• Complete schedule available here!

Keynote Speaker Mike McGrath (3:15 pm)

Join garden guru Mike McGrath at the fifth annual Organic Planet Festival where he will offer fiercely organic advice and gardening tips to the North Coast. Revered as both an author and nationally syndicated radio host of “You Bet Your Garden”, McGrath educates, inspires and whacks weeds with humor and wit. As an outdoor enthusiast, organic food advocate and an award winning flower grower, Mike McGrath will underscore the festival’s theme of transforming everyday practices from harmful to healthful.

Organic Gardening Workshop Summaries

• Growing and Using Herbs and Medicinals: with Rita Jacinto (10:45 am)
  Explore simple ways to incorporate organic health helpers and flavor enhancers into your life. Herbs will be a benefit to you, your family and even your pet’s well being so take advantage of this opportunity to find out about seeding, transplanting, harvesting and drying these magical plants.

  Rita Jacinto co-owns and operates Flying Blue Dog Farm and Nursery in Willow Creek California where she grows veggies, culinary tea, medicinal and unusual ornamental plants and is especially interested in heirloom, endangered and rare varieties.

• Preparing New Beds and Working with Soil: With Eddie Tanner (11:30 am)
  Get fresh garden space ready—convert part of your front lawn for a bountiful next season! Learn to work the soil at its optimal condition, build soil structure, and improve long-term fertility. Learn the benefits of cover cropping and how and what to plant in your fall garden.

  Eddie Tanner is the owner of DeepSeeded Community Farm in Arcata and wrote "The Humboldt Kitchen Gardener", a locally oriented gardening guide.  He has farmed professionally on the North Coast since 1999.

• Sustainable is Attainable! With Gisele Schoniger (12:15 pm)
  No short term, quick chemical fixes will be needed in your organic garden! See how to build healthy colonies of beneficial living organisms in the soil while minimizing disease and providing a reservoir of nutrients. Also discussed is the importance of mycorrhizal fungi, different types of organic fertilizers and their proper use.

  Gisele Schoniger works for Kellogg's Garden Products where she applies her knowledge and passion for organic gardening on a daily basis and captivates audiences with her informative lectures.

• The Secret Beneath Your Feet: with Jeff Anderson (1:00 pm)
  Learn more about organic soil relationships within your back yard environment. Mycorrhizal fungi dynamics will be explored along with their role in carbon sequestration, soil and plant health. Nature's longest and most successful experiment will be explained in The Secret Beneath Your Feet.

  Jeff Anderson received a B.S. Degree at the University of California in Political Science of Natural Resources and has been with Mycorrhizal Applications since it was founded in 1996.