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CORVALLIS, Ore. – Growing our own food is an action gardeners can take to strengthen food security in our local communities.

In response to the increased food costs, high numbers of Oregonians who face food insecurity, and fragility of our supply system, a new free webinar series from the Oregon State University Extension Service Master Gardeners program focuses on growing food.

Growing Oregon Gardeners: Level Up Series for 2024 launched on Feb. 13. The first webinar was attended by more than 360 people and the recording has been viewed more than 100 times as of Feb. 28.

The series includes nine closed-captioned webinars will be broadcast at noon via Zoom and streamed via the Master Gardener Facebook page on the second Tuesday of the month through October.

The series is open to the public, for the experienced gardener, and OSU Extension Master Gardener volunteers will receive one continuing education credit for each class.

The webinars are being recorded and will be available to view on the Master Gardener website within two weeks of airdate. The topics include:

• Successful vegetable gardening in any season.
• Growing culinary herbs.
• Gardening without land.
• Garden pest management.
• Growing produce that can be donated to a food bank.
• Community gardens.
• Dormant-season fruit-tree care.
• At-home edible mushroom production.

This is the fourth year the Master Gardener program has offered a Level Up Series. The series’ advantages are two-fold: a bigger pool of instructors and more people accessing courses, said LeAnn Locher, Master Gardener outreach coordinator.

“They reach far and wide,” Locher said. “The webinars have made it possible for hundreds more people to have access to gardening information they wouldn’t have had otherwise. It’s driven a record number of people to our Master Gardener website like nothing before.”