Stephanie at the Oakhurst Community Garden recently sent in the full list of classes offered through June.

I guess this could be viewed as sort of a “sneak peak”, since classes detailed on the garden’s website currently only run through March.

The full list of class descriptions, dates and prices can be found after the jump.  (Note that the March Chicks in the City class is already full)

If you find something that takes your fancy, register online for a Spring class here.

Oakhurst Community Garden

March – June, 2009

1. Kids/Family
2. Home/Garden
3. Environment
4. Food/Edible Garden Events
5. Chickens
6. Arts & Crafts
7. Easter
8. Earth Day
9. Mother’s Day
10. Summer Camp

1.Kids/Family

Friday, March 6, 4-5 p.m.

Sprites for Spring: Garden Fairies

Come release your inner fairy with Kyla Zaro-Moore! Celebrate the beginning of spring by crafting a garden fairy. Using scraps, wire, beads, and elements from the garden, we will create whimsical garden guardians to look after our plots (or entertain our houseplants) when we cannot. Adults and children will delight in this playful class. All ages, children accompanied by an adult.

$10 Garden members, $15 non-members. Fee is per person. Includes one fairy per person. Additonal fairies $5 each.

Saturday, March 7, 10-2 p.m.,

Handmade Recycled Papermaking Workshop

An intense papermaking class with self-taught papermaker Katy DeMent! You will learn about traditional papermaking while exploring more modern paper making techniques with color and texture. You will also learn about surface design, texture, and composition while creating sheets of recycled paper. We will form sheets of paper with a variety of fibers as well as the creation of “wet on wet collages” that can include mementos from home (family mementos, photos, plants, or other fibrous materials). Please bring a snack and drink. ages 12 and up. Fee is per person. $45 Garden members, $55 non-members (fee includes $5 materials charge)

Sunday, March 22, 3-4 p.m.

A Bushel of Potatoes

What happens when you take a bushel basket, fill it with dirt and place a few potatoes in it? Join Jerilynn Bedingfield and find out! Each child will take a bushel basket home planted with potatoes that will soon turn into a bountiful harvest! $12 for members, $17 for non-members (includes material fee). Fee covers one bushel basket per person.

Saturday, March 28, 1-3 p.m

Eggstraordinary Beauty: Decorate Hollow Eggs
Join Carol Bulmer in this longtime tradition of decorating hollow eggs for the spring season. Paints and other fun items will be available to decorate the eggs. Each person/family will leave with five eggs and a branch for an egg tree at home.

$10 Garden members, $15 non-members. (fee includes $5 material fee) Fee covers five decorated eggs.

March 1-25

Earth Day T-Shirt Contest

Calling all young artists! The Oakhurst Community Garden announces its Earth Day t-shirt contest for children in the following categories: Kindergarden-3rd grade, 4th grade-8th grade, 9th grade-12th grade. This year our theme is “Celebrate the Earth,” and we are seeking submission for this year’s design. The winning design will be printed on our t-shirts, which will be available for purchase on April 19th, 1-4 p.m. at our Earth Day Celebration. Prize money will be awarded to the overall winner, and 1st place fore each category at the April 19 celebration. To enter, please submit a design of no more than four colors to the Oakhurst Community Garden by March 25. For complete instructions on submitting your design visit www.oakhurstgarden.org

Sunday, April 19, 1-4 p.m.

Earth Day Celebration

Fun activities for all ages. Crafts, goats to pet and feed, a cake contest, caricature drawing, facepainting, live music and more will all be part of the celebration. Elise Witt and Friends will perform live at the event. Earth Structure, t-shirt, and cake contest winners will also be announced. Plants and t-shirts will be available for purchase. Event is free and open to the public. PHOTO ATTACHED

Saturday, April 25, 2:30-5:30 p.m.

“Chicks in the City” Tour, 2009: Decatur Chickens Strut Their Stuff for a Good Cause

From Winnona Park to Oakhurst, all the clucking is about chickens — urban chickens, that is. Come April 25, the whole town will know the truth about keeping the hens in the henhouse . . . and in the backyard. Benefiting the Oakhurst Community Garden Project, the Chicks in the City tour takes in eight backyard coops. Tourists will make new clucky friends, get up-close tours of actual coops, and learn the basics of chicken behavior, urban predators, and local ordinances.

