Virtual Cabin Fever Gardening Symposium

Fava beans, Cabin Fever Garden Symposium

In my recent newsletters, I’ve alluded to an exciting, virtual gardening event coming up. Well, I can finally tell you about it! That event is none other than the Cabin Fever Gardening Symposium.

As you know, I live in Spokane, Wash., and have been a Master Gardener for a very long time. Each year, our foundation has put on the Cabin Fever event as a fundraiser for the Master Gardener program. What is Cabin Fever, you ask? Well, under normal circumstances, we’ve held it as a live event in which attendees get to go to classes on all sorts of useful and fascinating gardening topics, on a single day.

Well, these are not normal circumstances, are they? Fortunately, the organizers have done something really smart and you get to benefit from this! They have set up the “virtual” version of the Cabin Fever Gardening Symposium. It seems like any time I mention a presentation that I’ll be giving, I get a lot of comments from you guys, saying you wish you could come. Well, now you can because I’m one of the presenters! So there ya go.

Here’s what you need to know:

  1. The are 12 symposium classes altogether and you will be able to attend every single one of them on your computer, from the comfort of your home. At the live version of Cabin Fever, attendees could only pick 4 classes out of 12 due to time and facility constraints — so this is much better. Now it doesn’t matter where in this world you live: you can STILL attend!
  2. On Feb. 24, 2021 at 7 p.m., our keynote speaker Karen Chapman will kick off the event with her keynote presentation. Karen is a delightful speaker who is an award-winning Seattle garden designer and author. In this talk, she’ll share her ideas about how each of us can create a captivating garden.
  3. Between Mar. 1-17, you’ll have opportunities to watch each of the classes. They will air on Mondays and Wednesdays from 6 to 8:10 p.m. Pacific Time.
  4. You will be able to ask questions of the presenters while you’re watching the presentations, and get the answers to them during the “Chat Room” events which will take place on three Fridays (Mar. 5, 12 and 19).
  5. The cost for all of this is $50.
  6. If you’re curious, the title of my presentation is “Growing Edibles in Your Garden” and features my best tips for being really successful about growing all types of vegetables.
  7. In addition to my talk, other classes include how to keep deer away from your garden (Karen Chapman), the basics of pruning, garden design, and horticulture (more information coming).
  8. Look for more details about the event and how to get tickets for it, by going to the Master Gardener Foundation of Spokane County website.
  9. Registration opens on Jan. 11, 2021.

When you think of all of the gardening events that have had to be cancelled this year and, sadly, for 2021 as well, you OWE it to yourself to participate in this wonderful educational opportunity! Hope to “see” you there.