I’m making this extra mid-week post because I haven’t offered many events this year, and you may have stopped looking on my Events Page!
Click here Make the most of the offseason by getting a step up on planning next year’s garden with this informative and enlightening course from author and Fair speaker Pam Dawling. Workshops include setting your garden goals (how to plan and which crops to grow), mapping, crop rotations, growing transplants, scheduling seedlings, interplanting, contingency plans, and so much more! (Note: If you’ve registered for the All-Access bundle, you now have access to this course!)
Mother Earth News Fair Online
My new contribution to the Mother Earth Fair Online has just arrived – a Garden Planning Course of eight workshops, with handouts, and a resource list.
Workshops include setting your garden goals (how to plan and which crops to grow), mapping, crop rotations, figuring out how much to grow of what, growing transplants, scheduling seedlings, interplanting, contingency plans, and so much more!
Click here to read more and sign up. You can get my Garden Planning course for $20 or the 2021 All-Access Package at $2.99/month or $35/year – the complete collection of online courses (currently 39) and recorded webinars – with more than a dozen new courses in the works! Each online course includes 6-8 video workshops of about 30 minutes each and supporting materials (called “handouts” in the days of physical in-person events).
I also have a workshop on Winter Cover Crops in the Winter Gardening course. There is a link to that course just below my photo on the page I linked to.
This can give you an inspiring way to invest some time this winter. We know lots of new gardens were started in 2020, and maybe you are dreaming of a bigger and/or better garden in 2021. Turn your dreams into plans and get off to a smooth start!
This big Online Fair also makes a nice gift! (Scroll to the end of the View All Courses second page, for the All-Access Gift icon, 39 courses for $75. It includes a half-price offer on all courses that will be added during 2021.
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Organic Growers School 28th Annual Spring Conference
Online, March 13-21, 2021
The Organic Growers School Spring Conference 2021 is all virtual this time! Attendees will learn how to farm, garden and live organically through 12 tracks and more than 30 workshops. You won’t have to choose between two or more great workshops that are on at the same time. This year you’ll be able to “attend” every one. In your pajamas if you want.
Kick-off Live Event on March 13, 2021
- Three live Keynote Talks
- Teaser videos for our 12 Themed Tracks
- Lunchtime Entertainment
- A live Q&A with our Keynote speakers
- A video social with other attendees
- Access to our Exhibit Hall
March 14-19, 2021 – Themed Track Workshops
View 3 pre-recorded hour-long workshops in each of 12 Themed Tracks:
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- Keynote
- Cherokee Foods
- Cooking
- Farming
- Food Systems
- Gardening
- Herbs
- Livestock
- Mushrooms
- Permaculture
- Soils
- Sustainable Living
March 20-21, 2021 – Live Track Closing Panel Discussion Sessions
- Join a live Panel Discussion with each speaker from the Track workshops
- Interact directly with panelists during the live Q & A portion
In the Gardening Track, Ira Wallace and I will be presenting The Seed Garden. Details to come, as we iron them out.
Photo Pam Dawling
I have been slow to join in the world of online events for a few reasons.
One is that in my rural county, we have poor internet connections and slow speed. I cannot reliably participate in a video conference where I’m one of the speakers. The service could just drop my connection at any time. This is a reality of many parts of rural America. We need something like the Rural Electrification Act to bring us into the 21st century. 2017 marked the 80th anniversary of that piece of Roosevelt’s New Deal.
A second reason is that I live as a member of Twin Oaks, an intentional community, where we share values of cooperation, sharing, nonviolence, equality, and ecology. We also share our resources. That includes our bandwidth. We have chosen not to spend a lot of our income on funding fast internet (it could be a deep black hole).
A third reason is that we have chosen to stay home as much as possible, to reduce the risk of Covid-19 infection in our large household. Our group includes people who are more
vulnerable, due to age or health. We chose to self-quarantine, and think of ourselves as in a big bubble. It’s wonderful not to need masks or distancing at home. Anyone who goes off the farm has to be careful about masking and distancing, and about sanitizing on return, even quarantining alone for two weeks if the risk seems high. Going into a city to do video-conferencing is just not something I’m willing to do!
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Articles in Growing for Market
I’ve started a new run of writing articles in Growing for Market, a magazine. Upcoming is an article about collards. In recent months I’ve written about both wet and dry seed processing, planning garlic planting, and methods of growing sweet potato slips.
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Articles in Mother Earth News
I have an article coming up in the Mother Earth News magazine, about making and using open wood flats for seedlings and transplants. I also contribute to their blog, in the Organic Gardening section.