In its second year, Decatur’s “Chicks in the City” urban coop tour takes the mystery out of keeping chickens through this self-guided event. With six coops clustered close around Decatur’s Oakhurst neighborhood, tourists can walk most of the tour. Bicycling will easily take in all eight coops on the tour.

Urban coop-keeping provides the newest in green and local food. “Growing vegetables is one thing, but raising an easy source of protein, the eggs, is also important. I like to feed them our food scraps.” said Oakhurst Community Garden Project director Stephanie Van Parys, herself a home coop-keeper. “It can’t get any more local than walking outside to your door and gathering eggs from your yard.”

Coop tourists will also hear the dangers and pitfalls of backyard coops. Surprisingly, predators are a special worry. On the coop tour, Scott and Debbie Hollonbeck will show off their “Hawk Defense System,” designed to keep those redtails away from the henhouse and a chicken dinner. With more than 100 peck-ish participants, last year’s tour appealed to young and old alike. Also featured will be a coop built and designed by students at the Waldorf School of Atlanta as well as coop maintained by three families.

Tourists noted the “great people” and the “variety of coops” while one excited participant “just loved seeing how chicken-raising is done, up close.” That’s what visiting these clever coops is all about-it brings home the fun of having “the girls” around. This year’s looks to educate and entertain more future coopers, as several dozen are already pre-registered.

Chicks in the City Tour times are 2:30 to 5:30 p.m. on Saturday, April 25. Registration and tickets are required. Find forms online at www.oakhurstgarden.org or by calling 678-642-4977. Tour is hosted by the Oakhurst Community Garden Project and Georgia Organics.

Saturday, May 9, 3-5 p.m.

Homemade Spa Gifts for Mother’s Day

Children will enjoy these fun and easy to make gifts to pamper mom. We will make bath fizzies, herbal bath teas, and salt scrub – made with natural ingredients such as oatmeal, herbs, salt, and pure essential oils. Kids will also have fun packaging their gifts and making colorful labels to take home and present to mom on mother’s day. Ages five years and up. $15 members, $20 for non-members. Fee covers all materials for one person.

Sunday, May 17, 1-2 p.m.

Wacky Containers

Turn odd objects into planters! A shoe, a doll’s head, a teacup? Your old toys can be turned into green treasures. Join Amy Handler for a fun hour of planting wacky plants into wacky containers. Please feel free to bring a few containers from your home. Ages 3 years and up. $10 members, $15 non-members. Fee per person.

June 1-5, 2009. 9-noon
June 8 -12, 2009, 9-noon
2009 Beekeeping Camp

Youth ages 7-12 will make new friends and enjoy fun, hands-on beekeeping activities that will show them what it’s like to be a beekeeper. Youth will learn the basic make-up of a healthy hive, work with established beehives, harvest and extract honey, and use honey in cooking. Fees are as follows: 1st child: $125 for Garden Family member, $150 for non-members/per week. Additional child: $100 for Garden Family member, $125 for non-members/per week

2. Home/Garden

Thursday, March 12, 7-9 p.m.

Gardening for Wildlife

Renee Hopf shares with you how she developed her 2 acre garden into a wildlife refuge in the midst of suburbia. With slides of her native plants, water features, wattles and moss gardens, she will illustrate the importance of gardening with nature and gardening for wildlife. $20 Garden members, $25 non-members. Fee per person

Thursday, March 19, 7-9 p.m.

Herbs from Seed and Cuttings

Parsley, Rosemary, Sage and Thyme…we love them all, but what about Papalo, salad burnet and hyssop? Join Glynis Ward and learn all about growing a wide variety of easy culinary, tea, and ornamental/medicinal herbs from seed which are perfect for the sunny garden. Please bring plenty of recyclable containers: garden pots, yogurt and margarine tubs, milk or juice jugs. We’ll supply the seed for a wide array of well known and uncommon herb seeds and the soil. $22 Garden members, $27 non-members ((fee includes a $2 materials charge)

Sunday, March 22, 1:30-3 p.m.

Build a Rain Barrel for Your Garden

Now is the time to build a rainbarrel for your garden. Join Rob Cleveland for this fun workshop where you will leave with your own heavy duty rainbarrel made from a modified garbage can and the skills to build more at your home. The class will end with a tour of the instructor’s own rainbarrel system at his home located near the Oakhurst Garden. $80 Garden Members, $90 non-members (fee includes $65 material fee)

PHOTO ATTACHED

Sunday, March 22, 3-4 p.m.

