The 3rd Annual A Harvest of Hope.com home and garden event is taking place from Friday, June 3 through Sunday, June 5 at 2201 Santiago Drive, Newport Beach (located off Irvine Avenue).
There will be one-of-a-kind found, repurposed and artistic items for sale for the home and garden in addition to free sustainable living workshops.
Workshops Schedule (all are open to the public and free, but making a donation of $10 through PayPal guarantees you a seat).
• Friday, June 3 at 11:30 a.m. – “How to Feed Your Family Healthy Food on $25 a Week Without Clipping Coupons,” with author Gabrielle Sunheart.
• Friday, June 3 at 1 p.m. – “Get the Buzz on the Bees.” These indispensable pollinators play an important role in the sustainability of our food and future. Bill Walter of Guerilla Beekeepers will share his passion for rescuing wild honeybee colonies wherever possible and raising bees.
• Friday, June 3 at 2:30 p.m. – “A Green Approach to Redecorating/Rebuilding.” Donna Whelan, a local interior designer with a vision for elegantly relaxed interior design, and a taste for the greater beauty of natural, organic and re-purposed elements. Her daughter Caitlin, who is a jewelry designer will be joining her. Together they opened Little Relics studio and used almost entirely natural elements or repurposed antiques.
• Saturday, June 4 at 10:30 a.m. – “Making Your Garden a Magical Place with Fairy Gardens.” Master Gardener Jan Brider creates fairy gardens with unique personalities, which might include miniature fences and garden tools or fairy figurines focusing on tiny details. During the workshop, you’ll learn to design and create a lovely place for a fairy to come and visit your garden.
• Saturday, June 4 at Noon – “Emergency Preparation for Orange County – Are you Ready for the Big One?” Kirk Dominic, Interim Fire Chief for Costa Mesa Fire Dept., will share sound, practical and life-saving information so that we can be prepared to help ourselves, our families and our neighbors in the event of a disaster.
• Saturday, June 4 at 1:30 p.m. – “Sustainability – What Does it REALLY Mean?” Jesse Baker is a Ph.D. will impart numerous ways that will help us as individuals and consumers to make conscience lifestyle choices that make sense and will inspire and empower us to influence how businesses impact our world. He is the founder of ecofficiency.org, an Orange County-based organization whose mission is to inspire an ethic of consumer responsibility, lifestyle choices, and individual actions that result in positive impacts on society and the environment.
• Saturday, June 4 at 3 p.m. – “What the Heck Do you Do with Kolhrabi?” Organic farmer John Sweredoski will give you the entertaining answers and some delicious approaches to preparing and eating what you find at farmer’s markets.
• Sunday, June 5 at 2 p.m. – “A Garden Scavenger Hunt for Kids.” Camille Beehler, who owns Petite Pots, will captivate kids as they gain a close-up look at and explore the wonders of the plants and creatures that thrive in the garden.
Two special evening events are planned. On Thursday, June 2 from 6:30 to 9 p.m., there will be a “Women Who Wine and Shop Preview Sale.” Roam the garden and enjoy delicious select wines and cheeses. A $25 donation gives you first dibs on their one-of-a-kind home and garden treasures, two glasses of wine and a chance to walk away with an amazing opportunity drawing prize. Tickets are $25 per person. On Saturday, June 4 from 7-10 p.m., they’ll be holding, “From the Fields to the Garden,” with Chef Nikki Shaw (featured chef for the LA Lakers official NBA website) and Chef Diane Weber (writer and horticulturist who has been a professor of culinary arts), who will be preparing creations made from freshly harvested organic produce and other regional food sources. The event also features California wines and locally brewed beer. Guests will also enjoy the insights and wisdom of speaker, writer and founder of Common Ground, Stacey Robbins. The suggested donation for this event is $35 per person which includes food and two drink vouchers. Additional vouchers can be acquired at the event for a donation of $5 each.
Event hours: Friday, June 3 from 11 a.m. to 5 p.m.; Saturday, June 4 from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m.; and Sunday, June 5 from 12 to 4 p.m. Taking place on Sunday from 12 to 3 p.m., (immediately following the Kids’ Scavenger Hunt), experience the thrill of live Monarch butterflies at The Butterfly Pavilion, before they are released during a special ceremony at 3:30 p.m. You can sponsor a butterfly with a donation of $10. A $5 donation is requested to attend the home and garden event.
The mission of A Harvest of Hope.com is to bring opportunities for creating sustainability and well-being to local and global communities. The event will benefit the Orange County Food Access Coalition and ASAP. Orange County Food Access Coalition’s goal is to ensure that healthy, locally sourced food makes its way into the hands, kitchens and mouths of people who need it most in Orange County. ASAP (A Self-Help Assistance Program) operates in Zimbabwe and Malawi to help create sustainability through micro-finance of viable businesses, and provide people who are struggling and even starving, with the training and tools to grow food.
For more information, visit www.aharvestofhope.com and to reserve your tickets for the special evening events.
By Lana Johnson
