Worker Bee Week 2024: In-Kind Trade Workshops
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Crooked Farmz
Jun 7, 2024, 9:32:11 AMJun 7
to Toronto Urban Growers
Worker Bee Week 2024
Crooked Farmz at Downsview Park
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June 17-20, 2024
10am-2pm for all events
Following a successful series of learning opportunities in 2023, Crooked Farmz is once again offering a slate of free hybrid workshop-worker bees and inviting individuals interested in learning about particular topics to participate while earning an "in-kind" 2024 compost tea subscription in return. These events will be of potential interest to urban farmers, backyard growers, gardeners, and others concerned with questions around soil health.
Full details about the how the worker bee operates can be found below the workshop descriptions.
1. Introduction to Natural Farming
Monday, June 17
The Crooked Farmz growing spaces at Downsview are an emerging exercise in principles guided by natural farming methods. Inspired by Masanobu Fukuoka and others, we attempt to work with principles of "minimum necessary intervention" to maximize the benefits of soil microbiology and local ecology. We will work through the "diagram" of our CRAY@Downsview learning space, engaging topics such as permaculture, landrace seed saving, Indigenous polyculture, minimizing external farm inputs, and more. Practically, we will tend the grounds, make seed balls for wild sowing, and prepare the mounds for planting our Three Sisters Lunar Garden.
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2. Biopriming for Plant Resilience
Tuesday, June 18
One of the most important things we can do for new plants is to ensure a healthy soil microbiome comes into close contact with seed or seedling as soon as possible post-germination. This helps inoculate the young plant with the microbiology necessary to form early root growth, strengthen plant immunity and resilience, and improve nutrient uptake later on in the growth cycle. The biodiversity present in well-made compost, not to mention the microorganisms indigenous to the soil of a particular growing context, are two sources to help with biopriming. In this workshop we will prepare simple but effective seed coatings from compost as well as make fermented plant juice (FPJ) based on Korean Natural Farming practice.
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3. Johnson-Su Composting
Register: https://crookedfarmz.localline.ca/my-products/product/293459Wednesday, June 19
Johnson-Su composting (J/S) is a method that is gaining increased interest in agricultural contexts for its ability to rapidly inoculate and remediate poor soils. It achieves this by creating a highly fungal "no-till" compost that nudges soils further up the scale of plant ecological succession. The compact size of a typical J/S bioreactor makes it ideal for urban farmers who seek high quality compost on a limited land footprint. In this workshop we will go through the process of building a Johnson-Su bioreactor from scratch, including its physical infrastructure, feedstock preparation techniques, and the principles behind successful thermophilic composting.
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4. Food Forest Planting and Reading Group
Thursday, June 20
To plant trees is to take the long view of things --- or to imagine and act on possible tomorrows long before they truly come into focus. During this session we will begin work on an edible food forest space of native trees and shrubs on the northern perimeter of the Downsview Park Farm, planting pawpaws, American hazelnuts, serviceberries, and more. We will also spend time together reading and discussing Robin Wall Kimmerer's essay "The Serviceberry: An Economy of Abundance" in the meeting place of the Lunar Garden.
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Get "paid" to learn!
We're making a limited number of our 2024 compost tea CSA subscriptions available on an "in-kind" basis. This means a trade of 4 hours of workshop working time volunteered on our newly-established Downsview Park research farm plot space in exchange for 4 issues of our freshly-brewed compost tea this summer, 2 litres received each month from June to September. Concurrent to this worker bee will be a live workshop, teachable space, and Q+A around the various topics of the day.
How it works
Participants are requested to sign up in advance for one of the fifteen (15) limited spots available prior to the respective work date by clicking on the appropriate Register link above. Each workshop runs from 10am-2pm, and will consist of a workshop theory component, live demonstration, and group work relevant to the workshop theme. The worker bee will also include a 30-minute lunch break. A main course will be provided by Crooked Farmz, though we invite all participants to contribute a small item for a collective potluck luncheon. At the conclusion of the event, you will receive 2 jars of compost tea and a voucher for a free 2024 compost tea CSA subscription from Crooked Farmz for the remainder of the season.
In-kind value
Our small-sized CSA subscriptions are currently valued at $80/season, so your 4-hour contribution (3.5 working hours + concurrent workshop + 30 min lunch) would be valued at $20/hour. For those interested in larger subscription options, you may sign up for multiple worker bees over the week as an alternative (2=Medium, 3=Large, All 4=Extra Large). Compost tea will only be available for pickup this summer at one of our many pickup locations around Toronto. These include select farmers' markets, garden centres, and the Downsview Park Farm itself.
Requirements
These are physically demanding volunteer opportunities. While we will try our best to match the work required that day to the capabilities of all those present, generally speaking you should be capable of lifting 25 pounds and being on your feet for several hours at a time under exposed environmental conditions (sun, wind, cold, light rain). In advance of beginning the worker bee, all participants will be required to sign a waiver that releases both Crooked Farmz and our landlord Fresh City Farms from any liability while on site. Please only sign up if you intend to make a commitment to be there for the full 4 hours that day!!
About CRAY@Downsview
The Compost Research Array at Downsview Park Farm (CRAY@Downsview) is an experimental teaching space being developed by Crooked Farmz as part of the Downsview Park urban agriculture partnership, launched in 2022-23. CRAY@Downsview has three primary components: first, a compost production space where different composting techniques will be practised to create finished compost of high microbial diversity to support Crooked Farmz‘ compost tea brewing; second, a field trial space in which we may research different applications of compost tea and microbial inoculation; and finally, a small permaculture space to grow plants in support of the first two components as well as contribute to the overall biodiversity of the farm.
Questions
Any questions may be directed to Sean Smith at se...@crookedfarmz.net.
Thank you!
Sean
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Brewing fresh compost teas and extracts for microbial health
in agriculture, horticulture and arboriculture.
in agriculture, horticulture and arboriculture.
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"Don't Feed the Plant, Feed the Soil!"
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