The GoGreen Virginia Garden Festival will again be held at the Garner Pavilion behind the Science Museum of Virginia. This activity will feature ideas for gardeners with gardening related exhibits, demonstrations, speakers and activities designed to educate and encourage homeowners about the do’s and don’ts of successful planting and maintenance of their yards, gardens and our beautiful Virginia natural environment. Exhibitors will include gardening equipment, related products and services. Andre Viette will produce his radio show live from the Garden Festival that morning. Keynote speakers will discuss topics of current interest and stay for questions from the audience. There will be crafts, plants and food to entertain and attract the whole family.

Science Museum of Virginia
2500 West Broad Street
Richmond, VA 23220

Virginia Green Industry Council Festival Info: (540) 382-0943 / festival@virginiagreen.org / www.virginiagreen.org/virginiagardenfestival.htm

Learn the basics of how to grow your own herbs. What do herbs need, can they be incorporated into your landscape and once you have planted them what do you do with them? These are many of the questions which will be answered in this informative class. In addition, learn how to harvest and store those wonderful herbs to use all winter long. Propagation and pruning tips will be included- learn how to cut back and make FREE plants for your garden. This class will be $15.00 and you will take home some cuttings from our gardens. Admission Fee – $20.00.

Beagle Ridge Herb Farm
1934 Matney Flats Rd. PO 419
Wytheville, VA 24382

Phone: (276) 621-4511 / beagleridge@gmail.com / www.beagleridgeherbfarm.com

The CVF is a free, outdoor celebration of a healthy and humane lifestyle that brings together diverse individuals and organizations who want to make the planet a more healthy, sustainable, and compassionate place for all to inhabit and enjoy. One of the largest vegetarian festivals in the United States, this one day event typically draws about 6,000 visitors. The CVF features a wide variety of vegetarian food. Free vegan food samples from natural-foods companies are also available. In addition to restaurants and food vendors, the approximately 100 exhibitors/vendors hosted by the festival also include compassionate-living advocates, nonprofit and educational organizations, animal rescue organizations conducting an Adoption Fair for dogs and cats, a “Kids’ Patch” for children, and a wide variety of other fun-raising activities supporting the projects of Voices for Animals. The Charlottesville Vegetarian Festival is coordinated by Voices for Animals, an animal-protection organization serving Central Virginia since 1984. The festival is organized entirely by volunteers. Members of the festival organizing committee donate their time and skills to make it all happen!

Lee Park
Charlottesville, VA

http://www.cvillevegfest.org/

Naturalist Marlene A. Condon, whose yard has been showcased on Virginia PBS stations, lets Mother Nature do most of the work to make her yard beautiful. In this 45-minute slide/narrative program, the author of The Nature-friendly Garden (Stackpole Books) introduces you to numerous kinds of wildlife that make gardening much more enjoyable and productive. Join the “green” movement by learning the value of working with–instead of against–Mother Nature.

Sunday, August 22, 2010 (8:00 PM-9:00 PM)
Sunday, September 26, 2010 (8:00 PM-9:00 PM)
Sunday, October 24, 2010 (8:00 PM-9:00 PM)

Big Meadows Lodge in Shenandoah National Park
Mile 51.2, Skyline Dr.
Luray, VA 22835

Phone: (800) 999-4714 / Phone: (540) 843-2100 / shenandoah@aramark.com / www.visitshenandoah.com

Family:  Scrophulariaceae

Mullein is a biennial plant which many consider a weed in the United States. It thrives in poor, sandy or gravelly soil and grows to 8 feet tall or more. The leaves and stem are covered in hairs which give the plant a fuzzy appearance and cause irritation when touched by humans and animals. The first year of growth the plant produces whitish to gray-green flower heads. The second year there are yellow flowers which give way to seed capsules which contains thousands of seeds. The plant propagates through the spreading of these seeds.

