Here is a rough outline of the workshop and what you can expect.
Join Curtis Stone (author of The Urban Farmer) for his most intensive and thorough workshop to date. This five-day course is the cumulative content of all of his best techniques used at his farm Green City Acres, but also what he’s learned from traveling and visiting some of the most successful market gardens in North America and abroad.
This is a technical, practical and hands-on course. Hosted at Curtis’ own farm, Green City Acres, you will see every aspect of his highly productive urban farm demonstrated in the field. Everything from preparing beds, planting, harvesting, post-harvest and everything in between. These five days will be the last thing you need to completely get your farm started strong or radically improve what you’re already doing.
Everyone who enrols will be given a free digital copy of Curtis’ one day workshop prior to starting, with 12 hours of content to watch at their leisure, a $200 value. Taking the one day course before the five day event, will give you a head start so that you’re familiar with all the concepts. That way, we can jump right in head first and get down and dirty!
Participants will be responsible for their own accommodation, but the event will be catered each day with coffee and biscuits in the morning, and a full buffet style lunch, and a light snack late afternoon. Because our farm has multiple locations, we will be riding bikes between sites. We will provide the bike for you, if you don’t have one to bring.
All food provided will be local and organic from Green City Acres and local farms from the area. Gluten free and vegetarian options will be available for those open request.
The course will be taught in a classroom setting for the mornings, then the afternoons will all be spent in the field at our various urban farm sites.
Special discounts are available for members of Curtis’ online course Profitable Urban Farming, and for those that want to take the 5-day course and sign up for a membership.
Space is limited to 18 people, so sign up fast!
Day 1
First period 9am – 10:15am (inside) (1h15m)
Introduction (house keeping, staff, etc)
Overview, new developments at GCA, successes and failures, highlights of best farms visited in 2016
Break 10:15am – 10:30am (15m)
Second Period 10:30am – 12pm (1h30m)
Green City Acres Farm tour (outside)
Curtis Brief intro to work stations, infrastructure, fields & tools.
Lunch 12pm – 1pm (1h)
Third Period 1pm – 2:30pm (outside) (1h30m)
Field tools demo
Seeders, rakes, forks, weeding tools, Tilther, tarps, flame weeder, BCS & implements
Break 2:30pm – 2:45pm (15m)
Forth Period 2:45pm – 4:30pm (outside) (1h45m)
Land prep & maintenance
Plot prep from raw ground, bed prep, fertility, flame weeding, tarping strategies, weeding
Day 2
First period 9am – 10:15am (inside) (1h15m)
Production concepts
Crop planning, succession planting, record keeping
Break 10:15am – 10:30am (15m)
Second Period 10:30am – 12pm (inside) (1h30m)
Production techniques and strategies
Hi/Bi-Rotation production techniques, Interplanting, season extension, work flow, working smart, managing staff
Lunch 12pm – 1pm (1h)
Third Period 1pm – 2:30pm (outside) (1h30m)
Nursery tools
Greenhouse nursery, soil screen, soil table, nursery flats, pots, watering wand / nozzle, fertilizer, worm castings, soil blockers
Nursery Protocols
Making soil, filling flats, planting flats, potting up, watering, maintenance
Break 2:30pm – 2:45pm (15m)
Forth Period 2:45pm – 4:30pm (outside) (1h45m)
Field demonstration – Planting
Plant spacing and seed density, transplanting, direct seeding
Day 3
First period 9am – 10:15am (inside) (1h15m)
Crops for the market garden
Profitable crops, crop value rating, quick & steady crops, microgreens
Break 10:15am – 10:30am (15m)
Second Period 10:30am – 12pm (1h30m)
Post harvest station and systems (inside)
Introduction to infrastructure and systems.
Virtual tour of Curtis’ inexpensive infrastructure, and other visited farms. Walk-in coolers, washing stations, spinners, packing tools & supplies
Walk-in cooler building demo (outside)
Lunch 12pm – 1pm (1h)
Third Period 1pm – 2:30pm (outside) (1h30m)
Harvesting tools
Greens harvester, hand knife, garden fork
Harvesting demo
Greens, roots & fruits (tomatoes)
Break 2:30pm – 2:45pm (15m)
Forth Period 2:45pm – 4:30pm (outside) (1h45m)
Post-Harvest demo
Washing, spinning, bubbler, drying & sorting greens, washing carrots, radishes, beets, turnips
Day 4
First period 9am – 10:15am (inside) (1h15m)
Pest management
Hedge rows, insect netting, fencing & trapping
Break 10:15am – 10:30am (15m)
Second Period 10:30am – 12pm (outside) (1h30m)
Tomato demo
Greenhouse infrastructure, varieties, strategies, pruning & tying, lower & leaning
Lunch 12pm – 1pm (1h)
Third Period 1pm – 2:30pm (outside) (1h30m)
Packing demo
Packing for CSA, market, restaurants & grocery
Break 2:30pm – 2:45pm (15m)
Forth Period 2:45pm – 4:30pm (1h45m)
Irrigation demo
Installing drip and overhead, setting timers, maintenance
Day 5
First period 9am – 10:15am (inside) (1h15m)
Office management
Invoicing, labels, statements, managing accounts
Web-based promotion to sell your farm(inside)
Social media, websites, blogging, and content based marketing.
Break 10:15am – 10:30am (15m)
Second Period 10:30am – 12pm (inside) (1h30m)
Microgreens for commercial production
Introduction
Products
Customers
Lunch 12pm – 1pm (1h)
Third Period 1pm – 2:30pm (outside) (1h30m)
Microgreens demo 1
Sanitization
Maintenance
Soaking
Common problems
Trouble shooting
Planting
Break 2:30pm – 2:45pm (15m)
Forth Period 2:45pm – 4:30pm (1h45m)
Microgreens demo 2
Harvesting
Processing (wash, spin, dry, sort)
Packing
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[…] However, this summer will be the start of my new 5-day workshop platform on my farm. One workshop in each month of June 19, July 17, and August 14. All the information can be found here. […]
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