A Bushel of Potatoes

What happens when you take a bushel basket, fill it with dirt and place a few potatoes in it? Join Jerilynn Bedingfield and find out! Each child will take a bushel basket home planted with potatoes that will soon turn into a bountiful harvest! $12 for members, $17 for non-members (includes material fee). Fee covers one bushel basket per person.

Tuesday, March 24, 7-9 p.m.

A Primer on the Southern Summer Vegetable Garden

Heirloom tomatoes, fiery peppers, purple eggplants, and pesto basil await you. Glynis Ward will tell you about other delicious and beautiful vegetables such as tropical greens you can grow during the summer and tips for success. She will also teach you how to turn a milk jug into a mini-greenhouse so that you can grow that heirloom you’ve always wanted. Save money, expand your knowledge and enjoy a bountiful harvest by growing your own. $22 Garden members, $27 non-members (fee includes a $2 materials charge)

Saturday, March 28, 10-noon

Square Foot Gardening: Perfect for Small Spaces

Join Lyn and Bob Bernstein for a course that will cover the cover the basics of Square Foot Gardening as presented by Mel Bartholomew in his book, All New Square Foot Gardening. We will construct a raised bed square foot garden box with trellis and fill it with the SFG soil mix. In addition we will discuss garden planning, the SFG grid, plant spacing, and watering method. Join us April 4th for planting a spring garden and May 2nd for planting your summer garden! $20 Garden member, $25 non-member

Sunday, March 29, 1-3 p.m.

Constructing a Lightweight Pot

Jerilynn Bedingfield has spent the winter experimenting with hypertufa (porous material) creating fun shapes and designs using a fun array of ingredients, all ideas to share with you. Come create a lightweight planting container that can be used for both vegetables and flowers. This stone-like trough will age with your garden, a timeless piece created by you. $30 Garden members, $35 non-members (fee covers $5 materials charge)

Saturday, April 11, 9 a.m.-4 p.m.

Spring Plant Sale

Over 100 varieties of herbs, vegetables, flowers, perennials, and shrubs will be available for purchase at the April 11th Spring Plant Sale. Heirlooms of your favorite tomatoes, sweet basil, fiery peppers and whatever else you need for your summer vegetable garden. All tranplants grown in partnership with Gaia Garden, a certified organic farm with the expert help of Rachel Kaplan and many, many volunteers.

Saturday, April 25, 2:30-5:30 p.m.

“Chicks in the City” Tour, 2009: Decatur Chickens Strut Their Stuff for a Good Cause

From Winnona Park to Oakhurst, all the clucking is about chickens — urban chickens, that is. Come April 25, the whole town will know the truth about keeping the hens in the henhouse . . . and in the backyard. Benefiting the Oakhurst Community Garden Project, the Chicks in the City tour takes in eight backyard coops. Tourists will make new clucky friends, get up-close tours of actual coops, and learn the basics of chicken behavior, urban predators, and local ordinances.

In its second year, Decatur’s “Chicks in the City” urban coop tour takes the mystery out of keeping chickens through this self-guided event. With six coops clustered close around Decatur’s Oakhurst neighborhood, tourists can walk most of the tour. Bicycling will easily take in all eight coops on the tour.

Urban coop-keeping provides the newest in green and local food. “Growing vegetables is one thing, but raising an easy source of protein, the eggs, is also important. I like to feed them our food scraps.” said Oakhurst Community Garden Project director Stephanie Van Parys, herself a home coop-keeper. “It can’t get any more local than walking outside to your door and gathering eggs from your yard.”

Coop tourists will also hear the dangers and pitfalls of backyard coops. Surprisingly, predators are a special worry. On the coop tour, Scott and Debbie Hollonbeck will show off their “Hawk Defense System,” designed to keep those redtails away from the henhouse and a chicken dinner. With more than 100 peck-ish participants, last year’s tour appealed to young and old alike. Also featured will be a coop built and designed by students at the Waldorf School of Atlanta as well as coop maintained by three families.

Tourists noted the “great people” and the “variety of coops” while one excited participant “just loved seeing how chicken-raising is done, up close.” That’s what visiting these clever coops is all about-it brings home the fun of having “the girls” around. This year’s looks to educate and entertain more future coopers, as several dozen are already pre-registered.

