Chicken Tending
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Teacher: Ali Coakley (Owner/Operator of Night Owl Farm) Description: Learn to be a chicken tender! (Ha!) We feel it's an invaluable thing to have chickens in your back yard. They are nature's garbage disposals, and they turn your food waste into beautiful eggs! This workshop is designed to give you all of the information you need to get started in the world of raising and owning chickens. This workshop is intended for people who know little to nothing about chickens, but all are welcome to join! We will give you a crash course in the most common issues in keeping chickens, how to choose your flock, how to raise chicks, how to properly handle fresh eggs, how to care for your flock in winter, how "chicken math" works, and more! Time will also be given to answer specific questions you may have. We will use our own flock for demonstrations on how to pick-up/hold a chicken, and you might even get a few bonus goat scratches while we're in there! |
Common Gardening Problems
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Teacher: Ali Coakley (Owner/Operator of Night Owl Farm) Description: Come learn about the most common ailments gardeners face, and how to combat them. This workshop is designed for all levels. From tomato horn worms, to chipmunks, to powdery mildew. We will go through the major obstacles that gardeners will likely face. At the end of the lesson, opportunity will also be given to discuss personal gardening hurdles. This will be an open-format discussion to allow not only for Farmer Ali to assist in diagnosis, but also your fellow gardeners. Ali's perspective is only one, and she understands the value of a Socratic workshop. The ability to use each other as a resource is invaluable, and will be encouraged in this workshop! (To those who are new to gardening, you are more than welcome to attend regardless of whether or not you can provide input to other attendees. Ask questions, and listen to others - one day you will be giving advice too!) There are many approaches to combatting pests and diseases, and those using different practices are ABSOLUTELY still welcome to attend, but this workshop will exclusively focus on organic, sustainable, and regenerative practices. |
Introduction to Vegetable Gardening
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Teacher: Ali Coakley (Owner/Operator of Night Owl Farm) Description: This class is designed for the absolute beginner, but all are welcome in this foundational course. We will show you you everything you need to know to start your gardening journey. This course is designed for those who aren't sure where to start, but have the desire to grow. At the end of the class you will have a basic understanding of what plants will grow best in your space, where to get the plants you desire to grow, how to address the most common growing issues, and when to harvest your bounty. We will focus on the most common crops grown in gardens, but will be open to questions specific to you and your growing space throughout our time together. At the end of the class, you will be given the opportunity to take home some of our seedlings of your choosing! This course will be from a no-till, organic perspective, including a focus on supporting life in your soil and why that's important. Those interested in other approaches to gardening are absolutely welcome, but our focus will be on the values that we hold at the farm. |
Seed Starting
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Teacher: Ali Coakley (Owner/Operator of Night Owl Farm) Description: Are you looking to start your own seedlings rather than purchase starts? This workshop will give you everything you need to get started, including covering some of the most common errors gardeners make when starting their own seeds for their gardens. We will cover starting seeds indoors, in a cold frame/greenhouse, and outdoors. We will also *briefly* cover what seeds to start when. For a more in-depth view on this topic, you can check out our Succession Planting Workshop! This workshop will include time learning about how to properly care for young seedlings (watering, fertilizing, etc.), some tips and tricks on how to get them to grow strong and healthy, and suggestions on how plant each seed. We will also start some seeds for the farm for a hands on experience and opportunity to ask questions while getting your hands dirty. Feel free to bring your own seeds/soil/containers if you instead would like to get the hands-on experience working with your own future garden babies! |
Soil Health
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Teacher: Donald M. Demers, Ph. D. (Owner/Operator Buxton Hollow Farm) Description: It’s a common misconception that gardeners and farmers tend plants. In reality, for the healthiest, most vigorous garden, gardeners and farmers need to tend their soil. Healthy soil means the difference between barren branches and bumper crops. For this workshop we will discuss various soil compositions found in New England, soil testing types, how to read a soil report, what goes into balancing the minerals, and different natural amendments that can be used to regenerate soil so that you can give your soil everything it needs to give you gorgeous, abundant produce! Special Guest Teacher, Donald Demers, Ph. D., will guide you through all things soil. Donald has been a major asset on our farm - we have him come test our soil twice per year, and he helps diagnose what our soil needs, as well as provides us with the amendments necessary to restore our soils, chemical free! |
Succession Planting
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Teacher: Ali Coakley (Owner/Operator of Night Owl Farm) Description: Tired of your lettuce turning bitter and bolting? You can use succession planting to ensure you always have tasty lettuce, and find the full potential of your garden space! Get the most out of your garden with succession planting! We will teach you how to plan your garden to plant multiple rounds of plants in the same space to maximize limited spaces, and get more food out of the space you have, while also taking into consideration crop rotation and companion planting. We will dive into seasonal planting and how to extend your growing season by planting hardier crops in the cooler weather, and highlighting heat lovers in peak season, and learning which seeds to start at what times of the season. |