Lorraine Ballato left corporate America and never looked back! She turned her passion for gardening into a second career as a free-lance garden writer and communicator.  Ms. Ballato wrote a regular gardening column for over five years for Housatonic Publications, reaching over 15,000 homes in northwest Connecticut.  Her articles have appeared in numerous publications including Edible Nutmeg, People, Places, and Plants and Connecticut Gardener. Her current book, Successful Self-Watering Containers on how to convert your favorite container to a self-waterer, is available from her website, www.successfulselfwateringcontainers.com.  An Advanced Master Gardener, Ms. Ballato teaches classes and speaks to civic groups, garden clubs, and other organizations on subjects as diverse as “Using Tropicals in Your Garden”, “Foolproof Hydrangeas”, and “Organic Lawn Care”.

Safe Solutions for Home Gardens and Landscapes
Saturday, March 20th, 11:00 am

Winthrop Baum and his wife Stefanie have been keeping honeybees in the backyard of their Fairfield home since 1992.  Win has served as President of the regional Back Yard Beekeepers Association (one of the largest associations of its kind in the country), and is currently serving on its Board of Directors.  Stefanie does the harvesting and marketing of their honey products, sold as “Bee Baum Honey”, while Win does all the field work.  Win is currently engaged in trying to produce bees that are better acclimated to our region through genetic selection, selecting biological factors for survival. In the non-beekeeping world, Win is a commercial property developer in Connecticut.

Bees in Battle—Perils of Pollination
Saturday, March 20th 12:30pm

Nicholas Mancini is a Certified Master Gardener from the Cooperative Extension System of the University of Connecticut, specializing in organic vegetables, fruit and brambles, and past head Master Gardener of Vegetables and Tree Fruit at Bartlett Arboretum in Stamford.  He teaches organic gardening at Norwalk Community College Extended Studies, and also works with the children at the Kathryn Croannig Child Development Laboratory School, where the children are introduced to the different vocabulary associated with gardening as well as the skills of planting, weeding and harvesting the crops in an organic garden. Mr. Mancini also teaches Organic Gardening at the Westport Continuing Education, CT Northeast Organic Farmers Association and lectures in garden clubs, horticultural societies and libraries throughout Connecticut and neighboring states. He’s a member of the Connecticut Master Gardeners Association, CTNOFA, Westport Community Garden, and is presently involved with Fairfield Earth Day. Mr. Manicini has written articles for various trade publications, and is currently writing a book entitled, Organic Gardening Simplified.  Check out his website: www.organicgardeningsimplified.com

Worm Composting
Saturday, March 20th 2:00 pm

Kate Jamison: Horticulturist, Professional Nursery Manager, and certified Horticulture Judge for the Garden Clubs of America. Ms. Jamison has been involved with the world of Horticulture since 1978. After finishing a two year certificate program with the School of Horticulture at the New York Botanical Garden, she was co-owner of Oliver Nurseries in Fairfield for 15 years. Ms. Jamison developed their renowned unique annuals department, with fun, cutting edge plants. She followed those years by working with a respected local landscape designer and then starting her own wholesale annual business with an old friend. Ms. Jamison moved to Gilbertie’s Herb Gardens (www.gilberties.com), initially in the retail arena, and currently at the wholesale nursery in Easton, where she manages the perennial business, as well as the annual plants and re-wholesale landscape yard.  

The Seed is Hope; the Flower is Joy!
Sunday, March 21st, 11:30am

Kristin Schleiter is Curator of Outdoor Gardens and Herbaceous Collections at the New York Botanical Garden. Prior to joining the staff at NYBG, Ms. Schleiter was Garden Editor at Martha Stewart Living, where she shared gardening ideas with a national audience. She has also worked at Oliver Nurseries in Fairfield as both Annual and Perennial Manager. Ms. Schleiter is currently an online gardening expert for Howdini.com (http://www.howdini.com/howdini-expert-81.html).  She received the Connecticut Nursery & Landscape Association’s Certified Nursery Professional accreditation.

A Seasonal Walk
Sunday, March 21st, 1:00pm

Mary Cook is the daughter of a chef, and learned how to cook and bake at her father's side as a little girl. Ms. Cook was baking bread for the family restaurant when she was 8 years old!  Trained and working professionally as an acoustical engineer, Ms. Cook rediscovered her passion for baking when she began taking baked goods into the office and catering friends’ parties. In 2004, she started her food blog, The Sour Dough (www.breadchick.com). Since then Ms. Cook   has become a well known food blogger who specializes in breads, especially sourdough breads.  She is a Featured Publisher with FoodBuzz (www.foodbuzz.com), the largest online food blogging resource and has been teaching in home/office baking classes in the New England area for the past three years. 

Baking With Herbs
Sunday, March 31st, 2:30pm

All lectures will take place in the Lecture Room near the Cafeteria.

Ice Matters™

Ice Matters™ is a full service Ice Carving Company located in Waterbury, CT. Since our family business opened in 1999, Bill, owner and sculptor, has won numerous awards for his creations. We take great pride in all of the sculptures we create and use only crystal clear ice blocks, which further enhances our artistic capabilities.

James Boncek, Electric Car

James Boncek, Fairfield resident, recycled his 1993 Toyota Tercel by converting it to an Electric Car. After five months of work, 144 Volts, a DC Motor and Controller, the Tercel is now a fully registered Electric Vehicle (EV). "It starts with personal environmental responsibility as well as educating the community." Come speak with James, see his car and learn more about clean transportation.

Wayne Demoranville

Mr. Demoranville creates his chainsaw wood carvings at shows, fairs, grand openings, and other events. He has crafted dozens of diverse sculptures (in stock for sale) and also accepts special custom orders. Custom tree sculpture can also be performed on the customer's property. Delivery is available for all of Mr. Demoranville's chainsaw wood carvings and for special events.