Sustainable Foods, Farm & Gardens   

Do you have a favorite shirt or pair of jeans with a hole in them, stains, or weak spot? Do you hate the idea of sending them to the landfill? Here’s your solution: transform your holey clothing into a work of slow fashion art! If you can thread a needle and sew on a button, you’ve got the skills you need. The fiber industry is one of the biggest polluters in the world- behind only the oil and gas industry. Repairing and refurbishing your clothing keeps your clothing out of the waste stream, saves you money, gives you a creative outlet, and will make you the envy of your friends. Join us in this 6 week exploration into the world of mending. We will be learning mending of socks, jeans and other pants, shirts and more types of clothing using techniques of weaving, embroidery, knitting, and more. Minimal sewing skills are required- we’ll teach you what you need to know although some familiarity is useful.

Thanks to funding from the Kalamazoo Foundation for Excellence, a full scholarship is available to residents of Vine, Edison, Oakwood, Eastside and Northside neighborhoods. Please email fic@kvcc.edu or call 269-548-3315 for a discount code if you live in one of these five neighborhoods. 

Herbs are a traditional source of nutrition and healing. Students will explore the impact of ancestral plants, sources of materia medica, ethical and sustainable foraging techniques, as well as recipes for building a home apothecary. We will engage in on-campus plant walks to discuss bioregional, cultivated and seasonal plants. Includes hands-on workshops.

Thanks to funding from the Kalamazoo Foundation for Excellence, a full scholarship is available to residents of Vine, Edison, Oakwood, Eastside and Northside neighborhoods. Please email fic@kvcc.edu or call 269-548-3315 for a discount code if you live in one of these five neighborhoods. 

Do you want to lower your carbon footprint and make your own organic fertilizer in one simple process? Learn to compost! Composting is the process for recycling wastes like kitchen

scraps and grass clippings into an organic soil amendment that will help your garden retain moisture and support beneficial microorganisms. It’s a great alternative to putting food and yard wastes in landfills, where they generate methane. This workshop will include a demonstration of assembling a quick compost pile, and discussion of various composting setups based on space available. 

Thanks to funding from the Kalamazoo Foundation for Excellence, a full scholarship is available to residents of Vine, Edison, Oakwood, Eastside and Northside neighborhoods. Please email fic@kvcc.edu or call 269-548-3315 for a discount code if you live in one of these five neighborhoods. 

In this course participants will learn about the necessary role native plants play in creating local ecosystems and how to garden for wildlife in a space of any size. Participants will be introduced to common native trees, grasses, and flowers, and discuss how to incorporate these plants into their gardening practices. Participants will learn different germination methods for seed starting and make their own kit to take home. 

Thanks to funding from the Kalamazoo Foundation for Excellence, a full scholarship is available to residents of Vine, Edison, Oakwood, Eastside and Northside neighborhoods. Please email fic@kvcc.edu or call 269-548-3315 for a discount code if you live in one of these five neighborhoods. 

Dark Spaces. Soft blossoms. Secrets. Enchantment. These are words and phrases that conjure the romantic and mysterious images of the newest garden craze: Gothic Gardens. In landscape design, gothic gardens are trending as spaces that enable visitors to feel like they’re in a different time and place. Come join us for a fun-filled class that explores how to use dark, mysterious plants, stone statuary, and your own ideas to create a mysterious haven of your own. Each attendee will receive a winter hardy perennial goth plant.  

Thanks to funding from the Kalamazoo Foundation for Excellence, a full scholarship is available to residents of Vine, Edison, Oakwood, Eastside and Northside neighborhoods. Please email fic@kvcc.edu or call 269-548-3315 for a discount code if you live in one of these five neighborhoods. 

Come join us in learning about growing your own gourmet mushrooms from locally available materials! We will grow oysters, shiitake, winecaps, and more. Students will learn how to procure substrates and create good environments for mushroom growth. We will also discuss how to use coffee grounds and other composted material as substrates for mushroom growth.  Some mushroom identification is practiced during this course as well. Come ready to learn about the savory mysteries of fungal farming. Students take home different inoculated mushroom media at the end of each session. 

