Course Description
Introduction to Urban Edible Gardens — Gardening as if your meals depend on it.
April 6- April 8, 2007. Washington D.C.
Learn to garden organically in an urban environment. This hands-on and intensive two and a half day workshop will teach you how to grow a variety of food in your urban yard (or patio). Taking into account all the obstacles an urban setting presents to a gardener, this course covers how to work with “urban nature” rather than against it and to take advantage of valuable urban resources. Topics of the course will include, but are not limited to: low-maintenance gardening & design, soil amendments & preparation, water catchment, composting — all through a permaculture* approach.
*Permaculture is a method of working with nature to design systems to provide basic human needs such as food, shelter and health. This workshop serves as an introduction to the wisdom of permaculture and its possibilities for application in Washington D.C. (The material covered in this course can be applied to a full 72-hour permaculture certification course).
Instructor: Marisha Auerbach. Joining us from Olympia, Washington, Marisha is a long-time permaculture educator and practitioner. She specializes in sustainable urban food production, flower essences and herbal tinctures and has taught courses across the US, Canada and Central America. For more information on Marisha, visit her website www.herbnwisdom.com/Permaculture.php.
Schedule:
* Intro: Friday, April 6th. 7-10pm. Location: To be announced.
* Part I: Saturday, April 7th. 10am- 5pm. Location: The 7th Street Garden.
* Part II: Sunday, April 8th. 12pm- 6pm. Location: The 7th Street Garden.
* Cost: $150, due March 16th. *Work/trade or scholarships available for qualifying residents. (Intro & Part I only: $100) Deposit: $75, due March 15th.
For more information and to register contact: Liz Falk at 7thStreetGarden [at] gmail.com or (202) 722 2962. www.shawecovillage.org, www.the7thstreetgarden.squarespace.com
Course Schedule (Topics may change slightly)
Friday, April 6: 7-10pm. Location: To be announced.
Growing your own Food! Introduction to course. Talk, slide show and video summarizes topics of the course. Hands-on: make seed balls
Saturday, April 7: 10 am – 5 pm. Location: The 7th Street Garden
10 – 10:30am: Introductions, Introduction to The 7th Street Garden
10:30 – 11am: Food Security: Where does our food come from? The future of our food.
11 – 11:30am: What is permaculture? Why is it a response to the changing state of food? To climate change? To overall sustainability?
11:30am – 12 pm: Permaculture ethics: The ethics that we live by.
12 – 1 pm: Waste, compost, waste=food.
Hands-on: Build compost bin/pile appropriate for urban environment (if outside, to keep the rats out & inside composting for apartment residents)
1 – 2pm: lunch (provided)
2 – 2:30 pm: Permaculture principles
3 pm – 5 pm: Introduction to soils, the power of mushrooms, mulching, manure, sheet mulching, ‘Food Not Lawns’
Hands-on: Sheet mulching, inoculate mushrooms
Sunday, April 8: 12 pm – 6 pm. Location: The 7th Street Garden
12 – 12:30pm: Best of yesterday, recap of ethics and principles
12:30 – 2 pm: Design methodologies; design for your urban garden space
2 – 3pm: Using your backyard or patio: Herbs, Building raised beds, containers gardens
Hands-on: Build an herb spiral, plant containers
3 – 3:15pm: break (snack provided)
3:15 – 4:15 pm: Capturing water, conserving water, and watering your garden
Hands-on: Set up rain barrels
4:15 – 5 pm: Perennial Forage Systems (How to create low-maintenance food gardens), Envisioning and planning for the future
Hands-on: Sowing, transplanting, broadcast
5:15 – 6 pm: Urban food security, envisioning possibilities, finishing hands-on, closing
About the 7th Street Garden— The 7th Street Garden is located in the heart of Washington, D.C.’s Shaw neighborhood. The Garden is a highly productive community food
garden wherein low income residents learn to grow, utilize and market local, seasonal and affordable produce. The Garden will greatly contribute to food security, economic opportunity and enhance the environmental in this community. As well, we are committed to creating a site that demonstrates urban environmental sustainability. The 7th Street Garden will educate and engage youth and adults, instill a sense of neighborhood pride where ideas can flourish, senses will be engaged, defenses will be disarmed and
multidisciplinary educational opportunities will abound.