Mullein is very versatile when used for medicinal purposes. The entire plant can be used; however, the flowers and leaves are the parts most heard of in herbal remedies. Gather the yellow flowers in late summer to early fall. The leaves can be harvested anytime, but are best taken in spring through summer. The root should be harvested in the first year as it will die after the plant blooms in the second year.

Mullein’s many medicinal properties include demulcent, astringent, anti-inflammatory, expectorant, antispasmodic, nervine, diuretic, tonic, and insecticidal. One very popular use is for earaches. The flowers can be infused in olive or mineral oil for several days up to two weeks and given as drops in the ear. The roots can be made into a tincture for urinary incontinence or used in a tea for cramps and diarrhea. The dried leaves can be smoked in pipes or made into cigarettes to help relieve irritated mucus membranes, congestion and coughs, and asthma. Both the leaves and flowers can be used in herbal teas for many uses including spasmodic coughs, asthma, sore throats, and as a diuretic. The crushed dried leaves can be used rubbed on the skin for rashes, cuts, bruises, burns, and other skin disorders. Use mullein as a tonic for the kidneys and liver.

Our pets also benefit from this herb. Add this fresh or dried to your pet’s food regularly as a tonic for their digestive and respiratory systems. The leaves and flowers have mild sedative properties and will help their inflamed mucus membranes the same as humans. The flower infusion will help with earaches and also protect against ear mites and in reducing ear wax and the root tea recipe can also be used in treating urinary incontinence in animals.

Be careful about adding this plant to your garden as it becomes invasive.

Hands-on, “can along” series of workshops designed to provide you with a full understanding of water-bath canning to help preserve the summer bounty.
· Learn when it is safe to can using the water-bath method & why;
· Understand the process, safety & hygiene requirements;
· Receive practical tips learned over two decades of preserving food;
· Watch a canning demonstration;
· Can a jar from start to finish;
· Hand-outs.

M August 9, 10:00AM-12:30PM- Tomatoes
W August 18, 5-7:30PM – Tomatoes
M August 23, 10AM-12:30PM- Pickles
W August 25, 5-7:30PM – Pickles
W September 8, 5-7:30PM – Tomatoes
M September 27, 2:00-4:30PM – Apples, pears & quince
T October 5, 10AM-12:30PM – Apples etc
W October 13, 4-6:30PM – Apples etc

OR BY APPOINTMENT!

Open Daily
Wednesday, July 28, 2010 – Wednesday, October 13, 2010

Admission Fee: $40.00

Phone: (540) 675-3725 / workshops@laughingduckgardens.com / www.LaughingDuckGardens.com

Join us for a special day of Lavender in the gardens. Take a garden tour and cut your own bunch of Lavender,learn to grow, use and cook with Lavender in the afternoon. All activities are FREE. An Herbal Lavender lunch is available $9.50 each.Registration required for luncheon.
Our shop is filled with our herbal bath line-soaps,lotions,Dried Lavender sachets as well as our herbal seasoning blends.
Organic herbs and perennial plants for sale. Fourteen types of Lavender plants will be available for planting.

Stroll through the themed display gardens, enjoy a cup of tea on the patio and watch as the hummingbirds feast on the flowers. Sign up for our gardening newsletter to receive upcoming events and workshop class schedule.
Currently scheduling group tours for 2009, herbal lunches in the gardens are available, call for particulars.

Children welcome.

Pets welcome.

Beagle Ridge Herb Farm
1934 Matney Flats Rd
Wytheville, VA 24382

beagleridge@gmail.com / www.beagleridgeherbfarm.com

Labitatae family

Native to the Mediterranean region, lavender has found its way into gardens all over the world thanks to its aromatic scent and calming properties. There are three main varieties seen and all three share the same qualities. The plant grows a few feet tall and produces purplish-blue flowers. You’ll mainly use the flowers on these plants; however, the leaves can also be helpful in remedies.

