March 2025 Meeting - Mack Lessig - Community Gardens in Manatee County

March Meeting - Mack Lessig - Community Gardens in Manatee County

Meeting Date/Time: Monday, March 9th, 2026, 7pm

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

Mack Lessig serves as the Residential Horticulture Agent for UF/IFAS Extension Manatee County. A proud Manatee County native, Mack earned his Bachelor’s degree in Biology from the University of Florida. His professional expertise is grounded in vegetable and fruit production, with a specialized emphasis on vegetable entomology and Integrated Pest Management (IPM). Beyond his official duties, Mack is an advocate for sustainable living, channeling his personal passions for beekeeping and backyard food production into helping residents cultivate productive, resilient landscapes.

Mack will speak on the Community Gardens Program in Manatee County, in particular the development and management of the community gardens program in Manatee County over the last eight years. This includes community gardens, which provide shared land for residents to grow fresh produce, and school gardens, which serve as outdoor laboratories for student education. He will explain the "Manatee Model" of operation—focusing on site sustainability, the integration of food forests for low-maintenance perennial production, and the technical support provided by the Extension. He will also discuss future expansion goals, and a guide for how we can support these initiatives 
through volunteering or mentorship.

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Please bring fruit for the tasting table and/or plants to donate for the raffle (no citrus plants, please). Don’t forget to collect a free raffle ticket for your donation. Your participation is very much needed and appreciated.

A friendly reminder: If you bring a plant, please label what it is. Also, write your name and the plant on the Raffle list. If you win a plant, please put your name next to the plant on the Raffle list.

Meetings are not recorded. First time visitors are welcome! Become a member for only $12. Join online or at a monthly meeting. https://www.mrfc.org/p/become-member.html

February 2026 Meeting - Russell Fielding - Breadfruit

February Meeting - Russell Fielding - Breadfruit

Meeting Date/Time: Monday, February 9th, 2026, 7pm

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

Our February speaker will be Russell Fielding, an environmental geographer whose research focuses on sustainable food systems in coastal and island settings. He earned graduate degrees in geography from Louisiana State University and the University of Montana, as well as an undergraduate degree from the University of Florida. Currently an Associate Professor at Coastal Carolina University with a joint appointment in the Department of Anthropology and Geography and the HTC Honors College, he also holds a research position with the Ocean Nexus Program at the University of Rhode Island.

Dr. Fielding has a special interest in breadfruit, one of the tropical world’s staple crops, and the topic of his book, Breadfruit: Three Global Journeys of a Bountiful Tree, recently published by the Columbia University Press. His presentation will discuss these three journeys: first, from its origins in Southeast Asia across the Pacific; second, its transplantation to the Caribbean; and a third journey that is currently taking place, one that is spreading breadfruit throughout the world. And he will include a special focus on breadfruit cultivation in Florida.