Chicks in the City Tour times are 2:30 to 5:30 p.m. on Saturday, April 25. Registration and tickets are required. Find forms online at www.oakhurstgarden.org or by calling 678-642-4977. Tour is hosted by the Oakhurst Community Garden Project and Georgia Organics. PHOTO ATTACHED

Sunday, May 17, 1-2 p.m.

Wacky Containers

Turn odd objects into planters! A shoe, a doll’s head, a teacup? Your old toys can be turned into green treasures. Join Amy Handler for a fun hour of planting wacky plants into wacky containers. Please feel free to bring a few containers from your home. Ages 3 years and up. $10 members, $15 non-members. Fee per person.

3. Environment

March 1-25

Earth Day T-Shirt Contest

Calling all young artists! The Oakhurst Community Garden announces its Earth Day t-shirt contest for children in the following categories: Kindergarden-3rd grade, 4th grade-8th grade, 9th grade-12th grade. This year our theme is “Celebrate the Earth,” and we are seeking submission for this year’s design. The winning design will be printed on our t-shirts, which will be available for purchase on April 19th, 1-4 p.m. at our Earth Day Celebration. Prize money will be awarded to the overall winner, and 1st place fore each category at the April 19 celebration. To enter, please submit a design of no more than four colors to the Oakhurst Community Garden by March 25. For complete instructions on submitting your design visit www.oakhurstgarden.org

Thursday, March 12, 7-9 p.m.

Gardening for Wildlife

Renee Hopf shares with you how she developed her 2 acre garden into a wildlife refuge in the midst of suburbia. With slides of her native plants, water features, wattles and moss gardens, she will illustrate the importance of gardening with nature and gardening for wildlife. $20 Garden members, $25 non-members. Fee per person

Sunday, March 22, 1:30-3 p.m.

Build a Rain Barrel for Your Garden

Now is the time to build a rainbarrel for your garden. Join Rob Cleveland for this fun workshop where you will leave with your own heavy duty rainbarrel made from a modified garbage can and the skills to build more at your home. The class will end with a tour of the instructor’s own rainbarrel system at his home located near the Oakhurst Garden. $80 Garden Members, $90 non-members (fee includes $65 material fee)

PHOTO ATTACHED

April 19-30

Biodegradable Art Shines on Earth Day

Artists, environmentalists, seniors and students are constructing art for unique Earth Day awards — the Oakhurst Community Garden Project’s (OCGP) earthen sculpture prizes. On five greenspace sites around Decatur, these intrepid enviro-artists will build biodegradable works. Awards and “the reveal” of sculptures is Sunday, April 19. Self-guided tours are available April 19-30. Maps for the tour can be found at www.oakhurstgarden.org.

With Earth Day only three days after the awards, and just following National Environmental Education Week of April 12-18, the focus on greenspaces and stewardship of the Earth is paramount to OCGP’s mission. “We’ve already had 20 entrants,” said tour organizer, Sally Wylde, “and I’m pretty excited to see how creative everybody will be, especially since the pieces will remain and slowly break down.”

Thanks to a grant from Oakhurst’s yearly BBQ, Blues & Bluegrass Festival, these greenspaces will be greened-up by this visionary art for as long as the sculptures resist the elements. Each artist must abide guidelines of biodegradability, flood plain concerns, and natural, non-damaging material-use.

Sculpture sites are five Decatur greenspaces: Decatur High School Garden, Glen Creek Nature Preserve, Hidden Cove park, the Oakhurst Community Garden, and Woodlands park. Each creates unique challenges to the artists. How well the pieces stand apart from and highlight streams, massive oaks, wildlife, and surrounding fauna will be judged.

Public viewing of the works commences April 19, and awards will be presented that day, a Sunday, from 1 to 4 p.m. at the Oakhurst Community Garden Project, which is at the corner of McDonough and Oakview roads in the Oakhurst section of Decatur.

As every year, Earth Day is April 22. The week of Earth Day offers all citizens a chance to reflect on their efforts toward Earth stewardship and how one can tread as lightly as possible. Oakhurst Community Garden Project offers several events the weekend before Earth Day. These can be found at www.oakhurstgarden.org or by calling 678-642-4977.

Sunday, April 19, 1-4 p.m.

