Sustainable Foods, Farm & Gardens   

Herbs are a traditional source of nutrition and healing. Participants in this class 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. Participants will engage in on-campus plant walks to discuss bioregional, cultivated, and seasonal plants. Includes hands-on workshops.

Tunnel nesting bees are important pollinators for fruits and vegetables. Unlike honeybees, tunnel nesting bees do not live in colonies or move in swarms, so they are also often called solitary bees. Participants in this class will learn how to build and manage a bee hotel to support their local tunnel nesting bees. Each participant will be able to take home a bee hotel at the end of the class.

This course is for the homeowner or interested beginning designer to learn how to develop and design a basic  landscape for their own home or someone else. The design process will be demonstrated and each student will design a plan for their site. The process from family inventory to plant selection will be covered. Each student will present their project and develop ideas from others as the class progresses. This is hybrid class, with both virtual and in-person components. Detailed scheduled will be shared with each studnets.  

 

This work is supported in part by the USDA National Institute of Food and Agriculture, AFRI Rapid Response to Novel Coronavirus (SARS-COV-2): Innovating Formal and Non-Formal Educational Experiences in Food and Agricultural Sciences During the Time of Social Distancing Priority Area, award #2021-67038-34209

This course is for the homeowner or interested beginning designer to learn how to develop and design a basic  landscape for their own home or someone else. The design process will be demonstrated and each student will design a plan for their site. The process from family inventory to plant selection will be covered. Each student will present their project and develop ideas from others as the class progresses. This is hybrid class, with both virtual and in-person components. Detailed scheduled will be shared with each studnets.  

 

This work is supported in part by the USDA National Institute of Food and Agriculture, AFRI Rapid Response to Novel Coronavirus (SARS-COV-2): Innovating Formal and Non-Formal Educational Experiences in Food and Agricultural Sciences During the Time of Social Distancing Priority Area, award #2021-67038-34209

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.

In this class at the Food Innovation Center seed garden, we’ll explore seed crops like beans and grains that can be grown in our region as protein-rich staple foods. You will build your knowledge and skill in growing, harvesting, cleaning, and storing seeds from a variety of dry beans and grains such as rice, amaranth, millet, barley, rye, and wheat. We’ll demonstrate tools and techniques for threshing and winnowing, selecting seeds for next year’s seed crop, and ideas for incorporating these nourishing foods into your daily diet.

If you are interested in beekeeping, but not sure what it takes to be a successful beekeeper, this class is for you. Join instructor Charlotte Hubbard in this 3-hour session where you will learn about the financial, time, physical and emotional commitment required for beekeeping. You will also learn about the essential equipment needed, where to locate hives, the various options for obtaining bees and a timeline for making it happen. 

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.

Do you want to lower your carbon footprint and make your own organic fertilizer in one simple process? Vermiculture composting uses worms to recycle food scraps and other organic material into a rich soil amendment that will help your garden retain moisture and support beneficial microorganisms. Join us in this 2-hour class to learn the basics of vermicomposting at home. We will provide each student with a bag of worms to get started in your own vermicomposting adventures.