Forest gardening is usually done in warmer climates, but having the chance to do it in our cold climate is very exciting! Unfortunately, the following series of weekend classes are about 5 hours away in upstate NY. You may go for one weekend or the whole entire 4 weekend course! Discounts and some work trade available.

Source: Apios Institute

Join us for a hands-on skill-building experience in forest gardening from start to finish. Learn to transform traditional lawn landscapes into abundant food-producing perennial gardens. Each unique weekend equips participants with the skills needed to get started at their own home or expand the abilities of a gardening business.

Forest gardening yields local abundance, healthy families, and thriving ecosystems. Join us to build your own knowledge and experience and bring these ingredients to your home and community. Imagine a future of homegrown fruits- berries, pawpaws and persimmons, perennial vegetables- sorrel, ground nuts, water celery and more! All of this is possible.

February 26-28: Design & Theory- Dave Jacke, primary author of the Award-winning 2-volume Edible Forest Gardens, will kick off our first weekend with an evening talk. Throughout the rest of the weekend we will begin the design process for a future farm on our host site.

April 16-18: Install & Establish – In our second weekend we will get our hands dirty while we Install and Establish a brand new forest garden. This is the third year in a row that we are planting out forest gardens in the Hudson Valley!

May 28-30: Tend & Caretake – The already existing forest gardens at Camp Epworth will receive our love and attention in the third weekend of the series. We will immerse ourselves in how to Tend and Caretake the gardens to support future food abundance.

June 18-20: Food & Medicine – This leads us to our final weekend with special guest Dina Falconi. In this last weekend of the series we will harvest the fruits of our labor and spend the entire time making Food and Medicine.