Mary Houle, Shelburne News’ master gardener and columnist will join the non-profit Square Foot Gardening Foundation (SFGF) at the 2010 World Hunger Symposium as an ambassador and instructor in the SFG "Teaching the Teachers" training program to be held in the Pacific Rim. The symposium begins on May 19 with the conference to End World Hunger and follows with three days of teaching participants SFGF’s intensive gardening techniques. Brigham Young University is the official sponsor and arranged for more than 150 students from the Pacific Rim to attend this symposium. Wind Ridge Publishing is sponsoring Houle’s participation in the event.

Square Foot Gardening is an intensive gardening technique developed by Mel Bartholomew that saves space, preserves resources, and reduces use of chemicals to produce organic food crops. Now operating the non-profit Square Foot Gardening Foundation from Eden, Utah, Bartholomew has launched a campaign to help end global hunger by teaching SFG techniques to gardeners/teachers around the world. The intention is to make this an annual function where participants learn this method of gardening and then return to each of their countries with hands-on knowledge, as well as practical and efficient techniques to help families put nutritious food on the table.

Bartholomew utilizes the talent and energy of volunteers to teach SFGF methods in humanitarian programs around the world. At each SFGF three-day teacher certification program taught in the United States, Bartholomew invites participants to volunteer to teach this method to others in less fortunate circumstances.

"Mary provided the SFG Foundation her gardening background, samples of the Shelburne News with her writing and a summary of some of her community volunteer work, which includes two programs in Shelburne – the Tree Give Away and The Great Pumpkin Contest – which are sponsored by [Wind Ridge] Publisher Holly Johnson at the local farmers market in Shelburne, said SFGF Operations Manager Victoria Boudman. She continued, "Mary…takes all the energy of three people and crams it into one delightful person. In April, she took over our Burlington, Vermont three-day lecture at Gardener’s Supply and streamlined the operations for the book and product sales. We are glad to have her time, talent, and passion joining us for the time we are teaching in the Pacific Rim."