MARK YOUR CALENDAR

Join an inspired community and help bring new life to the historic gardens at Strawbery Banke Museum. This annual volunteer garden clean up day will be held on Saturday with a rain date of Sunday. Nongardeners also welcomed to help the museum get ready for its May 1st opening.

Volunteers should arrive at the Visitors Center for work assignments and refreshments between 8:30 and 9:00 am. Please feel free to bring your favorite gardening tools, wheelbarrows, rakes and gloves. All other tools will be provided by the Museum. Parking is available by the Visitors Center at 14 Hancock Street in Portsmouth.  

An optional Slow Food potluck lunch will follow at 12:30. Visit their Web site for suggestions and to learn more. Please RSVP and let us know if you can bring tools or a potluck dish by April 19th to This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. or 1-603-433-1110 

Slow Food Heirloom Seed 'Plant-In'

To celebrate the 40th anniversary of Earth Day and to further the day's theme, join us for an Heirloom Seed and Plant grow out! Slow Food Seacoast is partnering with Strawbery Banke and Chef's Collaborative to teach how to grow your own food and eat from your own back yard.

Participants will receive free heirloom seeds and plants, and have opportunity to enjoy free workshops and talks. The afternoon sessions will run from 1:30 until 4:00, and include RAFT (Renewing America's Food Traditions) information sessions, gardening tips and heirloom seed planting, plus plenty of opportunities to get dirt under your fingernails.  

Afternoon RAFT Program Schedule (draft)

1:30: Raft Grow-out Heirloom seed and plant giveaway (Visitor Center)

1:30-4:00 "Planting for Kids and Families" ongoing in the Children's Garden with UNH Cooperative Extension Service Master Gardeners (SBM Victorian Children's Garden)

1:45 David Buchanon of Slow Food Portland -'Slow Food in the Garden' -The Ark of Taste and RAFT programs (SBM Visitor Center)

2:00 "Planting and Saving Heirloom Seeds" - Return to the gardens for a hands program planting early crops at SBM's 1695 Sherburne, 1919 Shapiro, and 1944 Victory Garden (Meet in front of SBM Visitor Center

2:30 "Community Gardening" - Suzanne MacDonald (in the SBM Community Gardens)

3:00 "Slow Food - Sustainable Gardens" with John Forti - Slow Food Seacoast (SBM Visitor Center)

Check the web site for update

Slow Food - Sustainable Gardens

Slow Food is an international movement, which taps into local roots around the world. It began decades ago in Italy, when founder Carlo Petrini objected to the opening of a McDonalds across from the Spanish Steps in Rome. Today Slow Food is far more than a counter to the fast food movement. The mission of the organization is to support food that is "Good, Clean and Fair", as well as cultivate a taste for and value of sustainable agricultural products and practices. These include artisanal practices, rare breeds and heirloom seeds which offer proven historical models for regional sustainability. The guiding philosophy of "taste appreciation" also helps to foster an appreciation of regional cuisine, the pleasures of the table and community that engage us in laughter, good digestion, and conversations that will change the world one farm/market/table at a time. 

As a co-founder of Slow Food Seacoast and a garden historian/ethnobotanist, I deeply value teaching from the past in order to help create a more sustainable future. 

The Slow Food RAFT project (Renewing America's Food Traditions) dovetails with my desire to help identify and preserve regionally important native/heirloom plants and native/rare breed animals that offer us sound alternatives to prevailing systems. Engaging with these communities helps us to preserve the vital genetic diversity that agribusiness and fast food have been erasing from our tables and regional landscapes. When we become locavores, we not only improve our nation's food security by keeping local farms and farmer's markets in business; we foster a taste and value for the difference in our own quality of life by eating mindfully.

OFFICIAL WEB SITES for Strawbery Banke Museum and Slow Food Seacoast