The Huntington to unveil its Ranch with special events

The Huntington Library, Art Collections, and Botanical Gardens returns to its agricultural roots this fall with the unveiling of a new project called the Huntington Ranch. Part outdoor classroom, part demonstration garden, and part research lab, the 15-acre site will host a broad spectrum of special programs and educational activities focusing on sustainable urban agriculture.

UPCOMING EVENTS

Symposium: Bringing Home the Ranch
Nov. 12 (Friday) 8:30 a.m.–5:30 p.m.

Ethnobotanist Gary Paul Nabhan, a research social scientist at the Southwest Center, University of Arizona, is the keynote speaker at this scholarly symposium exploring the challenges facing urban farmers in an area once renowned for its agricultural output. Nabhan will speak on “Adapting Food Production to a Hotter, Drier World: Using Urban Agricultural Stations to Train Future Farmers.”

Other presenters and their topics include Rose Hayden-Smith, director of the University of California Cooperative Extension, Ventura County (“Join the Revolution: From Victory Gardens to Urban Agriculture” ); Susan Mulley, assistant professor of landscape architecture at California State Polytechnic University, Pomona (“Are Vegetables Private? Belief and Perception and Their Impact on Urban Agriculture”); Mark Vallianatos, policy director of the Urban & Environmental Policy Institute, Occidental College (“Food Justice in Los Angeles”); and Garn Wallace, general manager of Wallace Laboratories (“Soil Science and Plant Nutrition in Sustainable Urban Environments”).

Registration: $25 ($15 students). Optional dinner at an additional cost. Registration: 800-838-3006 or www.brownpapertickets.com

Public Seminar:
Growing Home: Agriculture in the City
Nov. 13 (Saturday) 8:30 a.m.–5 p.m.

Celebrate all that’s homegrown during a day of talks, tours, and demonstrations geared to the home gardener. Local experts will cover topics ranging from chicken-keeping to growing organic produce and flowers. Edible landscape pioneer and author Rosalind Creasy is the keynote speaker.

Other participants and topics include Tara Kolla of Silver Lake Farms (growing organic flowers; composting), Homegrown Evolution (urban homesteading), Food Not Lawns (turning yards into gardens), Ecoworkshops.com (food forestry), Farmlab (the trees from South Central Garden), Full Circle Gardens (chicken keeping; garden tool maintenance), Backwards Beekeepers (bee keeping), Sustainable Habitats (growing mushrooms), Little Flower Candy Co. (cooking with fresh, local, and seasonal produce), and UC Cooperative Extension Master Gardeners (the Master Gardeners program).

$25 (includes lunch). Registration: 800-838-3006 or www.brownpapertickets.com


Workshop:
Winter Fruit Tree Pruning
Jan. 22 (Saturday) 9:30­–11:30 a.m.

Pruning is essential for good fruit production and for ensuring that a tree is healthy, attractive, and an appropriate size. Winter is an important time to make pruning cuts. Join Lora Hall of Full Circle Gardening as she covers basic tree physiology, types of pruning cuts, the effect of different pruning cuts, the appropriate tools for the job, and how to correctively prune a neglected or damaged tree. Participants will practice pruning techniques on fruit trees on the Huntington Ranch site.
Members: $35. Non-Members: $45. Registration: 626-405-2128.

About The Huntington
The Huntington Library, Art Collections, and Botanical Gardens is a collections-based research and educational institution serving scholars and the general public. More information can be found on the Web at www.huntington.org.

Visitor information
The Huntington is located at 1151 Oxford Rd., San Marino, Calif., and is open to the public Monday, Wednesday, Thursday, and Friday from noon to 4:30 p.m.; and Saturday, Sunday, and Monday holidays from 10:30 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. Summer hours (Memorial Day through Labor Day) are 10:30 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. Closed Tuesdays and major holidays. Admission on weekdays: $15 adults, $12 seniors (65+), $10 students (ages 12–18 or with full-time student I.D.), $6 youth (ages 5–11), free for children under 5. Group rate $11 per person for groups of 15 or more. Members are admitted free. Admission on weekends and Monday holidays: $20 adults, $15 seniors, $10 students, $6 youth, free for children under 5. Group rate $14 per person for groups of 15 or more. Members are admitted free. Admission is free to all visitors on the first Thursday of each month with advance tickets.

Information: 626-405-2100 or www.huntington.org.