Learn about ‘carbon gardening’ this Thursday

Carbon Gardening involves techniques every gardener can use in their home gardens to help mitigate and adapt to climate change.

The Valley of the Moon Garden Club will host Wendy Krupnick, vice president of the Sonoma County chapter of CAFF (Community Alliance with Family Farmers) at its Thursday, April 7, monthly meeting. She volunteers with the Sonoma County Food System Alliance, Farm Trails, the Milo Baker chapter of California Native Plant Society, and at the Laguna Foundation garden. Her small farm in the Santa Rosa plain produces produce for her farm stand there.

Carbon farming has been in the news in recent years as state and federal agencies have recognized that agriculture, specifically growing plants, can capture large amounts of carbon dioxide from the air and store it in the plants and in the soil. This happens through the process of photosynthesis, which transforms the sun's energy into the food energy most of life on earth depends on.

But large farms are not the only way that these benefits can have significant impact. As has been learned with providing habitat for birds, pollinators, Monarch butterflies and other species, the practices used in millions of home gardens can have a very big effect on our environment.

By using carbon gardening practices at home, we can not only capture carbon, helping to mitigate the climate crisis, but we can adapt to the climate extremes we are experiencing as well. These practices make gardens more resilient to heat, drought and floods, and appropriate plant choices can provide a more reliable food supply year round.

The April 7 meeting will be at 252 W. Spain St., at Burlingame Hall in the First Congregational Church. The meeting begins with socializing at 6:30 p.m. and the presentation starts at 7 p.m. All are welcome. Members are free and the guest fee is $5. A plant raffle and refreshments follow the meeting.