Sat/Sun March 28/29 2015, 9 – 5, at Sycamore Commons (Townsite Anglican Church) in Powell River, and at other local sites on Sunday morning.
Improve your household resilience by learning how to raise small livestock, garden, cook with the harvest, and build your homestead infrastructure. Socialise and share with others who have similar goals, and get inspired by those who are already doing what you want to do!
This full weekend of workshops, classes and field trips will take your urban homesteading to the next level, whether you’re just starting or have been doing it for years. Many sessions are hands-on and all are taught by local experts. You can attend the whole weekend, just one day, or specific sessions, as you wish.
Schedule
Here’s the schedule as we know it so far: there may be some changes before the actual event. See below for more details of the individual sessions.
| Saturday | |||
| 9:00 – 9:30 am | Check-in and coffee | ||
| 9:30 – 11 am | Create a Healing Garden – Satya Devine Freedom | Bees in your backyard – Doug Brown | |
| 11:15 – 12:45 | Create a Healing Garden – cont. | Bokashi composting – Kitty Clemens | |
| 1:30 – 3:30 pm | Low Maintenance Edible Perennials – Ionatan Waisgluss | Build a Freezer Composter – Let’s Talk Trash team | |
| 3:45 – 5:00 | Starting transplants from seed – Kevin Wilson | Crop Rotation and Succession Planting – Erin Innes | |
| Sunday | |||
| 10:00 – 12:30 | Backyard Aquaponics (off-site) | Create a No-Dig Garden (off-site) | |
| 1:30 – 3:30 pm | Build a Hugelkultur bed – Ron Berezan | Backyard Poultry 101 – Samantha Sherman | |
| 3:45 – 4:45 | Build a Hugelkultur bed (cont) | Container Gardening – Samantha Sherman |
Location & Cost
This weekend aims to be zero waste and support local producers. Please help us reduce our carbon footprint by carpooling, biking, walking or using the bus to get to and from the site.
Location: Sycamore Commons at the Townsite Anglican Church, 6310 Sycamore St. Please enter through the rear basement doors. Bus route 1 stops right outside, or across from, the church.
Cost:
Full Weekend: Early bird price $99 till Mar 7th
Full Weekend: Regular price $135 from Mar 8 to 28
Special deal: 15-18 year olds only $40 for the whole weekend!
Single Day: $75 from Mar 14 to 28
Single workshop: $30, from Mar 21 to 28
Deposit $20 on registration, remainder due by Mar 20
You can pay up to 20% in Powell River Dollars PR$
Work trades are welcomed and part scholarships are available – contact Kevin directly: 604 483 9052 or uhspr@fiddlersfarm.com
Cancellation policy
50% refund up to 2 weeks before (Mar 14)
No refund after that but you are welcome to send a substitute
Workshop Details
Backyard Poultry 101
Considering raising chickens or ducks? Not sure where to start? In Backyard Poultry 101 we’ll discuss what poultry can do for you and what they require from us. We will discuss breeds, health, nutrition and housing. Participants will gain basic knowledge of chickens and ducks including care of newly hatched chicks/ducklings, coop construction, predator protection and sanitation.
Instructor: Samantha Sherman
Bees in your backyard
An introduction to keeping bees wherever you happen to reside. From basic information on life cycle and bee needs to putting your own hive together, where to get the hive and where to get the bees. Will also cover how to keep them happy, because as everyone knows a happy bee is a good bee. Followed by a session in Doug’s bee-yard, day and time to be decided at the workshop.
Instructor: Doug Brown
Bokashi Composting
Registered Holistic Nutritionist and fermentation expert, Kitty Clemens (Pro-Active Nutrition), will teach about the Bokashi indoor fermentation system. Bokashi is a Japanese word that translates into ‘fermented organic matter’. This method of composting allows for the additions of meat, fish and dairy without attracting rodents and flies or producing odours. You will see an active Bokashi bucket and learn how to make your own Bokashi system from scratch, including creative ways to produce the necessary micro-organisms to activate your bucket.
