This course covers all the major aspects of growing food organically that have successfully been working for us, here at Midsummer Farm. 

When taking this course, you'll experience a comprehensive and hands on learning opportunity in how to grow organic food. We have been certified organic since 2005 and we follow all the National Organic Program rules. However we also go way above and beyond the standard organic standards, producing an abundance of food on a small footprint of land and designing our growing program using nature as a guide and inspiration. We used to say we garden sustainably, but now we find ourselves feeling compelled and even encouraged by the natural balance we've achieved to go beyond sustainable, and we garden to enhance vitality so we can address the toxic environment that we find ourselves in as a culture. The garden becomes a sanctuary, an expression of art, a healing force for the earth, and more... A garden should not be about the work you put into it or the harvest, but rather about the process itself. 

This workshop is taught by Barbara Taylor-Laino, who has been growing food organically since the 1970's. She has extensively studied and researched in Biodynamic, Bio-intensive gardening, Permaculture-styled food production systems, etc., but she has also actively experimented and implemented this information in real-world environments. She has been gardening for and consulting on various levels and sizes of food production enterprises for over 10 years and running her own CSA (Community Supported Agriculture) Farm since 2006. This Course takes place at her farm, Midsummer Farm, in Warwick, NY, about 1 hour from New York City.  

Midsummer Farm is a CSA farm, a plant and seedling nursery, and a teaching and demonstration farm. The main gardening practices or styles are unique to this farm, but are applicable from a raised 8x10' bed in a suburban backyard, to a community garden endeavor, to a rooftop garden in a city, to a micro-farm, to any multi-acred production farm... they are a combination of great food production techniques that work together to restore fertility, revitalize the land, and that create abundance. This course is a great accompaniment to a PDC or (Permaculture Design Certificate) Course. 

Cost of the 5-Session Program is $385.00 

General Outline of the Five Sessions

Session One: 

• Designing with Nature 
• Plotting and Planning the Garden Layout
• Choosing What to Grow
• Restoring and Enhancing the Fertility
• Timing of Planting, Timing of Harvesting
• Garden Soil Structures: Raised Beds, Double Digging, No-Till, Containers
• Soil Building - Gardening for the Soil - Creating Tilth
• Vermiculture  Gardening for Worms
• Green Manures - Spring, Summer, Autumn

• Seed Starting  
• Transplanting and Setting out
• Crop Rotation
• Grafting Soft-Stems (tomatoes)
• Cool vs Warm-Weather Vegetables
• Succession Planting
• Growing Insectaries - Gardening for Bugs
• Companion planting
• Growing for Nutrient Density/Mind and Body Wellness
• Mulching
• Herbs and Teas and Foliar Sprays for the Garden  

Session Three:

• Inter-cropping  
• Green Manures
• Staking and Trellising - Making use of Vertical Space
• Weeding and Hoeing - Weeds are Useful
• Direct Sowing
• Using Water Well
• Rhythms of Nature - Timing
• Biodynamic Preps
• Pest Control and Prevention through Balance  

Session Four: 

• Fungus - Good and Bad  
• Micro-climates
• Composting - Various Types of Piles
• Animals and Manures and Vedic or "Veganic" Growing  
• Forest and Shade Gardening
• Perennial Vegetables and Sustainable Food Crops
• Berries
• Staple Crops - Growing Calories - Gardening for Resiliency  
• Dooryard Gardening

Session Five:

• Second Spring - July Planting for Fall Harvests  
• Autumn Varieties vs Spring Varieties of Vegetables
• Season Extending Practices - Row Cover, Cold Frames, High Tunnels, Greenhouses
• Seed Saving  
• 'Curing' your Harvests
• Processing and Storage
• Cover Cropping - Throughout Growing Season and as Winter Green Manures
• Producing money as well as food? Micro-farming, Market Gardening,  Maraīcher Farming, CSA Programs, etc.

In an effort to provide the best learning experience, this schedule is subject to change depending on weather and other natural factors...)

Please call or email us with any questions you may have - info@midsummerfarm.com | 845-986-9699  

Disclaimer

© Copyright 2014 Barbara Taylor-Laino, HHC / Barbara Taylor Health. All Rights Reserved. This content may be copied in full, with copyright, contact, creation and information intact, without specific permission, when used only in a not-for-profit format. If any other use is desired, permission in writing from Barbara Taylor Laino is required.

This information newsletter is designed as an educational tool for better health. Recipes and information are included as examples for you learn from; they are not diagnostic or prescriptive. Everyone's health needs are different. This newsletter is not to be used as a substitute for medical advice, diagnosis or treatment of any health condition or problem. Any questions regarding your own health should be addressed to your own physician or other healthcare provider. The entire contents of this newsletter and the websites of Barbara Taylor Laino and Midsummer Farm are based upon the opinions of Barbara Taylor Laino, unless otherwise noted. Individual articles are based upon the opinions of the respective author(s), who retains copyright as marked. The information on the www.midsummerfarm.com website is not intended to replace a one-on-one relationship with a qualified health care professional and is not intended as medical advice. It is intended as a sharing of knowledge and information from the research and experience of Barbara Taylor Laino. You are encouraged to make your own health care decisions based upon your research and in partnership with a qualified health care professional.