Thanks to the Pro Neighborhoods Endowment Fund held at Community Foundation for Southern Arizona, Mission Garden is offering four more free workshops this coming season for our neighbors and community partners. The people we are inviting to sign up for the workshops are residents of our surrounding neighborhoods (Barrio Sin Nombre, Menlo Park, Kroeger Lane, Barrio Hollywood, A Mountain, Panorama Estates, Barrio Santa Cruz), and members of the communities whose agricultural traditions we are honoring here at the Garden: O'odham, Yoeme/Yaqui, Chinese, African American, Spanish and Mexican.

The educational programs we offer are by nature “learning in community.” In other words, rather than individual teachers or experts dictating curricula, the programs are interactive and participatory. Participants share knowledge and skills through hands-on agricultural and ethnobotanical projects. These include planning, planting, and maintaining garden plots, as well as understanding traditional plant usages (e.g., crafts involving plant materials, recipes, or medicinal applications). This knowledge and experience can be applied outside Mission Garden in participants’ homes, schools, or other community spaces, thereby increasing individual and neighborhood participation in community planning and problem-solving. It also enables individuals to build on strengths and helps identify and utilize existing resources.

For more information, please contact Mission Garden Event and Education Coordinator Abby Rhinehart at abby@missongarden.org

These workshops are available for those who meet the requirements of the program:

• Live in Barrio Sin Nombre, Menlo Park, Kroeger Lane, Barrio Hollywood, A Mountain, Panorama Estates, or Barrio Santa Cruz neighborhoods

• Members of the communities whose agricultural traditions we are honoring here at the Garden: O'odham, Yoeme/Yaqui, Chinese, African American, Spanish and Mexican.

Upcoming Workshops

Yoeme/Pascua Yaqui Gourd Decoration Workshop
Feb. 22, 9am-12pm

Led by Norberto Coronado, Yoeme Artist

Come decorate Yoeme gourds, a traditional Yoeme/Pascua Yaqui art form. All materials will be provided, including gourds grown in the garden.

Register at https://tinyurl.com/MG-Gourds

Chinese Cooking Class
March 8, 4-6pm

Led by Shuping Zhao, Guangdong, China

Description: Learn to make several Chinese dishes using vegetables from the garden. This workshop will highlight rice, an integral part of meals across China, and especially in the south. Learn how to make dishes like rice noodles and use products like rice wine and rice vinegar. This workshop will focus on dishes and traditions from Guangzhou, in the Guangdong province – which was also the birthplace of many early Chinese immigrants to Tucson.

Some dishes will include meat and others will be vegetarian. 

Register at https://tinyurl.com/MG-ChineseCooking

Native Plant Propagation Workshop
March 15, 9-12pm

Led by Jack Dash

Description: Gardening with Native Plants is a way to connect your landscape to the wider ecological networks that we are all a part of. The Arizona-Sonora Borderlands are home to an astonishing diversity of plant species that survive in conditions ranging from year-round standing water to sun-baked desert. With such a broad selection at our fingertips, there is a native plant for every garden situation. Bringing these plants into your home can attract wildlife, provide food and medicine, and help stem the tide of habitat fragmentation, all while creating a sense of place. This workshop will focus on methods for propagating and growing a variety of species native to the Sonoran Desert region. Through hands-on practice and observation, we will learn to start plants from seeds and cuttings and will discuss how to choose the right plant for your location and ensure that it will thrive. This class is for gardeners of all levels with an interest in making their landscapes more resilient and productive. Participants are encouraged to come with plant questions, landscape drawings, and a willingness to learn.

Register at https://tinyurl.com/MG-NativePlantPropagation

Cultivate Wellness with Plants
March 29 10-12pm

Led by Yvonne Fortier, LPC and LIAC (Licensed Independent Addiction Counselor). Yvonne trains and educates in treatment issues related to mental health and addiction and in historical and collective trauma. 

This guided experience will focus on wellbeing in the garden. Practice intentional movement and sensory awareness, reflect on the reciprocal relationships between people and plants, apply traditional practices, and gain strategies to temper difficult emotions.

Register at https://tinyurl.com/MG-CultivateWellness