GardenABCs is a forum for parents, educators and community members seeking guidance, resources, fundraising, networking and teaching support to start and maintain learning gardens.

Whether they're school- or community-based, urban farms or native land restoration projects, gardens are valuable teaching tools.

The goal of this share-site is to bring people together to promote the environment, healthy eating, exercise, sustainability, self-reliance, core values, academics, and charitable giving through garden initiatives.

GardenABCs

Are rabbits devouring your veggies? Are deer making a dinner of your shrubs?

Well, the Illinois Department of Natural Resources (IDNR) and University of Illinois Extension have developed a new website -- Living with Wildlife in Illinois -- to help Illinois residents coexist with wildlife, especially in urban areas.

This excellent site helps people identify animals, suggests ways to prevent problems, provides a wildlife directory and answers many public health and safety questions.

In addition, it guides users on determining whether or not they need an animal control permit as well as what to do with sick, injured or orphaned wildlife.

Living with Wildlife in Illinois

The Garden Web provides a wealth of information for gardeners. My favorite section is Garden Voices where highlights of gardening blogs from around the world are posted. The Web site also features garden forums, a directory of gardening organizations and botanical gardens, a database of plant information and a garden exchange.

Garden Web

The Chicago Botanic Garden's Illinois Best Plants Web site allows you find plants to fit into your landscape plan. You can search for plants based on sun, size of plant, flower color and plant type. Information is also provided on plant care and recommended cultivars with photographs.

Illinois Best Plants

Cyndi's Catalog of Garden Catalogs

Cyndi Johnson gardens in California and has developed an online resource for home gardeners, Cyndi's Catalog of Garden Catalogs. She has a listing of more than 2000 mail-order gardening catalogs in the United States and Canada. The companies are rated for quality, service and price.

Food Safety Music Videos

Nancy Kreith, University of Illinois Extension Horticulture Coordinator emailed me this web site a couple of weeks ago. The focus of the site is to promote food safety. The site uses musical animations to get their message across to the viewer. The animations were produced at New Mexico State University as part of USDA CSREES National Integrated Food Safety Initiative Project Number CD-D-FST-7057-CG.

The project title is "Improving Food Safety Education Through Use of Music-Based Curricula" and the Project Director is Carl Winter at the University of California, Davis. Other cooperating educational institutions on the project are the University of Idaho, Clemson University, the University of Delaware, and North Carolina State University.

My favorite video is "Don't be a Gambler" which shows you how to properly prepare burgers. Another great video especially for kids is "You Better Wash Your Hands" sung to the Beatles song, "I Want Hold Your Hand". Other videos include "We Are the Microbes", "Don't Get Sticky Wit It", "Stomachache Tonight" and "Veggie Believer". Audio versions are also available on the Web site.

Christmas Trees and More

Years ago before the internet was around we would put together a brochure of local Chicagoland Christmas tree farms and run it off on a mimeograph machine. For you youngsters, a mimeograph machine was used to make multiple copies of brochures, articles etc.

When the World Wide Web came on the scene we decided to put the Christmas tree farms listing online, plus other Christmas tree related information. As a result the web site Christmas Trees and More was born.

The main feature of the web site is a listing of Christmas tree farms in Northeast Illinois and the rest of the state, plus the adjacent states of Michigan, Indiana and Wisconsin. Farms can be sorted by city and county. The Christmas tree types section provides information on needle retention and aroma with pictures of the trees. There are also sections on Christmas tree facts, tree fun and tree education.