sa国际传媒官网网页入口

For aspiring gardeners who have never worked on cultivating their green thumbs, now is the ideal time to get initiated.

With spring on the horizon, the city of sa国际传媒官网网页入口鈥檚 Open Space Division is offering a number of educational programs that encourage New Mexicans to get outdoors and involved with nature. This includes an event scheduled for Saturday, March 16, at Los Poblanos Fields Open Space that features a component specifically focused on teaching families to garden together. It will be held in conjunction with Rio Grande Community Farm, a land-based nonprofit that has been operating on Los Poblanos since 1997 and offers numerous educational opportunities for the community.

鈥淣ot only is it a really beautiful space 鈥� and there鈥檚 a lot of growing going on there 鈥� but the organization is really grounded in community and they do a lot of education work,鈥� said Stefany Olivas, local agriculture community coordinator with the Open Space. 鈥淲e partner with (Rio Grande Community Farm) on a couple of things specifically on-site.鈥�

Families who attend will be guided by an Open Space educator and learn how to prepare a spring garden at the Rio Grande Community Garden. This will include hands-on tasks such as planting seeds and analyzing the soil.

鈥淚n the past they鈥檝e done activities with the kids and the families on doing some basic chemical tests or examining the physical texture of your soil (and) how that impacts your decisions about what seeds or plants you鈥檙e gonna plant,鈥� Olivas said.

Not only is the experience instructive, but gardening can be a therapeutic bonding experience for families.

鈥淚 think no matter what age you are, getting outside exposed to the sun and the soil, it鈥檚 just good for anyone,鈥� Olivas said. 鈥淜ids particularly, I think are always excited for the opportunity to go outside and get their hands dirty. Also, adults and kids alike, when they鈥檙e given the opportunity to plant something and grow something, it helps folks realize that they have a natural intuition to do these sort of things. We all have the ability to go out and garden, no matter how old we are.鈥�

Open Space also offers a 鈥淟earn to Garden鈥� program as part of its 鈥淚ntro to the Outdoors鈥� series, which features introductory courses on a number of outdoor activities. These are held at various local libraries throughout sa国际传媒官网网页入口 and are geared primarily toward adults who have never attempted to grow their own garden. The first of these takes place on Tuesday, April 2, at the Central and Unser Library, while another offering will be held on April 4 at the International District Library. Future sessions can be found on the city of sa国际传媒官网网页入口 website ().

鈥淭he intention of that is to give people a really basic understanding of the different components (of) gardening from the climate that they鈥檙e in 鈥� which can vary from the Valley to the Heights 鈥� (to) what are the basic ingredients for gardening: soil, air, sunlight, seeds, water,鈥� Olivas said. 鈥淪ince they鈥檙e at the libraries, they will be indoors and outdoors. The educators will bring their kit with them with the seeds and plants and hands-on activities.鈥�

While novices are the target audience, the hope is that attendees can eventually move on to more advanced workshops and groups in the future. However, gardening is an experience that continues to be instructive no matter how long one has been at it.

鈥淚 think most gardeners can agree that it鈥檚 a life-long learning experience. As long as any one of us has been gardening, there鈥檚 always more to learn,鈥� Olivas said. 鈥淭he target is for beginners and for people who want to experience gardening for the first time. But as gardeners will agree, any opportunity to garden is a fun time, so everyone is welcome.鈥