As hints of warmer weather approach, Master Gardeners hope to inspire Orleans County residents at their annual Spring Education Day, Saturday April 6. Each year, the Orleans County CCE Master Gardener group selects speakers and topics that will engage and educate participants often including a take-home project in the line-up. This year, the classes offered are Monarch Butterflies, Amphibians as Indicators of Ecological Health, and Natural Dyes. Participants can attend individual classes or all three at a reduced rate.
The Monarch Butterfly class will be the first of the day at 9 a.m. and will be taught by David O’Donnell, president of the Eastern Monarch Butterfly Farm in Clarence, New York. The focus of the EMBF has been on monarch butterflies, but O’Donnell is an advocate for ecological conservation and sustainability in all habitats. His class will detail all aspects of the monarch butterfly life cycle, growing tips for our native NY Milkweed species, and information on properly rearing butterflies to release in the wild.
Jena Buckwell will teach the second class at 10:30 a.m. – Amphibians as Indicators of Ecological Health. Buckwell has been a volunteer with Cornell Cooperative Extension as a Master Gardener and a Master Forest Owner. She has been a frequent speaker for Orleans County Master Gardener events. This spring, Buckwell will highlight an often overlooked resident of our natural landscapes – amphibians – and what their presence means with regards to the environmental health of your backyard.
The final class of the day will be Natural Dyes at 11 a.m., taught by Orleans County Master Gardener Brenda Radzinski. The class will feature several homemade dyes that can be made using easy to find natural products. Radzinski is an avid gardener, quilter, and crafter, and she has been incorporating natural dyes in some of her projects for decades. This class will offer a hands-on portion where participants can actively make a dye themselves. They will also be able to dye hard-boiled eggs to take home using various dyes derived from nature.
The class fees are $10 for Monarch Butterflies, $5 for Amphibians, $10 for Natural Dyes or $20 for all three. All classes will take place at the Orleans County 4-H Fairgrounds, 12690 State Route 31, Albion. For information about this event or the Master Gardener program, call 798-4265 or email klo54@cornell.edu.
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