Rooted in Community: Backyard Garden Forum
Join us for a one-day forum about successful growing techniques for your edible and community gardens!
Join Phipps, local experts and community members to learn about a variety of topics including tomato production, tea composting and more. Plus, registrants will also receive a delicious catered lunch during the forum.
Topics Covered:
- Diseases in the Vegetable Garden | Remi Ham, Penn State Extension
- Waste Not Cooking from the Garden | Chef Mike Godlewski, EYV restaurant
- Close-Up on Tomato Production | Indira Ramirez, Eden Hall Farm
- Plants for Skin Care | Jodi Danyo, Cherry Valley Organics
- DIY Garden Fertilizers & Amendments | Jasen Bernthisel, Future is Nuts and Grow Pittsburgh
- Backyard Berry Production | Allison Glick, Phipps Conservatory
Phipps' Rooted in Community: Backyard Garden Forum will be held at Phipps Special Events Hall. See ticket levels below:
- Standard – $55
- Supported – $25; Ideal for students, for those in the Museums for All program, or with limited resources.
- Pay it Forward – $85; Ideal for those eager to support access and equity for ecological gardening education.
Attendees that register by April 1 at 8 p.m. will be entered into a raffle for a garden supply gift basket! Please contact jpope@phipps.conservatory.org if you have any questions. Click the button below to register!
Meet our Speakers:
Remi Ham
Remi Ham is a horticulture and urban agriculture educator with over 15 years of experience spanning academia, extension, landscape design, and community-based initiatives. She serves as an Extension Educator with a concentration in Urban Agriculture and Horticulture at Pennsylvania State University. At Penn State Extension, Remi leads the development of research-based training and programs to strengthen Pittsburgh’s urban agriculture community. Her work includes partnering with local organizations and producers, providing hands-on training, developing programs, and creating educational resources for urban-scale growers.
Michael Godlewski
Mike Godlewski is the Chef/Owner of EYV Restaurant, a vegetable restaurant located in Pittsburgh's Deutschtown Neighborhood focusing on making vegetables the center of the plate utilizing the bounty of Western Pennsylvania & East Ohio Farms whenever possible. Chosen as one of The Pittsburgh Post Gazette's & Pittsburgh Magazines Best New Restaurants of 2023 and Eater DC's 38 essential Pittsburgh Restaurants. Mike grew up in the Wilke-Barre/Scranton area and attended the culinary program at Luzerne County Community College. After graduating he worked in various establishments in Philadelphia, Northern Virginia/DC. He moved to Pittsburgh in 2009 to work at The Duquesne Club where he was a Sous Chef there for 10 years before opening EYV.
Indira Ortiz
Indira has been working at Chatham University’s Eden Hall farm as a farm manager for 6 years, teaching and managing student employees in vegetable production, making sure GAP and organic standards are met, and leading the small maple syrup operation on campus. She also has experience teaching soil health and integrated pest management (IPM) Originally from Honduras, Indira holds a bachelor’s degree in environmental and socioeconomic development from Zamorano University in Honduras and a master’s degree in Sustainable Agriculture and Agroforestry from CATIE (Tropical Agriculture Research and Education Center) in Costa Rica. Her master’s research was focused on evaluating different tomato and pepper varieties in Central America as a mechanism to adapt to climate change. She has experience working with family gardens and has worked as a food security extensionist; building integrated farms and resilient and diverse backyards. Her experience also includes integrated pest management, organic crop production, food security projects, food safety, GAP protocols, and experiential learning.
Jasen Bernthisel
Jasen Bernthisel works throughout Allegheny county to support a network of urban agriculture projects including community gardens, collective orchards and urban farms. An interest in experimentation, peasant-led food sovereignty movements, tree crops and the future of agriculture drive his research and efforts. His Wilkinsburg-based tree nursery Future is Nuts produces over a thousand fruit and nut trees per season including pawpaws, persimmons, hazelnuts and chestnuts, sourced from intriguing parent trees found in old orchards, breeding programs and forays into the forest. The nursery serves the wider community by making trees available at no cost to community-facing projects throughout the county, while also providing affordable options for residents interested in incorporating perennial food crops into their own yards. In Jasen's work with Grow Pittsburgh's Community Projects team he has worked with neighborhood groups to coordinate the development and long-term support of community food gardens by facilitating neighborhood partnerships, managing infrastructure projects, and leading educational programming. He is currently developing 'Community Orchard School', a year-long, cohort-based pilot program in partnership with Pasa Sustainable Agriculture & Tree Pittsburgh's Giving Grove that aims to equip community orchardists with the skillsets to revitalize, sustain and build community around the region's existing orchard network.
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May Market
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Used Bulb Sale
Thurs., April 23, 3 – 6 p.m. and Sat., May 16, 9:30 – 11:30 a.m.
Take a piece of Spring Flower Show home with you by participating in one of our annual sales. Come early for the best selection! -
Sensory Inclusive Time
Sun., April 19; 5:30 p.m.
Join Us for a Sensory Inclusive Visit to Spring Flower Show!