Earth Day Celebration

Fun activities for all ages. Crafts, goats to pet and feed, a cake contest, caricature drawing, facepainting, live music and more will all be part of the celebration. Elise Witt and Friends will perform live at the event. Earth Structure, t-shirt, and cake contest winners will also be announced. Plants and t-shirts will be available for purchase. Event is free and open to the public. PHOTO ATTACHED

4. Food/Edible Garden Events

Friday, March 13, 6-8 p.m

Japanese Vegetarian Cooking

Eiko Taylor returns to share more of her delicious Japanese recipes with us. Simple rice balls that are delicious and loved by children and adults will be made as well as two side dishes. Come unravel the mystery of delicious Japanese food. Class includes dinner.

$25 Garden Members, $30 non-members (includes $5 materials charge)

Sunday, March 22, 3-4 p.m.

A Bushel of Potatoes

What happens when you take a bushel basket, fill it with dirt and place a few potatoes in it? Join Jerilynn Bedingfield and find out! Each child will take a bushel basket home planted with potatoes that will soon turn into a bountiful harvest! $12 for members, $17 for non-members (includes material fee). Fee covers one bushel basket per person.

Tuesday, March 24, 7-9 p.m.

A Primer on the Southern Summer Vegetable Garden

Heirloom tomatoes, fiery peppers, purple eggplants, and pesto basil await you. Glynis Ward will tell you about other delicious and beautiful vegetables such as tropical greens you can grow during the summer and tips for success. She will also teach you how to turn a milk jug into a mini-greenhouse so that you can grow that heirloom you’ve always wanted. Save money, expand your knowledge and enjoy a bountiful harvest by growing your own. $22 Garden members, $27 non-members (fee includes a $2 materials charge)

Sunday, March 29, 1-3 p.m.

Seasonal Breads-Spring Celebration Breads

Pagan Hot Cross Buns, Braided Challah, and Irish Soda Bread Scones – traditional breads of springtime celebrations. It is thought that worshipers of the goddess Eostre (after whom Easter was named) served tiny cakes decorated with a cross at their annual spring festival. When archaeolgists excavated the ancient city of Herculaneum in southwestern Italy, buried under volcanic ash and lava since 79 C.E., they found two small loaves, each with a cross on it, among the ruins. Keep the tradition of these delicious breads alive – participants will take home bread dough to bake in their own oven. $30 Garden members, $35 non-members (fee includes $5 materials charge)

Saturday, April 11, 9 a.m.-4 p.m.

Spring Plant Sale

Over 100 varieties of herbs, vegetables, flowers, perennials, and shrubs will be available for purchase at the April 11th Spring Plant Sale. Heirlooms of your favorite tomatoes, sweet basil, fiery peppers and whatever else you need for your summer vegetable garden. All tranplants grown in partnership with Gaia Garden, a certified organic farm with the expert help of Rachel Kaplan and many, many volunteers.

Sunday, April 19, 1-4 p.m.

Earth Day Celebration

Fun activities for all ages. Crafts, goats to pet and feed, a cake contest, caricature drawing, facepainting, live music and more will all be part of the celebration. Elise Witt and Friends will perform live at the event. Earth Structure, t-shirt, and cake contest winners will also be announced. Plants and t-shirts will be available for purchase. Event is free and open to the public. PHOTO ATTACHED

Saturday, April 25, 2:30-5:30 p.m.

“Chicks in the City” Tour, 2009: Decatur Chickens Strut Their Stuff for a Good Cause

From Winnona Park to Oakhurst, all the clucking is about chickens — urban chickens, that is. Come April 25, the whole town will know the truth about keeping the hens in the henhouse . . . and in the backyard. Benefiting the Oakhurst Community Garden Project, the Chicks in the City tour takes in eight backyard coops. Tourists will make new clucky friends, get up-close tours of actual coops, and learn the basics of chicken behavior, urban predators, and local ordinances.

In its second year, Decatur’s “Chicks in the City” urban coop tour takes the mystery out of keeping chickens through this self-guided event. With six coops clustered close around Decatur’s Oakhurst neighborhood, tourists can walk most of the tour. Bicycling will easily take in all eight coops on the tour.

