Learn to Have a Homegrown Lifestyle
Thursday evenings 6:30-9:30pm
March 29 - June 14, 2012
Linn County Extension
3279 7th Avenue, Suite 140
Marion, IA 52302
“It was incredible learning from experienced gardeners – they shared simple things that have definitely improved my
garden and farmstead this year,” said Rich Myers, a 2011 participant.
Homegrown Lifestyle is a a course for folks who want to reconnect with the land, grow food for their own use and create a sustainable landscape. It's a 12-week spring short course for people living on a large lot or small acreage who
want to take full advantage of their space to collect rainwater, make compost and learn how to grow small fruits and
vegetables. It is not a farm business planning class of commercial growers, rather for homeowners with space to play
with. Topics covered will include:
• edible landscape design;
• soil and water conservation;
• growing and preserving vegetables, fruits and wild crops
• backyard poultry;
• beekeeping
• grazing and ruminants
• wildlife management.
The course fee is $179.Register online at www.homegrownlifestyle.org. Registrations must be completed by March
22. For more information about Homegrown Lifestyle, contact Michelle Kenyon Brown at (319) 377-9839 or mkenyonb@iastate.edu or visit www.homegrownlifestyle.org
Creative Gardening Series
presented by Linn County Extension Master Gardeners
April 2, 11, 16, 2012
Kirkwood Community CollegeCedar Hall Room 234
6301 Kirkwood Blvd SW
Cedar Rapids, IA
Monday, April 2: Speakers Larry and Wilma Rettig
Topic: “A Smithsonian National Heritage Garden: The Tour Starts
Here”
Cottage-in-the-Meadow Gardens, owned by Larry and Wilma Rettig, South Amana, Iowa, has been featured in local
and national publications, on the Internet, and is listed with the Smithsonian Institution in Washington, D.C. as a national heritage garden. Larry and Wilma grow over 300 varieties of flowers, trees, shrubs, and vegetables. Since 1986,
they have maintained a seed bank that preserves vegetable varieties brought from Germany to the Amana Villages
during the 1850s.
Wednesday, April 11: Speaker Veronica Lorson Fowler
Topic: "Roses for Iowa"
Veronica Lorson Fowler is a garden writer and complete garden geek living in Ames. She is the author and editor of a
number of gardening books, including "Gardening in Iowa," the proceeds of which go to Reiman Gardens. The former
editor of Better Homes and Garden's "Flower Gardening" magazine, she is now a freelance writer and editor who has
contributed to a variety of other gardening books and many magazine articles in Better Homes and Gardens, Country
Home, Horticulture, Garden Design, and others. She is also a regular contributor to Iowa Gardening Magazine. A
graduate of Iowa State University and a Master Gardener, she has lived in Ames for more than 20 years, where she
has juggled work and raising three children with tending a sometimes messy but always highly varied garden.
Monday, April 16: Speaker Roy Klehm
Topic: "Down Peony Lane"
Roy Klehm represents the fourth generation of his family to work in the
nursery business. The Klehm family emigrated in 1852 from Germany to Arlington Heights, IL. where his greatgrandfather began a nursery
specializing in fruit trees in the area where the Arlington International Race Course stands now. Klehm's grandfather
was a founder of the American Peony Society, and in the plant world, the Klehm name is practically synonymous with
peonies because of the number he and his family have hybridized and that they grow and sell. Roy and his wife, Sarah,
own and operate Beaver Creek Nursery in Poplar Grove, IL. and Klehm's Song Sparrow Farm and Nursery in Avalon,
WI., growing between 700 and 800 named varieties of peonies.