Lake Raponda Community Garden Club


The club's first (annual?) outing to Nasami Farms Native Plant Trust. 7/15/22. More photos are here.

Mission

Create a community that celebrates native planting, knowledge sharing, and overall gardening education in a fun, social, and no pressure environment. The below resources serve as guides in our interest to support and promote local ecosystems.

 

Upcoming Event

BOOK TALK at THE CLARK: WILD BY DESIGN

Williams College Environmental Studies Professor Laura J. Martin, author of Wild by Design (Harvard University Press, 2022), examines how in our age of biodiversity crisis, many wild species will not survive without acts of human care. What should that care look like? Is it possible to design nature without destroying wildness? How do these questions pertain to our lives, here, in Western Massachusetts? Martin speaks to what we can learn from the past century of ecological restoration, discusses what it means to be wild, and offers a call for ecological restoration that is socially just. Martin will be in conversation with Sara Houghteling, special projects coordinator at the Clark.

Free. Copies of Wild by Design will be available for purchase at the talk and in the Museum Store.

Photo courtesy of Laura Martin

Meetings typically occur on the 3rd weekend of the month from May through September on a Friday, Saturday, or Sunday. That month’s host will decide the day, time, and topic for the meeting.

  • June – June 24, 2:00 p.m. Meet and Greet + Info on Invasive Jumping Worms. See more background in ‘News’ section below
  • July – July 15, 2:00 p.m. at Nasami Farms
    • Field Trip to Nasami Farms Native Plant Trust. Meet at Raponda Public Beach trail head at 1:00pm to carpool or meet at 2:00 pm at Nasami. We will have a tour of the nursery operations, the grounds, and the opportunity to shop and dig in the garden if anyone wants. Nasami closes at 4:30. RSVP with Beth or Chessia directly. (chessiakelley@gmail.com or Bebo681@aol.com)
  • August – August 19, 2:00 (TBD)
  • September – September 23,
    • Host: Cindy Junco, Topic: Bulbs and fall planting.

 

Topics of Interest for Future Meetings:

  • Beautifying the lake area. Gary Curullo and John Widness will scope out areas that are
    appropriate for beautification. Garden Club members can “adopt” and area to plant and tend,
    either individually or in a group, planting native and pollinators.
  • Planting to discourage wildlife in your garden
  • Plant exchanges, although the jumping worms might be an issue with this.
  • In late winter a conversation about starting plants from seeds. Maybe a zoom?
  • Guest talk by the Milkweed Lady from Dummerston
  • Foraging
  • Composting
  • Bees; trees and maintaining trees
  • Vegetable gardens/edible gardens

 

Books and Articles

Native Plants for New England Gardens, Mark Richardson

Designing a Garden? You’ll Need a Plan, NY Times

Nurseries

Nasami Farm
Olallie Daylily Garden
Scotts Farm – Brattleboro
Walker Farm – Dummerston
Maple Hill Greenhouse and Nursery – Swanzey, N.H.
Nasami Farm Native Plant Trust – Whately, Mass
Windham Conservation Society – annual plant sale in Putney

News

Invasive Jumping Worms are the topic of our June 2022 meeting. Background reading from VTInvasives: UVM Invasive Worms 

Contact Information

Contacts: Chessia Kelley – chessiakelley@gmail.com, Beth Brody – Bebo681@aol.com
Please reach out for updates, changes, or requests

GardenClub@raponda.org to reach the full list-serve of members