Urban coop-keeping provides the newest in green and local food. “Growing vegetables is one thing, but raising an easy source of protein, the eggs, is also important. I like to feed them our food scraps.” said Oakhurst Community Garden Project director Stephanie Van Parys, herself a home coop-keeper. “It can’t get any more local than walking outside to your door and gathering eggs from your yard.”

Coop tourists will also hear the dangers and pitfalls of backyard coops. Surprisingly, predators are a special worry. On the coop tour, Scott and Debbie Hollonbeck will show off their “Hawk Defense System,” designed to keep those redtails away from the henhouse and a chicken dinner. With more than 100 peck-ish participants, last year’s tour appealed to young and old alike. Also featured will be a coop built and designed by students at the Waldorf School of Atlanta as well as coop maintained by three families.

Tourists noted the “great people” and the “variety of coops” while one excited participant “just loved seeing how chicken-raising is done, up close.” That’s what visiting these clever coops is all about-it brings home the fun of having “the girls” around. This year’s looks to educate and entertain more future coopers, as several dozen are already pre-registered.

Chicks in the City Tour times are 2:30 to 5:30 p.m. on Saturday, April 25. Registration and tickets are required. Find forms online at www.oakhurstgarden.org or by calling 678-642-4977. Tour is hosted by the Oakhurst Community Garden Project and Georgia Organics. PHOTO ATTACHED
Saturday, May 16, 2009
Martinis in the Garden,

The Oakhurst Community Garden Project invites you to an evening of chic yet down-to-earth fun with “Martinis in the Garden” on Saturday, May 16, 2009, from 5:30 until 8:30 p.m.

Benefiting the Oakhurst Community Garden Project, Martinis in the Garden will feature a selection of Martinis, live music, a live auction, and fabulous food-all amidst nature at her springtime finest!

The admission ($35 pre-event, $40 at door) for the event includes three martinis of choice and food. Tickets can be purchased online at www.oakhurstgarden.org. Other beverages, including local microbrews, will also be available.

5. Chickens

Saturday, April 25, 2:30-5:30 p.m.

“Chicks in the City” Tour, 2009: Decatur Chickens Strut Their Stuff for a Good Cause

From Winnona Park to Oakhurst, all the clucking is about chickens — urban chickens, that is. Come April 25, the whole town will know the truth about keeping the hens in the henhouse . . . and in the backyard. Benefiting the Oakhurst Community Garden Project, the Chicks in the City tour takes in eight backyard coops. Tourists will make new clucky friends, get up-close tours of actual coops, and learn the basics of chicken behavior, urban predators, and local ordinances.

In its second year, Decatur’s “Chicks in the City” urban coop tour takes the mystery out of keeping chickens through this self-guided event. With six coops clustered close around Decatur’s Oakhurst neighborhood, tourists can walk most of the tour. Bicycling will easily take in all eight coops on the tour.

Urban coop-keeping provides the newest in green and local food. “Growing vegetables is one thing, but raising an easy source of protein, the eggs, is also important. I like to feed them our food scraps.” said Oakhurst Community Garden Project director Stephanie Van Parys, herself a home coop-keeper. “It can’t get any more local than walking outside to your door and gathering eggs from your yard.”

Coop tourists will also hear the dangers and pitfalls of backyard coops. Surprisingly, predators are a special worry. On the coop tour, Scott and Debbie Hollonbeck will show off their “Hawk Defense System,” designed to keep those redtails away from the henhouse and a chicken dinner. With more than 100 peck-ish participants, last year’s tour appealed to young and old alike. Also featured will be a coop built and designed by students at the Waldorf School of Atlanta as well as coop maintained by three families.

Tourists noted the “great people” and the “variety of coops” while one excited participant “just loved seeing how chicken-raising is done, up close.” That’s what visiting these clever coops is all about-it brings home the fun of having “the girls” around. This year’s looks to educate and entertain more future coopers, as several dozen are already pre-registered.

Chicks in the City Tour times are 2:30 to 5:30 p.m. on Saturday, April 25. Registration and tickets are required. Find forms online at www.oakhurstgarden.org or by calling 678-642-4977. Tour is hosted by the Oakhurst Community Garden Project and Georgia Organics.

6. Arts & Crafts

Friday, March 6, 4-5 p.m.

Sprites for Spring: Garden Fairies

Come release your inner fairy with Kyla Zaro-Moore! Celebrate the beginning of spring by crafting a garden fairy. Using scraps, wire, beads, and elements from the garden, we will create whimsical garden guardians to look after our plots (or entertain our houseplants) when we cannot. Adults and children will delight in this playful class. All ages, children accompanied by an adult.

