2022-06-Coulee Region Sierra Club Newsletter June 2022

May Garden Crawl
A small but enthusiastic group toured community
gardens on La Crosse’s north side on May 24 guided by
local garden leaders, Tamra Dickinson and Todd
Huffman. Tamra met the group at Logan High School to
introduce us to the community gardens funded with a
grant from the Franciscan Sisters of Perpetual Adoration.
With the help of Logan High construction students,
concrete block and half-barrel beds grow a variety of
greens, herbs, flowers, and vining edibles. A storage shed
is now under construction, too. We visited the Northside
Elementary/Coulee Montessori gardens near Gilette and
Charles Streets next. Tamra shared some of her favorite
heirloom seeds. See the list at tinyurl.com/
TamrasFavSeeds
We made an unscheduled stopped at the urban homestead
of Willie and Kate Bittner. Though we arrived without
an appointment, they were eager to show off their
garden, chickens, rain barrels, fruit trees, solar shed and
more! Our last stop was the Kane Street Community
Garden. Todd, who retired last year as the gardens
coordinator, gave us a tour of the grounds.
Community gardens don’t need to be large to have a big
impact. To learn more about these and how you can help,
visit facebook.com/KaneStreetCommunityGarden
or LaCrosseNeighborhoodGardens.org or sign up
to help care for the GROW La Crosse school gardens at
GrowLaCrosse.org/volunteer-2 Learn to start a
community garden: tinyurl.com/startacommgarden.
June 22: Right to Harm
On Wednesday, June 22 at 4:30 p.m., the film Right to
Harm will be shown at the Platteville Public Library hosted
by Grant County Rural Stewardship. The film exposes
the devastating public health impact industrial animal
factories have on many rural communities in the U.S.
Learn more at tinyurl.com/GCRS-HarmFilm
Sign up: Family Water Outing!
Mark your calendars
and get out the water
toys and camping gear!
The annual Black River
Family Canoe Camp
will be held July 16-17!
This kid-focused trip on
the Black River brings
young families, adults
with kids, and the young at heart together to play, explore,
hike, cook out, and sleep in tents on a sand bar.
Preregistration and screening are required. Participants
must provide all their own water craft and gear, food,
clothing, drinking water, etc.
This year’s leaders will be Carol and Kevin Olson and
Beth and Justin Piggush. Learn more about it and how
to register at tinyurl.com/2022-BRFamCanoe