Virtual OAGC 2021 Convention

LET’S GARDEN!

Since the pandemic is preventing us from safely meeting in person for the OAGC 2021 Convention, we have developed a virtual experience. The programs will be valuable for the inexperienced gardener, Master Gardener, and everyone in between. Sessions will be enjoyable for all those already hooked on gardening and might even inspire someone to establish their very first garden! Our convention will be conducted the second Thursday and Friday evenings of June, July, and August. All sessions feature a speaker; Thursday sessions begin with a fun-filled “Happy Hour” including games, awards and door prizes. Everyone registered will be eligible to win, but must be virtually present when their name is drawn. The entire schedule is listed below.

Paid registrants can view a recording of all the lectures except “Success with Vegetables” on www.oagc.org for two weeks following its presentation. All six sessions are included for one flat fee. Anyone planning to attend the live sessions or view recordings should register using the form below.

Whether your garden consists of a single pot or extends to an acre, may it bring you great joy.

Let’s garden!

Jean Jankowski
OAGC President

THURSDAY, JULY 8 AT 6:00 pm

5:40 – 5:55 pm Sign In

6:00 – 7:00 pm HAPPY HOUR (Games, Door Prizes* & Awards**)
* Must be in attendance during Happy Hour to win
** OAGC Gardener of the Year, Outstanding Regional Awards, and Membership Incentive

7:05 pm: Gardening: It Doesn’t Have to Hurt! Laura Akgerman
You do not have to stop farming and gardening just because you have a disability, or age-related stiffness and mobility issues are catching up with you. Learn good habits, techniques, tools and Universal Design solutions to continue gardening with a disability, arthritis, low vision and other age or health related conditions. Special attention will be focused on decreasing the risk of secondary injury, working smarter, not harder, modifying your garden and the way you work to fit your ability – now and in the future.

Laura Akgerman is the Disability Services Coordinator for Ohio AgrAbility & Ohio State University Extension. She is a two-time Ohio State University Alum, with degrees in English and Rehabilitation Services. She presents workshops on Gardening with Arthritis, Farming with a Disability, AgriTourism, and other disability related issues for Ohio AgrAbility and OSU Extension. She grew up outside Sunbury Ohio, was active in 4-H in Delaware county, and occasionally worked with her Dad and brother at Cherryhill Aquatics, the family waterlily nursery.

FRIDAY, JULY 9 AT 7:00 pm

6:40 – 6:55 pm Sign In

7:00 pm Nature’s Best Hope Douglas Tallamy
Recent headlines about global insect declines and three billion fewer birds in North America are a bleak reality check about how ineffective our current landscape designs have been at sustaining the plants and animals that sustain us. Such losses are not an option if we wish to continue our current standard of living on Planet Earth. The good news is that none of this is inevitable. Tallamy will discuss simple steps that each of us can- and must- take to reverse declining biodiversity and will explain why we, ourselves, are nature’s best hope.

Doug Tallamy is the T. A. Baker Professor of Agriculture in the Department of Entomology and Wildlife Ecology at the University of Delaware, where he has authored 104 research publications and has taught insect related courses for 40 years. Chief among his research goals is to better understand the many ways insects interact with plants and how such interactions determine the diversity of animal communities. His book Bringing Nature Home: How Native Plants Sustain Wildlife in Our Gardens was published by Timber Press in 2007 and was awarded the 2008 Silver Medal by the Garden Writers’ Association. The Living Landscape, co-authored with Rick Darke, was published in 2014. Doug’s new book, Nature’s Best Hope, released by Timber Press in February 2020, is a New York Times Best Seller. Among his awards are the Garden Club of America Margaret Douglas Medal for Conservation and the Tom Dodd, Jr. Award of Excellence, the 2018 AHS B.Y. Morrison Communication Award and the 2019 Cynthia Westcott Scientific Writing Award.

Registration

Complete the form below to register and pay online -or- register by mail.

Registration by mail: Complete and print form; mail with check/money order payable to OAGC, Inc. to:
Karen Feltham, Convention Registrar, 4960 County Rd. 20, Rushsylvania, OH 43347-9749