Thanks to funding from the Kalamazoo Foundation for Excellence, a full scholarship is available to residents of Vine, Edison, Oakwood, Eastside and Northside neighborhoods. Please email fic@kvcc.edu or call 269-548-3315 for a discount code if you live in one of these five neighborhoods. 

Many species of wildlife need seed heads, ground cover, food, and homes in the winter. By selectively leaving some items in your garden all winter, you can provide habitat and winter beauty for you and the wildlife to enjoy. We will have a classroom discussion and work in the gardens at the Food Innovation Center to show you methods of preparing your garden for winter.

Thanks to funding from the Kalamazoo Foundation for Excellence, a full scholarship is available to residents of Vine, Edison, Oakwood, Eastside and Northside neighborhoods. Please email fic@kvcc.edu or call 269-548-3315 for a discount code if you live in one of these five neighborhoods. 

Hydroponics, or the process of growing plants in nutrient-rich water without the use of soil, has been around for hundreds of years. Although typically run as large-scale commercial operations, hydroponics provides a variety of benefits to the home gardener as well. This class will teach the very basics of home hydroponics including light needs, water, pH, growing mediums, and building and operating your own small-scale setup. Participants will leave with resources for purchasing table-top gardens, plans for DIY setups, and starter plants or seeds.

Thanks to funding from the Kalamazoo Foundation for Excellence, a full scholarship is available to residents of Vine, Edison, Oakwood, Eastside and Northside neighborhoods. Please email fic@kvcc.edu or call 269-548-3315 for a discount code if you live in one of these five neighborhoods. 

Microgreens and sprouts are so easy to grow and require very little light, so they are perfect to grow in a window.  They also grow quickly so you can have some tasty and interesting greens in just 1-2 weeks. We will be seeding microgreens and sprouts to take home in this class. We will discuss how to care for them as well as the harvesting process.

Thanks to funding from the Kalamazoo Foundation for Excellence, a full scholarship is available to residents of Vine, Edison, Oakwood, Eastside and Northside neighborhoods. Please email fic@kvcc.edu or call 269-548-3315 for a discount code if you live in one of these five neighborhoods. 

Microgreens and sprouts are so easy to grow and require very little light, so they are perfect to grow in a window.  They also grow quickly so you can have some tasty and interesting greens in just 1-2 weeks. We will be seeding microgreens and sprouts to take home in this class. We will discuss how to care for them as well as the harvesting process.

Thanks to funding from the Kalamazoo Foundation for Excellence, a full scholarship is available to residents of Vine, Edison, Oakwood, Eastside and Northside neighborhoods. Please email fic@kvcc.edu or call 269-548-3315 for a discount code if you live in one of these five neighborhoods. 

Hydroponics, or the process of growing plants in nutrient-rich water without the use of soil, has been around for hundreds of years. Although typically run as large-scale commercial operations, hydroponics provides a variety of benefits to the home gardener as well. This class will teach the very basics of home hydroponics including light needs, water, pH, growing mediums, and building and operating your own small-scale setup. Participants will leave with resources for purchasing table-top gardens, plans for DIY setups, and starter plants or seeds.

Thanks to funding from the Kalamazoo Foundation for Excellence, a full scholarship is available to residents of Vine, Edison, Oakwood, Eastside and Northside neighborhoods. Please email fic@kvcc.edu or call 269-548-3315 for a discount code if you live in one of these five neighborhoods. 

Join us in revealing many of the ways to make more food with less from home! In an era of climate change and energy decline, we will benefit from being more involved in producing our own food to ensure access to the most nutritious and life supporting meals. The secret is that it can be fun and easier than you think to care for your family, friends and city’s ecology. Come join us in learning to make simple gardens (indoor and outdoor), planting perennial food crops, foraging wild edibles, preservation and fermentation of crops, raising urban livestock, cheese making, composting and mushroom cultivation. A class for all ages and all scales of land access.

Thanks to funding from the Kalamazoo Foundation for Excellence, a full scholarship is available to residents of Vine, Edison, Oakwood, Eastside and Northside neighborhoods. Please email fic@kvcc.edu or call 269-548-3315 for a discount code if you live in one of these five neighborhoods.