Daily Archives: December 2, 2023

Wednesday, December 6, 12:00 noon – 1:00 pm Eastern – From Milkweed Soup to Hmong Sticky Corn: Community Connection through Culturally Relevant Food Gardens, Online

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Explore the vibrant community-driven gardening projects at Olbrich Botanical Gardens in this engaging webinar. A free admission 16-acre public garden in Madison, Wisconsin, Olbrich Botanical Gardens seeks to be a community resource where everyone feels a sense of belonging. Join Olbrich’s Herb Garden horticulturist, Erin Presley, as she spins the tale of two community-based gardening projects at Olbrich. The Indigenous Garden, created with local Ho-Chunk tribal members, offers opportunities to connect, converse, and appreciate the history and majesty of food plants significant in Midwestern First Nations cultures. Meanwhile, the Hmong Garden, which debuted in 2023, honors the traditions and resourcefulness of the 60,000 Hmong residents who migrated to Wisconsin after the Vietnam War. Both gardening projects were led by young women from their respective cultural groups and engaged guests with hands-on activities, bilingual signage, and of course – veggie tastings! Please join The Philadelphia Horticultural Society and Erin Presley to learn more about these uplifting, collaborative gardening projects and principles that could be applied in your own community.

Erin Presley left her heart at Olbrich Botanical Gardens while interning there in 2005. After earning a bachelor’s degree in Horticulture from the University of Wisconsin-Madison, she gardened for nearly a decade in the private sector before returning to Olbrich in 2014, where she manages the Herb, Woodland, and Pond Gardens. Her interests include native woodland plantings, sedges, low-maintenance and drought-tolerant gardening styles, recycling woody debris, and all things related to herbs, vegetables, and cooking. In addition to teaching at OBG, Erin loves talking plants and collaborating with herb societies, master gardeners, and local community organizations. Never shy when it comes to sharing the joy of gardening, she has appeared on the nationally syndicated podcast Cultivating Place and Wisconsin Public Radio’s Garden Talk and is a contributor to the print and online content of Fine Gardening magazine. PHS members free, $20 for nonmembers. Register at https://phsonline.org/events/milkweed-soup

Monday, December 4, 6:00 pm – 7:30 pm – Faces of Phillis

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The Associates of the Boston Public Library warmly invite you to our fifth annual Pierce Performance, Faces of Phillis, a staged reading and panel discussion that will celebrate Phillis Wheatley Peters, the first African American and the second American woman in the United States to publish a book of poetry. The event commemorates the 250th anniversary of the publication of Phillis Wheatley Peters’s groundbreaking book, Poems on Various Subjects, Religious and Moral.  Look for the statue of Phillis Wheatley on the Commonwealth Avenue Mall.

This three-part event includes: 

1. a staged reading written by British-Nigerian playwright Ade Solanke and directed by Regge Life. Faces of Phillis includes two dramatized moments from Phillis Wheatley Peters’ life.  Adeola Solanke, also known as Ade, is an award-winning playwright, screenwriter, and founder of Spora Stories. Her acclaimed debut play, “Pandora’s Box,” received a Best New Play nomination in London’s Off-West End Theatre Awards. Ade has been recognized as the Best Playwright in the Nigerian Entertainment and Lifestyle Awards and received Best Play honors in the African Film Awards. Her work has graced renowned stages across the UK, including Arcola, Young Vic, and Sheffield Crucible Theatres. Ade recently completed two Fulbright Distinguished International Fellowships at Emerson College and the University of Southern California.

2. a panel discussion featuring Ade Solanke, our playwright, Meredith Bergmann, the sculptor for the 2003 Boston Women’s Memorial, and Kyera Singleton, the Executive Director of the Royall House Museum.

3. a dramatic poetry reading by Boston’s Poet Laureate and BPL Trustee, Porsha Olayiwola.

The event will take place in the Boston Public Library’s Rabb Lecture Hall on Boylston Street on December 4 from 6 – 7:30. For those who can’t make it in person, sign up here to access the event virtually on Vimeo for one week following the production.