Organic farming lessons at Red Wing start March 27

Starting on March 27, 2010, Red Wing Farm will be offering a 4-part series of classes on basic organic gardening, meeting one Saturday per month for the months of March, April, May, and June. The classes are highly interactive, hands-on, participatory, experiential classes to help students learn what they need to know to create a beautiful, abundant, healthy, and productive organic garden and gain some experience with the basic elements of organic gardening.

The cost for classes is $40 per class or $140 for the series. Students who take all four classes will take home 48 greenhouse plant starts for free.

To register or for more information:
(Phone) 828.298.0957
(E-mail) redwingfarmer@gmail.com
(Website) www.redwingfarm.net

Red Wing Farm is a small farm 15 minutes from downtown Asheville in the Swannanoa Valley with a diverse, four-season vegetable, herb, and flower garden specializing in heirloom varieties grown with “deep organic” methods.

Class schedule:
1. Starting From Seed Saturday, March 27, 1:00-5:00 pm
Learn to make homemade seed-starting mix, start your own vegetable, flower, and herb plants from seed, and care for seedlings for your garden. Explore seed basics, germination, direct sowing, starting seeds indoors, choosing varieties for seed-saving, heirloom preservation, seed sovereignty, and becoming a seed steward.

2. Building Healthy Soil, Preparing Beds & Planting Saturday, April 24, 1:00-5:00 pm
Learn how to build and retain soil fertility for a healthy, productive garden. Explore biointensive methods, lessons from permaculture, soil stewardship, and techniques for designing your garden. Emphasis on intensively-planted, no-till, raised bed gardening using heavy mulch, compost, and animal manures.

3. Strategies for Success in the Garden Saturday, May 22, 1:00-5:00 pm
Learn about setting up your garden for ongoing harvest throughout the year, and how to keep your garden healthy and productive throughout the seasons for many years to come. Explore tools and strategies including: companion planting, succession planting, crop rotation, season extension, polyculture, perennial plantings, and more.

4. Insects in Your Garden Ecosystem Saturday, June 19, 1:00-5:00 pm
Learn to identify major insect pests of our area and discuss organic pest control methods, as well as methods for attracting and keeping beneficial insects in your garden, getting beneficials working for you for effortless pest control, and creating a healthy garden ecosystem to keep pests and beneficials in balance.

“The Organic Gardening Basics classes with Red Wing Farm were inspiring. I’m a beginner gardener and I felt the more experienced folks were getting just as much out of it as I was. It is abundantly clear that Beth and Christopher love what they do and that they have a sincere respect for the earth and their chosen field. And that made us all just want to dig in!” ~Tarleton Brooks

SHARE

Thanks for reading through to the end…

We share your inclination to get the whole story. For the past 25 years, Xpress has been committed to in-depth, balanced reporting about the greater Asheville area. We want everyone to have access to our stories. That’s a big part of why we've never charged for the paper or put up a paywall.

We’re pretty sure that you know journalism faces big challenges these days. Advertising no longer pays the whole cost. Media outlets around the country are asking their readers to chip in. Xpress needs help, too. We hope you’ll consider signing up to be a member of Xpress. For as little as $5 a month — the cost of a craft beer or kombucha — you can help keep local journalism strong. It only takes a moment.

About Margaret Williams
Editor Margaret Williams first wrote for Xpress in 1994. An Alabama native, she has lived in Western North Carolina since 1987 and completed her Masters of Liberal Arts & Sciences from UNC-Asheville in 2016. Follow me @mvwilliams

Before you comment

The comments section is here to provide a platform for civil dialogue on the issues we face together as a local community. Xpress is committed to offering this platform for all voices, but when the tone of the discussion gets nasty or strays off topic, we believe many people choose not to participate. Xpress editors are determined to moderate comments to ensure a constructive interchange is maintained. All comments judged not to be in keeping with the spirit of civil discourse will be removed and repeat violators will be banned. See here for our terms of service. Thank you for being part of this effort to promote respectful discussion.

Leave a Reply

To leave a reply you may Login with your Mountain Xpress account, connect socially or enter your name and e-mail. Your e-mail address will not be published. All fields are required.