Organic Gardening Course at Little City Farm - 6 part series starting Jan 17!

Dates: 6 Wednesday evenings, Jan 17, 24, 31, Feb 14, 21, 28 (NO CLASS on Feb 7)
Time: 6:30-8:30 pm on each evening
Facilitator: Angie Koch, from Fertile Ground Farm
Class Location: Little City Farm, 508 Duke St W, Kitchener

REGISTER HERE NOW!

Are you serious about gaining more knowledge for developing a productive organic garden? Join us this winter for this very exciting 6 part intensive organic gardening course. 10 participants will have the opportunity to take part in this series, which will include 6 guided workshops, with opportunity for each participant to develop and complete an individual garden plan.


These classes will be facilitated by local organic farmer Angie Koch, from Fertile Ground Farm (located just west of Waterloo, near St. Agatha).  Angie has operated a market garden, CSA (community supported agriculture), for the past 10 years.  Her farm has grown to include a number of seasonal staff, interns, volunteers, as well as chickens, herb gardens, pollinator gardens, beehives, seed saving gardens, a greenhouse for seedlings, and more!  Angie is involved in Canadian Organic Growers, and the Ecological Farmers Association, as well as a part-time staff member at Seeds of Diversity.  This is a unique opportunity to learn first-hand from Angie's 10 years of organic farming experience!  Bring your notebook, your garden ideas, and your questions. 

View this short video to see Angie's beautiful organic farm!

Organic Gardening Course Outline:
Week 1: Seed and Seedling Starting - including basic plant botany
Week 2: Garden Planning Part One - succession planting for continuous harvest
Week 3: Garden Planning Part Two - using space effectively
Week 4: Soil Biology & Fertility - using organic methods
Week 5: Pest Management, Seed Saving, and Attracting Beneficial Insects
Week 6: Overflow, Q&A & Individual Garden Plans Wrap-Up - final developing, feedback and completion of individual garden plans

Please note: we need a minimum of 7 participants in order to offer this course.  We will notify you one week prior to the first class, to confirm details and what to bring along.

For more information about this course, and to register visit our course page here.

NEW Fall 2016 Workshops Posted!

Wow!  The new line-up of classes at Little City Farm for the Fall 2016 (and some Winter 2017) is now posted. Loads of new topics and intensive series of classes, to gain hands-on skills for more self-reliant living!  Check out our workshop page here.

We are excited by a whole series of great Herbal Medicine Making classes this fall, including Autumn Wellness Remedies (immune boosting tinctures & fire cider); Winter Health Remedies (cough syrups and more); DIY herbal shampoos; herbal gift-making near the holiday season (felted wool soap, herbal salves and balms, herbal bath bombs & soaks).

There are a number of Soap Making workshop dates (sign up soon to claim your spot, these workshops fill up quickly!), as well as Goats Milk Soap Making - all favourite workshops around here.

Also our usual popular classes on Wild Edibles Foraging and Lacto-Fermented Foods are back for the fall season, with a focus on autumn plants and harvest.

NEW! And new this fall, a series of Waldorf-inspired Art Classes for both children (10 Thursday afternoons from Sept-Dec), and adults (6 Wednesday evenings in Oct-Nov)!  To bring mindfulness, appreciation of nature, joy and calm into our homes through the creative use of natural art materials.  Read our facilitator bios here, and more details to register for these exciting art classes.

NEW! Finally, coming this January 2017 - a 6-Part Organic Gardening Intensive, led by our famous local organic farmer Angie Koch from Fertile Ground Farm.  We are really looking forward to this session, which is limited to 10 participants so that this small group can work through individual garden plans and take 6 weeks to gain intensive organic gardening knowledge.  Sign up here!

New Homesteading / Self-Reliance Skills Workshops open for registration!

We are excited to let you know that the new HOMESTEADING / SELF-RELIANCE SKILLS WORKSHOPS for this summer-fall 2013 at Little City Farm are now posted. 

We are taking registrations through our website via paypay here.

If you prefer not to pay using paypal please contact us directly to arrange another registration method. 

The Topics!

As usual, these down-to-earth, practical hands-on workshops are led by local facilitators (enthusiasts, not experts) - and are designed to help you "reskill" yourself in the arts of homesteading, organic gardening, permaculture and urban sustainability.  Topics this summer-fall include: building a cob oven; preserving sugar-free jams; edible landscaping & fruit tree care; DIY non-toxic household cleaners; fall wild edibles; bread baking; growing mushrooms; herbal winter remedies; soap making, and more!

Homesteading Skills Symposium - Sat, August 24

We are also very happy to announce the first ever "HOMESTEADING SKILLS SYMPOSIUM" at Little City Farm, Sat August 24 from 9 am - 4 pm.  This day-long skills & info sharing event features 10 mini workshops to choose from, a wood-fired organic pizza lunch, and lots of informal time to socialize with other urban homesteaders.  Topics for this day could include: making herbal salves; building a strawbale home; rainwater ponds; permaculture; chicken keeping; sprouting; wet felting; cob ovens; beekeeping; and more...

We are only taking 25 participants for this day, so register early to ensure your place.  The cost is $60, including workshops and lunch.  Registration is also here on our website.  Any questions please contact Karin at info@littlecityfarm.ca

Peak Moment TV: How much food can I grow around my house?

We had a friendly email from one of the producers of Peak Moment TV. They had come across our blog through the links to human powered homes, and had some good advice to offer based on their own experiences in working toward a more self-sufficient life. One useful comment was, in their experience, that for the minimal energy an electric grain mill takes to grind grain once a week for family sized batches of bread, it would probably be worth investing in such rather than the labour intensive hand-powered model (and find other places in the home to replace electric appliances with energy efficient or hand powered models). They also recommended Lehman's, a shop we had mentioned in an earlier post with links for where to buy homesteading supplies.

The Peak Moment TV has the goal of featuring "perspectives and initiatives for local self reliant living in the face of energy, climate and economic uncertainty". They have episodes featured online through their website/blog, with many useful insights and thought-provoking stories including one called "How much food can I grow around my house" (episode #87). Go to Peak Moment TV: http://www.wordpress.peakmoment.tv