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CAMPTON HILLS, IL       Garfield Farm Museum will hold a gardening workshop from 1:00-5:00 pm on Sunday, April 17th.  The workshop, titled “Growing Vegetables: A Lost Family Art,” will be given by garden expert, Vicki Nowicki and Penny Newkirk with the Country Garden Cuisine Cooking School. Topics will include, heirloom vegetables, organic farming, how to plant and harvest at the right time, and proper food storage.

     There will be a $45 donation for the workshop and refreshments will be provided. Reservations are required and can be made by contacting the museum at (630) 584-8485 or info@garfieldfarm.org.

     Vicki Nowicki is an award winning vegetable gardener, author, and educator with degrees in Environmental Studies, Environmental Education, and Museum Studies. She and her husband, Ron, own and operate The Land Office, a landscape design and build firm whose tag line says they work with an ecological conscience. For thirty years, Vicki has helped homeowners grow organic food in their home gardens by showing them how to restore biology to their depleted soils and by reconnecting them with the rhythms of the vegetable season. For this dedication to purpose, Vicki has won the National Garden Crusader Award in 2009. To further help homeowners who want to grow vegetables and help teach their children the skills needed, she has now provided www.libertygardens.com where people can get information from her blog. In addition, Vicki operates a lively business called Let’s Grow Slow Food. She and her crew plant, weed, irrigate, maintain and harvest beautiful, organic vegetable gardens for families until they have learned enough to take over the gardening themselves. These families’ lives are transformed once they start to grow and eat their own organic food.    

     Penny Newkirk is the founder of the Country Garden Cuisine Cooking School located just north of Garfield Farm Museum on the historic John Beatty farmstead. Beatty was the first settler in Campton Township. The cooking school is located in an 1847 brick home that was moved onto the site and restored. Penny has her own herb and vegetable gardens that have been featured in various Midwest publications. The homegrown produce and herbs are used at the school. Classes are offered on a wide variety of culinary topics.

     Garfield Farm Museum is located 5 miles west of Geneva, IL, off of Illinois Rt. 38 on Garfield Road. Garfield Farm is a former historically intact 1840s prairie farmstead and teamster inn that is being restored as a working 1840s farm.