How To Make Your Lawn A Lush, Cooling, Watersmart Haven for People, Pollinators & Pets: Learn From The Nation’s Leader In Organic Turf In-Person
Want to grow a healthy lawn that saves you money, protects your children and pets and is resilient during drought? Organic lawn care provides you with safe play spaces, heals the soil, and saves water.
The City of Boulder Climate Initiatives, Boulder Valley School District, People & Pollinators Action Network, and Non Toxic Communities are thrilled to host Chip Osborne of Osborne Organics, who has collaborated with our Parks & Recreation Department and is now working with the Boulder Valley School District to establish pesticide-free turf management systems for our children’s athletic fields and turf play areas.
Colorado has too much non-native, non-functional turf, and we should strive to transition to native landscaping whenever possible. However, turf still has a place, and when managed organically, existing grass can have cooling effects, improve soil health and reduce water use. Most importantly, safe play spaces protect children, pets and the environment from the risk of exposure to harmful lawn chemicals.
Join Chip Osborne, a national expert in organic turf management, for a free, step-by-step presentation. This presentation will enable anyone, from homeowners to athletic field managers, to improve their soil health and biodiversity, and learn how to manage their grass organically, without pesticides. Come and have all your questions answered!
This event is organized by a community partner and hosted by the Boulder Public Library.
- Date:
- Wednesday, May 7 2025
- Time:
- 5:30pm - 6:45pm
- Location:
- Canyon Theater, Main Library
- Audience:
- Adult All ages Teen
- Categories:
- Community Event Performances & Presentations
About the Presenter:
Charles “Chip” Osborne, Jr., President of Osborne Organics, LLC, and Founder of the Organic Landscape Association has over 30 years’ experience creating safe, sustainable, and healthy athletic fields and landscapes through natural turf management and over 50 years’ experience as a professional horticulturist. As a wholesale and retail nurseryman, he has first-hand experience with the pesticides, herbicides, and fungicides routinely used in the landscape and horticultural industry. Personal experience led him to believe there must be a safer way to grow plants. His personal investigation, study of conventional and organic soil science practices, and hands-on experimentation led him to become one of the country’s leading experts on growing sustainable, natural turf.
Along the path to greening his own industry practices, Chip became a regular lecturer for the Northeast Organic Farming Association Land Care Program. Chip is the vice president of Beyond Pesticides, was the Chairman of the Marblehead, MA Recreation and Parks Department for twenty years, and a speaker nationwide on the topic of turf management for athletic fields and landscapes. He speaks to a wide audience of sports field professionals, state and municipal agencies, including school districts, universities and community groups.
In 1998, Chip and Pat Beckel, co-founded The Living Lawn Project in Marblehead, MA, one of the country’s first natural lawn demonstration sites. It was a nationally recognized, living example that beautiful, healthy grass can be grown without the use of pesticides and synthetic fertilizers. He remains a dedicated environmental activist and speaker for communities wanting to learn about why and how to change their town policies.