This herb is most known for its aromatic scent and can be found in all sorts of body care products and perfumes on the market. Lavender also has nervine, antispasmodic, antidepressant, analgesic, astringent, and carminative properties. It is great for nervous tension, depression, and headaches. Use in a tea or add to your bath water to relieve stress and help with insomnia. Lavender is commonly seen mixed with other herbs such as valerian, chamomile, or feverfew to enhance their sedative/analgesic properties.

Lavender essential oil is commonly used in remedies. Apply a drop or two to your temples for headache relief. Use in a homemade body oil to massage into your skin after baths. The oil can also be soothing for insect bites and stings and minor burns such as sunburns. Add to homemade soap recipes and mouthwash/rinses. The oil contains compounds which may even be beneficial in preventing some types of cancers such as breast cancer.

Lavender also helps to repel insects. Add to a sachet in clothes drawers to keep out moths.

Lavender is another safe herb to use on our pets. Use the diluted oil in homemade washes and on herbal flea collars to keep away fleas. It will also help soothe the skin when affected by burns, insect bites, or stings just as with their human companions. Lavender may also deter cats from scratching on areas they shouldn’t.

Saw Palmetto Leaves

Probably the most commonly heard of herb to use for the prostate is saw palmetto. A native of North America, this plant has leaves arranged in large fans. Its berries are an accepted treatment for BPH in many countries all over the world. They can be used in capsules or teas to help shrink an enlarged prostate and relieve BPH symptoms. Saw palmetto has been found to act as a 5-alpha-reductase inhibitor, the same as some popular prescription medications used today. Saw palmetto will not shrink the prostate as well as those medications; however, it does come pretty much side-effect free, something those drugs cannot brag about.

Nettle is another common herb used for the prostate. Germany, which is ahead of the United States in its use of herbs over drugs for many ailments, has used this herb for prostate cancer and BPH treatments. The leaves and root can be used and it is most likely another side-effect free herb.

Bark from the pygeum tree is used for BPH also. Use this in teas to help shrink the prostate and relieve symptoms.

Pumpkin seeds and blooms are known for their use as a tonic for the healthy functioning of the prostate. Add these to formulas used for BPH or other prostate problems.

Generally, herbs used in urinary formulas also help with prostate infections. Such herbs which can be used are uva ursi leaf, corn silk, bladderwrack, and juniper berry. Add these herbs together in mixes for their combined benefits. Pau d’arco is especially helpful in formulas for prostate cancer as it has anticarcinogenic properties.

It is best to see your medical physician for any prostate ailment diagnoses, and always inform your physician of any herbs you are taking or are thinking of taking for remedies.

Umbelliferae family

Fennel is well known for its strong scent and taste of anise or licorice and is commonly used as a flavoring agent. Found commonly in Mediterranean recipes, its sweet taste is used to flavor saltwater fish among other foods. All parts of the plant can be used including the seeds.

Fennel has many medicinal properties including diuretic, expectorant, laxative, carminative, stimulant, and antispasmodic. One very popular use is as a digestive aid — chew the seeds or make tea to help relieve cramping and gas or just to help calm the stomach after meals. Fennel can be helpful during dieting to depress the appetite. Its expectorant properties help clear mucus, so use fennel in homemade cough drop and cough syrup recipes. Drink plenty of tea during respiratory illnesses and for asthma relief. Fennel tea can be used as an eyewash to relieve eye inflammation, and it has been reported to have been used in poultices for snake bites.

Fennel is safe for children and is used to relieve colic. It will stimulate milk flow in nursing mothers.

Fennel is also safe to use in remedies for your pets. Insects do not like the smell of it, so it can be used to stuff inside bedding, spread around inside their kennels, and is useful planted around their living areas. Fennel can be used for similar remedies as with humans such as stimulating milk production and as a digestive aid and can be added to your pet’s food or water.

Fennel is easy to grow from seed and should be planted in sunny areas. The plants can grow several feet tall and have yellow flowers in the summer through early fall. Don’t plant fennel too close to other garden plants – other plants do not do well near it.