Dr. Richard M. Shiff Forum Presents: Organic Gardening:  Just what is organic? While there is much talk about the benefits of organic gardening, there is also a great deal of confusion about what exactly this means. We will discuss what is or is not meant by organic gardening, how organic standards apply to the home gardener    

Kathi Gariepy is a former special needs preschool and kindergarten teacher who has been gardening since she was a child. She is a Lifetime Master Gardener with the Massachusetts Master Gardener Association, volunteering more than 10,000 hours, past Vice President of the MMGA, past chair of the Master Gardener Advisory Board, past president of the Attleboro Garden Club and past chair of the Garden Club Federation of Massachusetts’ Gardening Study School. Kathi is a Landscape Design Consultant and on the Gardening Study Council. She has worked with the Master Gardener training program and the Caterpillar Club, in Weezie’s Garden for Children at Elm Bank, as well as being an active member of the MMGA Speakers’ Bureau and the Massachusetts Horticultural Society. Kathi has worked as lead teacher for the Massachusetts Horticultural Society, education coordinator for MassAudubon and studied landscape design at Rhode Island School of Design. Kathi currently, teaches children and adults about the wonders of nature. She, also, owns the garden design company Pleasant Vistas.  Kathi lives in an old farmhouse with perennial borders, herb gardens, a vegetable garden, grapes, blueberries, raspberries and some very old, still producing, apple trees.

If you have any questions or need further information, please contact Kelsey Casey, phone 508-830-4250x230 or email to kcasey@ocln.org.