$10 Garden members, $15 non-members. Fee is per person. Includes one fairy per person. Additonal fairies $5 each.

Saturday, March 7, 10-2 p.m.,

Handmade Recycled Papermaking Workshop

An intense papermaking class with self-taught papermaker Katy DeMent! You will learn about traditional papermaking while exploring more modern paper making techniques with color and texture. You will also learn about surface design, texture, and composition while creating sheets of recycled paper. We will form sheets of paper with a variety of fibers as well as the creation of “wet on wet collages” that can include mementos from home (family mementos, photos, plants, or other fibrous materials). Please bring a snack and drink. ages 12 and up. Fee is per person. $45 Garden members, $55 non-members (fee includes $5 materials charge)

Thursday March 26, 6:30 – 8:30 p.m.

A Bunny Sewing Project
New at sewing or want to try your hand on a new project? Join Carol Bulmer for a evening of sewing a stuffed little bunny. Carol is a wonderful source of creative ideas and this delightful project will take you from the cut out pattern to the finished project of a soft bunny, a nest for it to rest it, and a carrot. $20 for Garden members, $25 for non-members (fee includes $5 material fee) Fee includes one bunny per person.

Saturday, March 28, 1-3 p.m

Eggstraordinary Beauty: Decorate Hollow Eggs
Join Carol Bulmer in this longtime tradition of decorating hollow eggs for the spring season. Paints and other fun items will be available to decorate the eggs. Each person/family will leave with five eggs and a branch for an egg tree at home.

$10 Garden members, $15 non-members. (fee includes $5 material fee) Fee covers five decorated eggs.

March 1-25

Earth Day T-Shirt Contest

Calling all young artists! The Oakhurst Community Garden announces its Earth Day t-shirt contest for children in the following categories: Kindergarden-3rd grade, 4th grade-8th grade, 9th grade-12th grade. This year our theme is “Celebrate the Earth,” and we are seeking submission for this year’s design. The winning design will be printed on our t-shirts, which will be available for purchase on April 19th, 1-4 p.m. at our Earth Day Celebration. Prize money will be awarded to the overall winner, and 1st place fore each category at the April 19 celebration. To enter, please submit a design of no more than four colors to the Oakhurst Community Garden by March 25. For complete instructions on submitting your design visit www.oakhurstgarden.org

Sunday, April 19, 1-4 p.m.

Earth Day Celebration

Fun activities for all ages. Crafts, goats to pet and feed, a cake contest, caricature drawing, facepainting, live music and more will all be part of the celebration. Elise Witt and Friends will perform live at the event. Earth Structure, t-shirt, and cake contest winners will also be announced. Plants and t-shirts will be available for purchase. Event is free and open to the public. PHOTO ATTACHED

7. Easter

Thursday March 26, 6:30 – 8:30 p.m.

A Bunny Sewing Project
New at sewing or want to try your hand on a new project? Join Carol Bulmer for a evening of sewing a stuffed little bunny. Carol is a wonderful source of creative ideas and this delightful project will take you from the cut out pattern to the finished project of a soft bunny, a nest for it to rest it, and a carrot. $20 for Garden members, $25 for non-members (fee includes $5 material fee) Fee includes one bunny per person.

Saturday, March 28, 1-3 p.m

Eggstraordinary Beauty: Decorate Hollow Eggs
Join Carol Bulmer in this longtime tradition of decorating hollow eggs for the spring season. Paints and other fun items will be available to decorate the eggs. Each person/family will leave with five eggs and a branch for an egg tree at home.

$10 Garden members, $15 non-members. (fee includes $5 material fee) Fee covers five decorated eggs.

Sunday, March 29, 1-3 p.m.

