MRFC July Meeting - Pollination - Dr Jonathan Crane

Link to Slides from Dr Crane's Presentation

Join us Monday, July 10th, 2023 at 7pm.  

Harlee Building/County Fairgrounds, 1303 17th St W, Palmetto, FL 34221

Speaker: Dr Jonathan Crane

Our July Speaker

From the Program Committee

Dr. Jonathan Crane is a Professor at the University of Florida, Associate Director of the Tropical Reseach and Education Center, and Tropical Fruit Crop Specialist for IFAS Extension. The recipient of numerous awards for professional achievements and grants for his research and extension work, he is a well-known and highly respected expert in tropical fruit horticulture. His areas of specialization include tropical and subtropical fruit production systems, mitigation of environmental plant stress, plant physiology, enhanced flowering and fruit set/pollination, and sustainable production practices.

Several of our local tropical fruit experts are graduates of Dr. Crane’s annual summer course on Tropical Fruit Production and Research, and over the years he has given a number of informative presentations in our area. At our July meeting, he will speak on pollination, one of the important ingredients of successful fruit production.

June Meeting - Amanda Pike, PhD, ATR-BC - Creating a Kid Friendly Food Forest

 Join us Monday, June 12, 2023 at 7pm.  

Harlee Building/County Fairgrounds, 1303 17th St W, Palmetto, FL 34221

Speaker: Amanda Pike, PhD, ATR-BC

From the Program Committee

Our June speaker will be Amanda Pike, PhD, ATR-BC. She is a board-certified therapist, certified educational leader and owner of a two-acre, Florida permaculture farm complete with hundreds of species of edible plants, free-roaming chickens and 26 beehives. Dr. Pike serves as Education Chair and Chapter Representative for the Palm Beach County chapter of the Native Plant Society. As a local 4-H program facilitator, she helps make food forestry an accessible and practical landscaping option for the community. Her food forest currently provides an average of 70% of her family's daily meals. Her latest book, Transforming Florida Yards: A Regional Food Forest Guide, was published June 1.

At our June meeting, Dr. Pike will speak on Creating a Kid-Friendly Food Forest: how to plan and design a backyard food forest based on kid-friendly perennials that will replace groceries starting in the first year.