Instructor: Kitty Clemens
Build a Freezer Composter
You can convert an old chest freezer into an efficient, good-looking, pest-resistant composter. This workshop shows you how with a hands-on build of a freezer composter for the Sycamore Commons garden.
Instructor: Bert Baillie or Inger-Lise Burns
Building a No-dig Garden
A hands-on workshop on building a low maintenance, low-water, high production no dig garden bed from the ground up. At rin’s place in Lund, 2795 D’Angio Road
Instructor: Erin Innes
Char-B-Q lunch
Boot Camp CharBQ! – An on-site lunch will be available on Saturday at the Boot Camp prepared on simple biochar, carbon negative cooking stoves: Vegetarian Kebobs ($5.00) or Chicken&Veggie Kebobs ($7.00) served on a whole grain or gluten free bun, both served with a kale salad garnish. The biochar created from the cooking process will be added to the on-site hugelkultur garden to be constructed during the weekend. Lunch orders must be pre-booked.
Instructor/Chef: Ron Berezan
Container Gardening
Container gardening is a great option for people with limited space. We will discuss the pros and cons of gardening in containers, what plants to start with and the importance of drainage. There will also be demonstrations on how to properly set up containers for optimal results.
Instructor: Samantha Sherman
Creating a Healing Garden
Have you ever thought of designing, harvesting, and utilizing your own organic healing garden? Well, let’s work together from the ground up! Utilizing ancient techniques of working with the elements and creating uniquely developed patterns, I am sure you will find this workshop enchanting! We’ll cover five sections: 1) the elements of a healing garden, 2) developing a unique pattern, 3) working with the elements in your garden, 4) harvesting and utilizing a healing garden, 5) creating your own plan for your healing garden
Instructor: Satya Devine Freedom
Crop Rotation and Succession Planting for Year-Round Harvest
Instead of salad from the store in April and Attack of the Zucchinis in July, learn to plan and organize your harvest so you know what you’ve got, when you’ve got it, and how to keep it going all year round.
Instructor: Erin Innes
How to Build a Hugelkultur
Are you dealing with marginal soil, a steep slope, or a growing area that always dries out? Hugelkultur could be the answer to all of these! By digging out a trench, piling up woody debris, then layering in other organic matter and soil, Hugelkultur creates a highly elevated growing surface with a tremendous amount of nutrient, water holding capacity and a very warm micro-climate. This session will have us explore the basic principles behind Huglekultur and then building an epic Hugelkultur on site at Sycamore Commons!
Instructors: Ron Berezan and Erin Innes
Introduction to Backyard Aquaponics
The class is an introduction to the concept of aquaponics and some of its advantages over conventional gardening. Included is an onsite tour of our commercial size aquaponics system, a hand-out which includes FAQ, facts, and a list of resources, and a presentation on how you can grow aquaponically in your own backyard, ending with a question period
Instructors: Gayle and Jeff Kier
Low Maintenance Edible Perennials
Growing our own food has many benefits: it can be a pleasant and economical way to feed ourselves, promote biodiversity in residential landscapes, increase our food security, and more. But not everyone is able or willing to have an annual garden plot on their property; many home gardeners prefer to plant showy perennial species, focusing on species that don’t need to be re-planted each year, and emphasizing aesthetics rather than production. Luckily, there are a large number of brilliantly ornamental species with edible and medicinal components, many of which require little upkeep once they’ve become established. Come explore some perennial crops that can be harvested year after year, and learn about the surprising usefulness of many commonly-planted ornamentals! List of perennial resources provided.
Instructor: Ionatan Waisgluss
Starting Transplants from Seed
Learn how to choose containers and soil, and what conditions you need to supply to grow your own high-quality seedlings instead of buying them from the store. Then get your hands in the dirt and plant a variety of seeds to take home and grow.
Instructor: Kevin Wilson
