Community Education

Cooking with Local and Native Foods

Cooking with Local and Native Foods with Myra Murphy

The aim of our community education classes, events and volunteer opportunities is to come together as an extended “neighborhood” with expert teachers in our community to gain new knowledge and skills. Participants will acquire the knowledge and tools to live healthier and more sustainable lives and meet teachers and like-minded people in our community. Our workshops focus on and energize local and regional efforts toward making our community a better place to live, grow and prosper.

As we learn and celebrate our food traditions, promote practices that create a healthy body, environment and culture, support local businesses that improve our community, advocate for food, water and energy security, and enhance the artistic and spiritual aspects of life, our connections to our food, environment and community are enhanced.

The goals of our educational programs are:

Teaching gardening skills and how to prepare home and community gardens:
Workshop - Composting, Vermiculture, Square Foot Gardening

Composting, Vermiculture, and Square Foot Gardening with Merle Herrick

  • Soil, seeds, composting and irrigation
  • Beekeeping, and home scale husbandry
  • Different approaches to organic, regenerative gardening and permaculture
  • Bio and culturally diverse gardening
  • Volunteer opportunities
Cooking, preserving and eating local and native foods:
  • Traditional Native American crops and their preparation
  • Identifying wild foods of our region
  • Preparing seasonal local foods from gardens and farmers’ markets
  • Making choices for a climate friendly diet
Developing awareness of medicinal, culinary, and dye properties of plants:
  • Identifying native plants and their medicinal qualities
  • Identifying and using plants for toxic-free and medicinal textile dyes
  • Teaching how to prepare and use them
  • Demonstrating how to propagate and grow herbs in home gardens

    The Medicinal Herb Garden

    The Medicinal Herb Garden at 7 Centers Yoga Arts with Feather Jones

Advocating for healthier and more sustainable communities:
  • Informing about hunger and programs to address it
  • Promoting a secure and healthy local food system
  • Promoting soil, water, and energy conservation
  • Supporting the goals of local “green businesses”
  • Supporting area non-profits that address social and environmental needs
Demonstrate the artistic and spiritual aspects of an earth-conscious life
  • Celebrating arts and traditions of our community, building a “sense of place”
  • Celebrating different spiritual traditions associated with planting and agriculture
  • Developing aesthetic, spiritual and creative inspiration from connecting with nature
  • Developing a nurturing ethic of environmental stewardship applied to all relationships

    Workshop - Backyard Beekeeping

    Backyard Beekeeping at Garland’s Orchard with Patrick Pynes

If you wish to present a workshop that addresses one of the topics above:
Download a workshop-plan-sheet>>
Contact us>>
To find out more about our upcoming Community Education events visit our Events and Workshop page here>>

 

Our Community Education Programs are made possible by individual contributions, and by grants from our sponsors:

 

 

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