Warren Conference for gardeners will feature speakers

Staff report

WARREN

The Trumbull Neighborhood Partnership will host a free public tent featuring a variety of speakers during the Saturday Ohio State University Extension Master Gardeners Conference at Courthouse Square.

The conference, which will be Friday through Sunday, is planned with the theme “Bloom Where You Are Planted.” The TNP tent will feature these speakers from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. Saturday:

From 9 to 9:50 a.m., Grow Youngstown founder Elsa Higby will speak about “Community Supported Agriculture as Food Security.”

Cynthia James will speak from 11 to 11:50 a.m. on her expertise in and the advantages of straw-bale gardening.

From 1 to 1:50 p.m., Scott Hill will discuss “Permanent Land Protection in Northeastern Ohio and the Associated Social and Economic Impact.”

Sister Jane Omlor will speak from 2 to 2:50 p.m. on the topic of “Spinning Straw into Green Gold,“ where she will present a step-by-step description of her construction of a passive-solar straw-bale house.

From 3 to 3:50 p.m., Joe Kovach will examine “Polyculture Systems and Urban Agriculture” and present the results of a six-year study of an intensive fruit and vegetable polyculture growing system and how it applies to urban agriculture.

To close the Saturday speakers, Liberty Merrill will discuss “Urban Agriculture for Neighborhood Revitalization” from 4 to 4:50 p.m. She will talk about her experience as program coordinator for Lots of Green, a nationally recognized vacant land re-use program of the Youngstown Neighborhood Development Corporation.