Seasonal Breads-Spring Celebration Breads

Pagan Hot Cross Buns, Braided Challah, and Irish Soda Bread Scones – traditional breads of springtime celebrations. It is thought that worshipers of the goddess Eostre (after whom Easter was named) served tiny cakes decorated with a cross at their annual spring festival. When archaeolgists excavated the ancient city of Herculaneum in southwestern Italy, buried under volcanic ash and lava since 79 C.E., they found two small loaves, each with a cross on it, among the ruins. Keep the tradition of these delicious breads alive – participants will take home bread dough to bake in their own oven. $30 Garden members, $35 non-members (fee includes $5 materials charge)

8. Earth Day

March 1-25

Earth Day T-Shirt Contest

Calling all young artists! The Oakhurst Community Garden announces its Earth Day t-shirt contest for children in the following categories: Kindergarden-3rd grade, 4th grade-8th grade, 9th grade-12th grade. This year our theme is “Celebrate the Earth,” and we are seeking submission for this year’s design. The winning design will be printed on our t-shirts, which will be available for purchase on April 19th, 1-4 p.m. at our Earth Day Celebration. Prize money will be awarded to the overall winner, and 1st place fore each category at the April 19 celebration. To enter, please submit a design of no more than four colors to the Oakhurst Community Garden by March 25. For complete instructions on submitting your design visit www.oakhurstgarden.org

Sunday, April 19, 1-4 p.m.

Earth Day Celebration

Fun activities for all ages. Crafts, goats to pet and feed, a cake contest, caricature drawing, facepainting, live music and more will all be part of the celebration. Elise Witt and Friends will perform live at the event. Earth Structure, t-shirt, and cake contest winners will also be announced. Plants and t-shirts will be available for purchase. Event is free and open to the public. PHOTO ATTACHED

April 19-30

Biodegradable Art Shines on Earth Day

Artists, environmentalists, seniors and students are constructing art for unique Earth Day awards — the Oakhurst Community Garden Project’s (OCGP) earthen sculpture prizes. On five greenspace sites around Decatur, these intrepid enviro-artists will build biodegradable works. Awards and “the reveal” of sculptures is Sunday, April 19. Self-guided tours are available April 19-30. Maps for the tour can be found at www.oakhurstgarden.org.

With Earth Day only three days after the awards, and just following National Environmental Education Week of April 12-18, the focus on greenspaces and stewardship of the Earth is paramount to OCGP’s mission. “We’ve already had 20 entrants,” said tour organizer, Sally Wylde, “and I’m pretty excited to see how creative everybody will be, especially since the pieces will remain and slowly break down.”

Thanks to a grant from Oakhurst’s yearly BBQ, Blues & Bluegrass Festival, these greenspaces will be greened-up by this visionary art for as long as the sculptures resist the elements. Each artist must abide guidelines of biodegradability, flood plain concerns, and natural, non-damaging material-use.

Sculpture sites are five Decatur greenspaces: Decatur High School Garden, Glen Creek Nature Preserve, Hidden Cove park, the Oakhurst Community Garden, and Woodlands park. Each creates unique challenges to the artists. How well the pieces stand apart from and highlight streams, massive oaks, wildlife, and surrounding fauna will be judged.

Public viewing of the works commences April 19, and awards will be presented that day, a Sunday, from 1 to 4 p.m. at the Oakhurst Community Garden Project, which is at the corner of McDonough and Oakview roads in the Oakhurst section of Decatur.

As every year, Earth Day is April 22. The week of Earth Day offers all citizens a chance to reflect on their efforts toward Earth stewardship and how one can tread as lightly as possible. Oakhurst Community Garden Project offers several events the weekend before Earth Day. These can be found at www.oakhurstgarden.org or by calling 678-642-4977.

9. Mother’s Day

Saturday, May 9, 3-5 p.m.

Homemade Spa Gifts for Mother’s Day

Children will enjoy these fun and easy to make gifts to pamper mom. We will make bath fizzies, herbal bath teas, and salt scrub – made with natural ingredients such as oatmeal, herbs, salt, and pure essential oils. Kids will also have fun packaging their gifts and making colorful labels to take home and present to mom on mother’s day. Ages five years and up. $15 members, $20 for non-members. Fee covers all materials for one person.

11. Summer Camp

June 1-5, 2009. 9-noon
June 8 -12, 2009, 9-noon
2009 Beekeeping Camp

Youth ages 7-12 will make new friends and enjoy fun, hands-on beekeeping activities that will show them what it’s like to be a beekeeper. Youth will learn the basic make-up of a healthy hive, work with established beehives, harvest and extract honey, and use honey in cooking. Fees are as follows: 1st child: $125 for Garden Family member, $150 for non-members/per week. Additional child: $100 for Garden Family member, $125 for non-members/per week