Grow Your Groceries
Classes and Courses for the Urban Farmer
Soil Born Farms’ Grow Your Groceries program is a beginning farmer and gardener training program designed to provide knowledge and hands-on experience to the aspiring urban grower. Our instructors are experienced masters of organic agriculture and horticulture and experts in farm entrepreneurship. We offer single day classes in diverse subjects such as: preparing spring, summer, fall and winter gardens; building soil fertility; garden design and seasonality; irrigation and water management; natural pest management; composting; fruit tree care; seed saving; beekeeping; foraging wild edibles and more.
Intensive long-form courses include Beginning and Intermediate Home Gardening. Designed for those interested in growing an ample amount of fruits and vegetables in a home, school, or community garden, this course provides in-depth training on concepts and best practices in sustainable annual and perennial fruit and vegetable production.
| Event | Venue | Date | Description | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Homegrown Herbalism Course | American River Ranch |
| This course is an opportunity to explore herbal medicine from soil to teacup. Participants will learn the basics of planning, starting, and maintaining an herb garden, plant harvesting and storage, safe and sustainable collection of wild medicinal plants, making home remedies for use throughout the year, and the specific applications for several medicinal plants. This is primarily a hands-on, outdoor class, with lecture woven in. |
Register |
| Free Composting Workshop | American River Ranch |
| Let’s turn our food and plant waste into something useful. Composting, or the act of breaking down organic matter, is a valuable tool for sustainable living. In this free class, we’ll discuss the basics of how to start, maintain, and harvest compost for your containers, gardens, yards, or community green spaces. This class is in partnership with Republic Services. All participants will be entered into a raffle to win prizes. |
Register |
| Family Herbalist Course Beginners Program 2019 | American River Ranch |
| Join Candis and her team in learning the basics of Western Herbology while integrating it with Ayurvedic and Traditional Chinese medicine. This six-month course will include medicine-making, plant ID, how to treat acute ailments, use of tonic herbs and food for strengthening vitality, as well as how to harvest local herbs for medicine. You will learn about your own constitutional needs and ways to balance yourself for better health and well-being. This program will include herb walks around the farm and the American River. There will be lots of tasting, smelling, and hands-on experience with the herbs! |
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| Managing Pests | American River Ranch |
| We will review common garden pests in the Sacramento areas and how to manage them without toxic pesticides. There will be a special focus on beneficial insects. A portion of the class will be outside in the field to find and identify pests and their natural enemies on site. |
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| Intermediate Urban Backyard Beekeeping | American River Ranch |
| This workshop is designed for backyard beekeepers interested in learning intermediate level skills. There’s no prerequisite knowledge required, but it will be more advanced than an introductory level workshop. We will have a short lecture and group learning style introduction to topics and then an apiary tour with open hive inspection with practical, hands on skills to move you to the next level of beekeeping. |
Register |
Attending the Grow Your Groceries course helped jump-start my farm career. I have always dreamed of starting a flower farm and, after just 2 or 3 classes, I was selling my flowers wholesale to a local florist. ~ Amber Gardner, Amberchella Flowers
