Future Workshops Sunbow Farm
seed ambassadors
We will be giving our most in-depth seed saving workshop yet this May 16 at Sunbow Farm in Corvallis. More details are below, as are details about other upcoming classes.
Spring/Summer 2010
WATER AND WEEDS: Two major concerns for an Organic Grower
April 18 - Instructor: Harry MacCormack
This workshop combines two of our most important topics. Too much water and too little water all within one season is only one level of water concerns. Last seasons weed fiasco for both gardeners and larger farm fields demands that we revisit what we know. This workshop is aimed at making us better growers.
Water Workshop Focuses:
- -What is water?
- -What can water do for you?
- -Nutrients in water
- -Water quality in farming, gardening, and products
- -How much irrigation is needed?
- -Water delivery systems
Weed Workshop Focuses:
- -How to read weeds
- -Identification and characteristics
- -Herbicides, how they work, what they do
- -Pros and cons of various weeding techniques
- -Weeding tools
- -Stimulation and retardation of weeds
HOW TO GROW AND PROCESS NUTRIENT DENSE FOODS
April 25 - Instructor: Harry MacCormack
In The Transition Document: Toward A Biologically Resilient Agriculture Harry points to many of the topics to be covered in this workshop. He wrote an earlier book My People Are Hungry which brings to light more of the topics to be covered. This workshop addresses how Sunbow produces foods for our community, and the issues involved in building a local food system rooted in the best nutrition available.
Workshop focuses:
- -What is Nutrient Density?
- -How can it be measured?
- -Minerals, health, disease
- -Vitamins, plant specificity
- -Amino acids/proteins
- -Designing a nutrient dense garden
- -Harvest, preservation, processing, nutrient losses
- -Nutrient absorption / bio activation
- -Biogenic vs. biocidic
- -Nutrition and food safety concerns
SEED SAVING AND SEED STEWARDSHIP: The Path to Locally Adapted Seed and True Food Freedom
May 16 - Instructors: Andrew Still & Sarah Kieeger of the Seed Ambassadors Project and Adaptive Seeds
Workshop focuses:
- -Why Save Seed: A profound act of social and ecological empowerment.
- -History of an Ancient Tradition
- -Seed Sovereignty and Food Freedom in a changing world
- -Willamette Valley as one of the best seed saving regions in the world.
- -Open Pollinated, Heritage/Heirloom, Hybrid and GMO
- -Sources: the importance of choice and diversity
- -Strategies: planning your garden for seed saving
- -Isolation: Crossers and Selfers
- -Population: Inbreeding and Outbreeding
- -Selection: Simple plant breeding for locally adapted seed
- -Harvest, Cleaning and Storage
- -Examples seed stewardship
- -Re-localizing a seed stewardship community
IN THE SPIRIT OF THE GARDEN
May 30 - Instructor: Harry MacCormack
Over the years of the Organic movement reference has been continually made to the Spirit that lies within our work. What is that Spirit? Harry wrote The Catechism for the Children of De Light in 2000 to address the basics of the metaphysics that lie behind our daily decision- making. He recommends reading this book along with this workshop to help in your awakening to the fullness of who we are as we practice growing food.
Workshop Focuses:
- -Spirit as it drives how we garden and farm
- -Innocence in the garden
- -Total Energy Body relationships
- -Sentience
- -Is growing food natural?
- -Natural tendencies and alignment
- -Resilience in agricultural processes
FALL AND WINTER ORGANIC GARDENING
June 13 - Instructor: Harry MacCormack
Along with a select few other growers in the Corvallis area, Harry and the others at Sunbow Farm have for 35 years worked out ways to grow foods throughout the "off season". He has shared much of this knowledge through articles and in lectures throughout this and other countries.
This workshop is both a goad and a revelation of secrets. You will leave the session knowing what seems simple but requires discipline, awareness, and daily practice. Off season gardening is a total yoga.
Workshop Focuses:
- -What’s with Winter in Summer? Why timing is essential.
- -Varieties for planning Fall and Winter foods.
- -Strategies for germination.
- -Fertility, how much of what, when?
- -Technical aids, an introduction to off season equipment
BEAN, GRAIN & EDIBLE SEEDS: Homestead Scale
June 27 - Instructor: Harry MacCormack
Harry has been working with grains, beans, and seeds on a homestead scale for 39 years. During the past 5 years the research plots at Sunbow Farm have been a large part of the drive to create the Southern Willamette Valley Bean and Grain Project. Current plantings include black, pinto, soy, lentil, red and garbanzo beans. 3 rye varieties, 2 triticale varieties, 4 wheat varieties, 2 varieties of quinoa, amaranth, buckwheat and sunflower will all be demonstrated during this workshop.
Workshop Focuses:
- -Field preparation, rotations, moisture, temperature
- -Over-wintering, advantages and disadvantages
- -Varieties for Fall and Spring planting, some very old
- -Nutritional measurements, the WSU work we’re a part of
- -How much is needed for a person, family, community: or how many pounds to expect from a 20’ x 20’ plot
- -Harvest how to
- -Threshing by hand and/or machine ; machine designs
- -Storage
- -Creative uses of beans, grains, seeds
- -Potential community supported markets and storage
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The Seed Ambassadors Project
www.seedambassadors.org
Adaptive Seeds
www.adaptiveseeds.com