Sept. 8 Column: Fall Banquet with Joe Lamp’l

Those who live in the Inland Northwest are in for a treat when Oct. 10 rolls around: Joe Lamp’l, host and executive producer of the popular PBS program, “Growing a Greener World” will be the keynote speaker for this year’s Spokane County Master Gardener Fall Banquet! Yes, “that” Joe. That’s the topic of my garden column, which you can read in today’s edition of The Spokesman-Review: Lamp’l will bring behind-the-scenes stories to Master Gardeners banquet.

Everyone organizing the banquet is over the moon about Joe’s visit, and understandably so! As I explained in my column, I’ve known him for a few years and think he is just the nicest guy who has been spreading a very important message over the past 10 years: the importance of being good stewards of the environment and doing good things for our communities.

To learn more about the banquet and to purchase tickets, go to the Master Gardener Foundation of Spokane County website. This is an event you won’t want to miss!

Oh, and if you’re wondering about the photo at the very top of this post, that is Joe’s gorgeous raised bed garden! Can you say “envious”?

In 2017, our garden was featured on “Growing a Greener World” (episode 809). Joe and his cameraman Carl flew out from Atlanta and spent two very long, hot days trying to capture what Bill and I have accomplished in our garden. Joe also helped me get out the word about avoiding the use of pesticides and other chemicals and learning how to grow your own food.

This week’s video is an update on growing apples organically. Earlier this year, I shot a video detailing what we do in our own small orchard so I will include that underneath my next video. I realize this won’t be a topic of interest to everyone, but my message is this: It IS possible to grow apples without the use of chemical pesticides!