In January we'll see the return of our "Turners" Project, which focuses on building community through conversation, education, sharing ideas, and perspectives. Started as our book club (the Du "Page-Turners"), this project has evolved over the years to also include our "Movies in the Garden" nights, which opens minds through documentaries, as well as our popular guided topic discussion meetings.

In 2025, we're back to our roots with a book discussion of "Birding to Change the World" by Trish O'Kane. This title is available in print, digitally, or as an audio book, so hopefully everyone will be able to participate. Our book discussion meeting will be held virtually in January via Zoom, so you won't even have to leave the comfort of your couch in order to participate! Look to our January newsletter for further details. In the meantime, we hope you visit your local library or bookstore to pick up your copy to read over December. See you in January! 

"Half a cup of cooked vegetables, for example cooked peas." by Hannahdownes is licensed under CC BY-SA 4.0.

Our friends at Healthy West Chicago are looking for people who feel just at home in the kitchen as they do in front of a classroom. If you are passionate about healthy eating as well as education, please consider the following teaching opportunities for two different short-term youth programs:

• Program 1: Instructing up to 24 teenagers with previous kitchen training. The focus would be on cooking with healthy whole foods, like vegetables and grains, and reducing sugar. Six classes would be held Tuesdays from 3:15-4:20 throughout January and February.
• Program 2: Instructing up to 20 elementary school students (grades 3-5). This class would be in a more traditional classroom setting, so there will be less focus on cooking skills and more on basic prepping skills for fruits and vegetables with additional education about healthy, whole food cooking. 

If either of these opportunities sound interesting to you, please contact Natalia@healthywestchicago.org for additional information. 

Cardboard & Garden Donations

We'd like to thank those who donated their clean cardboard to us this past season. However, with the garden project currently closed, we ask that no more cardboard donations be made to our "cardboard depot". Instead of being helpful, the overwintered cardboard will not get used in a timely manner and will become habitat for mice and other unwelcome garden pests. We'd hate to see your generosity turn into a problem instead of a gift, so we ask that you observe our "closed" sign on our drop-off area. We'll be happy to accept your cardboard donations again in the spring. The good news is that cardboard is one of the most highly recycled materials, with over 90% put into recycling getting reused and repurposed! 

If you have a donation of physical goods you are considering for us to use in our garden space, like old tools or gardening materials, please reach out to Lindsay (lindsayz@sustaindupage.com) first to make sure we can accommodate them. During our off-season, any surprise drop-offs become problematic for our volunteer staff as well as the grounds crew and have the potential to become damaged due to our not being aware of them.