Composting and Season Extension
A series of gardening workshops with Bruce Willey
Saturday, October 28th , 2023 - 3pm - 5.30pm
As the sun arcs to the south, the leaves color and the days get colder, this is go-time in the garden. Fall is the perfect time for making compost with all the leaves (carbon) and frost murdered plants (nitrogen). In this class we will be learning about different kinds of compost and techniques along with best practices to make the most nutrient dense compost to add to your soil that will in turn, make the most nutrient-dense (and tasty) vegetables and fruits. Fungal, bacteria, hot and cold composts, bio-reactors, wormeries, soldier flies, to name a few. If you look at it sideways, this is a cooking art class where a good meal takes nine months to prepare using the best, virtuous locally sourced ingredients. We’ll also be building a pallet compost bin to reward the best poem, haiku, short story, essay about compost. The winner will go home with a ready-built bin ready to fill.
In the second portion we will be learning about the different methods for protecting the cool season crops like the leafy greens, brassicas, and root crops from the elements. Row cover, low tunnels, high tunnels, poly and fabric will be demonstrated and discussed.
Half the class will be at C5 Studios and then we will move on over to the lab for the other half. Snacks from the garden will be served.
Fall—Composting including brewing teas, wormeries, bio-reactors, fungal and bacteria-based piles
Winter— low tunnels, hoop houses, poly, frost cloth, shadecloth, and cheap greenhouses
Late Winter/Spring—seed starting, bed prep, temperature control, and irrigation
About the instructor:
Bruce Willey has been growing food since the dawn of agriculture. Along the way he has experienced a tad more victories than defeats that kept him motivated. He was the co-owner of Bishop Creek Farms, an organic vegetable farm here in the Owens Valley. Thinking he would be trading tomatoes for toilet paper during the Pandemic, he planted another garden in his front yard. So many evening strollers walked by the garden asking for gardening advice that he decided to teach a class, this class. His current passion is encouraging people to grow their own food, year-round in a changing climate using beyond organic techniques and methodologies. Anyone who signs up for the class will have Bruce on retainer as a gardening consultant until he composts himself.
Register below using our sliding scale payment structure.
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