Urban Food Gardening & Community Building Workshops
empowering
individuals with skills to create sustainable urban communities
Over
50% of humans now live in cities. The urban environment, rich with culture and
history, can be designed as a productive and healthy ecosystem, mitigating pollution
and poverty and supporting strong communities. Within cities we can grow
food, alleviate hunger, create jobs, make our homes more efficient, and generate
cities that thrive.
Urban Food Gardening and Community Building Workshops engage participants in how we can work with nature and in our community to grow our food, clean our air and water, and restore biological and economic prosperity to our cities.
Workshops cover:
-- ecological principles applied to the cityscape
-- waste = food: compost, sheet mulching, soil testing
-- water harvesting, remediation, and reuse
-- forest gardening and annual vegetable production
-- raised bed and container gardening
-- community gardens and engaging neighbors & kids
-- obtaining land and finding cheap/free resources
Participants walk away with skills that include:
-- how to plant, water, fertilize, harvest, and save seed from annuals &
perennials-- ways to design a garden for food, medicine, habitat, and beauty
-- digging swales and catchments to clean water and reduce erosion
-- setting up a rainwater harvesting tank, worm bin, and compost bin
-- proper use, cleaning, and storage of tools
2010 Workshops
Each workshop is customized for the particular context of your community, site uniqueness, and climate.
WORKSHOP 1 -- URBAN FOOD GARDENING
What does it take to grow food in the city? This workshop covers the essentials
of establishing gardens on poor soil, cultivating food in the city, soil
remediation and fertility, water catchment, and basic care of annual and
perennial fruits, vegetables, and herbs. Following principles of Permaculture,
participants learn to design beautiful and productive systems by exploring
annual gardens, food forests, mushroom yards, rainwater gardens, and container
gardens.
WORKSHOP 2 - ECOLOGICAL DESIGN & COMMUNITY BUILDING
Growing plants is one component of creating sustainable
urban communities. Urban gardens
depend on a healthy and interconnected web of children and adults to thrive in
the long term. This workshop aims to train the trainers who actively work with
food, nutrition and urban sustainability projects from school gardens to
large-scale urban agriculture to community food projects.
This workshop covers the steps it takes to organize and engage people, build support for a food project, organize and promote events, and sustain a trusting and transparent social structure. In addition we dive deeper into the permaculture design process and explore how good design can support a successful project.
Scheduled Workshops
We are working on booking 2010 workshops.....please check back!
Want a workshop in your area? Each workshop is customized for the particular context of your community, site uniqueness, and climate. Typically, we work with an existing group or organization to develop the workshop specifics and schedule a date. You find the venue and advertise to your local community. We will advertise to our appropriate networks and on the Work With Nature web site. If you are an individual interested in taking one of these workshops, please contact us. We will list workshops as they become scheduled and how you can register. However, we encourage you to speak with other people and organizations in your community who may want to collaborate to organize a workshop. As an individual organizer, you get to attend the workshop for free.