Please join us for our next COP virtual meeting 

on HT/TH work with the Elder Community

Our next session will be on 1/22/25 and we will continue to schedule the COP on the 4th Wednesday of the month at 7.00pm.

This forum on HT/TH work with the Elder Community, across the Continuum of Care, offers an inspiring and valuable opportunity for professionals in the field, students, and others, to share topics of mutual interest. The diversity of perspectives and experiences leads to thought provoking discussion, and practical suggestions for programming and client interactions. 

For more information about the COP contact Fred Ellman at fred@ongrowingmindfulness.com

Please contact megan.fainsinger@gmail.com to be added or removed from the mailing list for the monthly ZOOM LINK email.

All are welcome and encouraged to attend.

Home Gardeners School

Rutgers Home Gardeners School provides expert instruction in a variety of classic and innovative gardening and landscaping subjects for beginner and advanced gardeners! 

March 25 2025

Click here for more info.

PLANT-O-RAMA is Metro Hort Group’s annual Symposium, Trade Show & Career Fair for Horticulture Professionals. It is our largest program of the year attracting nearly 1,000 gardeners, designers, arborists, and educators working in public parks, botanical gardens, & private gardens and landscapes in the New York City Tri-State region.

Tuesday, January 28, 2025
Symposium, Trade Show & Career Fair
9:00 am – 4:00 pm
At Brooklyn Botanic Garden

FEATURED SPEAKERS:
Edwina von Gal
Founder, Perfect Earth Project, All Together Now: Collective Action in the Face of Climate Change & Biodiversity Loss
Ethan Kauffman
Director of Stoneleigh, Reimagining an Historic Landscape Using Native Plants & Sustainable Horticulture

Click here for more info.

New materials have been added!

The Potting Shed is available to all MAHTN members providing a comprehensive repository of information and ideas to support HT activities and programming. 

Inside the Potting Shed you will find: 

• On-demand access to HT webinars and videos
  
• Networking opportunities
• Access to specialized Communities of Practice
• Marketing Tool Box
• HT Activity Worksheets
• Employment Opportunites - Check out our new postings!

If you have an employment opportunities to share please email: info@mahtn.org

Check back each month to see updates and new materials added!

Access to the Potting Shed is one of MAHTN's premier member benefits. Join today to become a member!

Monthly HT Theme: New Beginnings

New Beginnings: Planning and Growing for the Year Ahead. This theme aligns with the fresh start of the new year and encourages participants to focus on renewal, goal-setting, and growth.

Share with us! Let us know what you are planning for the new year.  Tag us using #ShareMAHTN or send your photo examples to social@mahtn.org.

Horticulturally happy

Check out what is going on, on the other side of the world in HT!

Read the article here.

Top 13 HortWeek Podcasts of 2024

Check them out here!

WHO'S WHO? Meet our MAHTN Members!

1. What is your professional/educational background and how does that relate to HT (if at all)?

I have a degree in Radio/Television/Film from Temple University. I spent 27+ years in the Advertising and Marketing industry in NYC, Philly and San Francisco before I realized I was in the wrong place! In all seriousness, having that professional background has really helped me in the creation of a brand that is nationally recognized in the Veteran Service organization world - I’m pretty proud of that. I did go back to Temple in 2019 for my certificate in HT, but I am still one class short! That tells you how busy the organization is - I’m hoping 2025 will be the year I can finish and display my certificate!

2. What inspired you to get into HT? 

I was raised around gardeners (my grandparents and my mom) and it was part of my fabric. I remember my mom and grammy complaining to my college friends, “We really wish Collie liked plants!” LOL if they could see me now. For whatever reason I was more of an observer when I was young.  Once I had my own garden years later and I tended to it, I realized that just about everyone in my family was not only using the garden for sustainability, but they were using it to heal years of trauma. Especially my grandfather, who was a medic in WWII and came back pretty injured. My garden helped me recognize that it was ok to grieve and think and heal. I started Heroic Gardens in 2018 simply wanting to help the Veteran community. I had no idea there was science behind how I felt. Imagine how my head exploded when I walked into Peg Schofield’s class. She truly changed my life!

3. Describe an HT experience that has stayed with you

A few years ago, Heroic Gardens was invited to speak to a group of Veterans and talk about the idea of starting a program with them. There was a Veteran in attendance who was in a wheelchair with his arms crossed the whole time. I went up to him after the presentation and asked him if he had an interest in plants. His response was, “I don’t like flowers.” That was our exchange. 

To me, it wasn’t about the flowers. It was about the fact that he was in a wheelchair. He was thinking that he could not physically garden. So we flipped the script. Once we got him to class for a few activities, we moved to talk with him about his yard. What we learned was that he loved outdoors, but he had no way to enjoy it. Challenge accepted. We created raised bed planters for him, had him choose the perennials he wanted, invited him to select three trees for his yard and then, we poured a concrete patio complete with a wheelchair ramp from his back door. One of our corporate partners gave him a gas grill and another gave him a patio/umbrella set. Every time I would drive by, he would be out there - and new beds created, bird houses added, even a flagpole with a spotlight on the American flag. He told us that we gave him a purpose. He recently emailed me to help him create a new flower bed! Who can ever forget something like that.

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