email updates and reminders about upcoming workshops and sales; and on the main page Calendar of Events you can browse workshops by month and add the event calendar to iCal.  Look for us on Facebook too!

If you have any questions, full program information is available on the Backyard Conservation website at http://www.fairfieldgogreen.com/backyard-conservation/, by phone at Jefferson County Extension Office at 641-472-4166, and by email to Scott Timm at stimm@iastate.edu.