“Garden to Table from Seed”

Please join the Willamette Valley Hardy Plant Group on Tuesday, May 14, 2024 at 7:00 PM in the Unitarian Universalist Church, 1685 W 13^th Ave, Eugene OR.

Renee Shepherd brings her expertise as a lifelong gardener, garden writer, variety trials manager, cookbook author and years of consulting with seed producers all over the globe as she develops her seeds for Renee’s Garden. Her talk will cover how to plan, plant and enjoy a bountiful, colorful and delicious kitchen garden throughout the seasons featuring vegetables and herbs chosen for fabulous flavor, easy growing, productivity, and top nutrition. She will offer specific variety suggestions, information on how and where we find seeds of many cultures and countries along with lots of preparation and cooking ideas for using your harvests for satisfying everyday meals. This program is oriented especially to beginning ‘Foodie’ gardeners who want to cook a wide range of fresh and seasonal meals from their own gardens.

Shepherd is widely regarded as a pioneering innovator in introducing international specialty vegetables and herbs for home gardeners and gourmet restaurants.  After receiving her PhD from UC Santa Cruz and teaching in the Environmental Studies department there, she founded Renee’s Garden, to offer her selected choices of seed varieties for exciting new and time-tested heirloom gourmet vegetables, culinary herbs and a wide range of fragrant and cutting flowers, sourced from seed growers both large and small around the world. Renee’s Garden seed packets are available directly from www.reneesgarden.com and are offered through independent garden centers in the US and Canada.

Renee directs and enjoys the company’s large trial gardens in California and Vermont. She selects new seed varieties and writes the variety descriptions and growing information for all the company’s seed packets. Renee writes gardening content, directs the company’s video channel, and creates new recipes for Renee’s Garden. A long-time garden to table advocate, she has written three kitchen garden cookbooks: Recipes from a Kitchen Garden and More Recipes from a Kitchen Garden; her newest book, the Renee’s Garden Cookbook, combines expert gardening advice with great recipes.

Renee lectures at national and regional garden shows and has been a featured speaker at numerous gardening conferences. She has many community and environmental interests and currently serves on the Planning Commission for Santa Cruz County, California. She helped found and is on the board of the Home Garden Seed Association.

For more information about the Willamette Valley Hardy Plant Group or this event, visit our website at www.thehardyplantgroup.org or email us at info@thehardyplantgroup.org

Doors on the east side of the building open at 6:30 PM for botanical sample browsing, refreshments and socializing. Admission is free for members and $5 for non-members. Membership in the Hardy Plant Group is open to all and is $30 annually. There is ample parking in the parking lot which can be accessed from both Chambers St. or W 13th Ave, with additional parking in the adjacent Looking Glass Center parking lot to the north, but please do not park under their covered entry way. Overflow parking is also available in the first 20 spaces on the east and south side of Redeemer Fellowship Church just across Chambers St. to the west.

This in-person meeting will also be broadcast live over Zoom to members who are unable to attend in person. The Zoom broadcast will be recorded, with a viewing link sent to members to watch within two weeks of receiving the link. If you are interested in watching our Zoom broadcast, and not a member, please see the “About” page on our website at www.thehardyplantgroup.org/about to download our membership form to join.

The Willamette Valley Hardy Plant Group is a non-profit, 501(c)(3) volunteer organization for gardeners of all experience levels. The Group is dedicated to educating the community about perennials, shrubs, and other plants for use in the garden, sharing each other’s gardens, and fostering a love of gardening. For more information, visit www.thehardyplantgroup.org.

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