Upcoming Events
To book a new event for your group, please see the Educational Services page in the menu.
February 20: Fermentation Fair at The Resilience Hub in Portland
The Resilience Hub is hosting our first annual Fermentation Fair. This is a one-stop shop for learning different methods of fermentation. Interested in Sourdough? We’ve got you covered. Gluten not your thing? Brew up some kombucha! We’ll have demos, answers to your questions, and cultures for you to take home and experiment with on your own time. Kombucha, veggie ferments, country wines, sourdough, yogurt, and tempeh will all be covered along with contests, tastings and other fun stuff.
Nixtamalization is the ancient process of cooking corn in a alkaline solution, a process that makes the resulting foods more nutritious and improves flavor and texture. Some examples of foods made from nixtamalized corn are: tortillas, tamales, hominy and posole. In this workshop we will cover the chemistry and history of nixtamalization, then we will move to a hands on demonstration where we will go through the whole process from dry corn to tortillas, as well as a couple other finished dishes.
March 2: Free Fruit Tree Pruning Workshop at Mt. Joy Orchard in Portland
Perhaps the most important maintenance for many types of established fruit trees is annual pruning. Come to this free pruning workshop to learn how to prune young, established and neglected fruit trees. Then stay to help prune the trees of Mt. Joy Orchard
March 13: Cannabis for the Home Gardener at The Resilience Hub in Portland
This beginner level class will serve as a all in one introduction for people not familiar with Cannabis. We will cover the history and social context of Cannabis along with outdoor cultivation, harvesting, processing and best practices for use. Both medicinal/recreational and hemp (food/fiber) types will be covered.
March 16: Creating and Managing Beneficial Insect Habitat + Bee Nesting Blocks! In Newburyport, NH, Details TBA.
Beneficial insects perform a myriad of ecosystem services around us, the most visible being pollinating flowers and controlling pest insects, but they also eat weed seeds, aerate soil and numerous other tasks that are essential to a healthy ecosystem.
March 31: MOFGA Seed and Scion Exchange at MOFGA fairgrounds in Unity.
I will be teaching a FREE class Tree Crops: Beyond the Apple. More Details TBD.
April 6: Southern Maine Seed Swap and Scion Exchange at The Resilience Hub in Portland.
I will be teaching FREE Seed Saving and Bark Grafting workshops. More details TBD.
April 22: Food Forest Design at Gorham Parks and Rec, Little Falls Activity Center , 6pm, $10
A food forest is a way of laying out a landscape to mimic a natural forest, providing food and other human needs with a minimum amount external inputs and maximum benefits to wildlife and the greater environment. This workshop will introduce the concepts of ecological niches, analogs, and resource partitioning so you can design your own home scale food forest. To help you implement your design we will also cover best practices for starting a food forest and recommended species to plant.
April 27: Free Bark Grafting Workshop at Harbor View Park in Portland, Details TBD
May 11: Public Orchard Day! Everywhere. I will be at Mt. Joy Orchard in Portland, Details TBA.
Public orchard day is celebration of food bearing trees in public spaces. There will be events at several local public orchards. I will be at Mt. Joy Orchard in Portland, where there will be a workparty to plant more trees, free workshops on a variety of topics, free food and other celebrations..
July 27: Tree Crops: Beyond the Apple at OakFest in Oakland, ME. 1pm. More Details TBD.