UPCOMING EVENTS & WORKSHOPS

 

*Host a workshop in your own home with at least 5 friends registering and you attend for free! Scheduled at your convenience.

** Most workshops half price for your son or daughter (18 and under). Contact us to arrange.

Thursday March 7. APPLE TREE PRUNING
WHEN: 8:00
WHERE: Carolinian Food Forest, end of Dillabough Street
COST: Free
There are some old neglected apple trees in the Food Forest that will be rejuvinated through pruning. It will take several years to bring them back to significant production. 2013 is year one. You will not be able to participate in the pruning but are invited to watch and learn.

Saturday March 9. SEEDY SATURDAY
WHEN: 10:00 – 15:30
WHERE: Carling Heights Optimist Community Centre, 656 Elizabeth St
COST: Free
Hosted by the London Middlesex Master Gardeners. There will be vendors, information booths (including Wild Craft), a seed swap table and speakers. Come find the inspiration you need to start planning your spring garden. I always get carried away and come home with way more seeds than I have room to plant!

March 20, 21 & 22. JOEL SALATIN LIVE WEBCAST
WHEN: 10:30 – 18:30 each day
WHERE: Ye Olde Towne Hall, 160 Main St, Ailsa Craig
COST: $40 pre-registration, $50 at the door, $100 for all 3 days
The renowned ‘beyond organic’ farmer and owner of Polyface farms will be live webcast for 3 full days of workshops. This collaboration between Wild Craft and Transition Middlesex will bring farmers, aspiring farmers, and sustainable food proponents together to learn from the Food Inc. star how to make sustainable farming economically viable.
March 20: You Can Farm!
March 21: Pastured Poultry Profits.
March 22: Salad Bar Beef.

April 6 to November 24 one weekend in each season. 4-SEASON PERMACULTURE DESIGN CERTIFICATE.
WHEN: Over 5 weekends starting April 6
WHERE: The Living Centre
COST: $1300 early bird rate or $1400 full price. Work exchange available.
This in-depth course on permaculture is being taught by Shantree and Lorenna at The Living Centre with the assistance of various guest lecturers. Jessica Robertson, of Wild Craft Permaculture, will be teaching the urban permaculture component in July. For more information please see The Living Centre’s website.

Monday April 22 (pending funding). FOOD FOREST SITE PREPARATION
WHEN: stay tuned for details
WHERE: Carolinian Food Forest
COST: Your labour!
Join us on Earth Day to help prepare the next phase of the Carolinian Food Forest. We will be sheet mulching another large section of the area and planting some trees. Local school groups will be involved again this year and community members are welcomed to join us.

Saturday May 11. PERMABLITZ
WHEN: 10:00 – 17:00 (or until the work is done)
WHERE: 36 Stuyvesant Place
COST: Your labour!
A permablitz occurs when a community of volunteers gets together to transform someone’s yard into a permaculture garden over the course of a day. Come donate your labour in exchange for some free lessons in permaculture and practical experience installing a sustainable garden. Meet other like-minded people in the community and enjoy the satisfaction of having helped one more piece of turf grass become an edible eden. For this particular property we will be installing a really neat water feature on a slope and swales to keep the water available for plants as long as possible. You won’t find an opportunity to learn these techniques often! Bring your own lunch and water bottle. Contact us to arrange a Permablitz at your place. Please register here.

Wednesday May 29. FORAGING WALK
WHEN: 19:00 – 20:30
WHERE: Carolinian Food Forest
COST: $20 (tax incl)
Join us for a walk in London’s first food forest to harvest wild foods and learn the art of wild crafting. We will pick seasonal edibles, talk about preparation and cooking techniques and discuss those we come across that are not in season. The process of plant identification and best practices while foraging will be emphasized so that others in the present and in the future can continue to wild craft. Register here.

Thursday June 13. FORAGING WALK
WHEN: 19:00 – 20:30.
WHERE: TBD
COST: $20 (tax incl)
Join us for a walk in some of the forests and public parks of London to harvest wild foods and learn the art of wild crafting. We will pick seasonal edibles, talk about preparation and cooking techniques and discuss those we come across that are not in season. The process of plant identification and best practices while foraging will be emphasized so that others in the present and in the future can continue to wild craft. Register here.

Tuesday June 18. ALL ABOUT FRUIT TREE GUILDS
WHEN: 19:00 – 20:00.
WHERE: Dillabough Community Garden
COST: TBD
Join us at London’s latest public food garden to learn all about fruit tree guilds and how you can create one for your yard. A guild is a grouping of plants that work together to support each other in a holistic system. Generally there is a fruit (or other) tree at the centre of the guild and a series of plants around it that attract pollinators, deter pests, provide nutrients, and create mulch.

Saturday July 6. FOOD SWAP
WHEN: 16:00 - 18:00
WHERE: Thames Community Garden
COST: Free
Bring your homemade, homegrown, or locally foraged food to barter with others. No money will be exchanged - only goods you have had a part in harvesting or making. This is a great way to get rid of the excess veggies in your garden and trade for something you don’t grow. Preserves, baked goods and other prepared foods are welcome as well. Samples of what you are bartering are always appreciated and can help you close that trade good you covet. Register here.

Tuesday July 16. FORAGING WALK
WHEN: 19:00 – 20:30.
WHERE: TBD
COST: $20 (tax incl)
Join us for a walk in some of the forests and public parks of London to harvest wild foods and learn the art of wild crafting. We will pick seasonal edibles, talk about preparation and cooking techniques and discuss those we come across that are not in season. The process of plant identification and best practices while foraging will be emphasized so that others in the present and in the future can continue to wild craft. Register here.

Thursday July 25. INTRODUCTION TO PERMACULTURE.
WHEN: 18:00 – 20:30.
WHERE: Wild Craft Permaculture
COST: $40
This course will introduce you to the concept and theory of permaculture and provide you with some practical tools to start applying it in your garden. Permaculture is inspired by deep observation of natural systems. It does not seek to recreate them, but to learn from them and apply ecological principles to the design of human systems. Wild Craft’s garden will be featured as a demonstration site to highlight different techniques and discuss the reasons behind each choice. This will help you start to think and approach problems like a permaculturalist. Register here.

Sunday August 11. EDIBLE GARDEN TOUR
WHEN: 13:00 – 16:00
WHERE: TBD
COST: By donation (suggested $5)
Every year Wild Craft picks a different neighbourhood to feature so that we can walk or bike from garden to garden. We will stop at 3 to 4 gardens where each owner will tell us about their space, why they have designed it the way they did, what has worked, and what hasn’t. You will see a variety of garden styles and ways of incorporating edibles into your landscape and have the chance to hang out with other edible landscape enthusiasts. Please register to find out where we are meeting.

Friday August 16. FORAGING WALK
WHEN: 19:00 – 20:30.
WHERE: Carolinian Food Forest
COST: $20 (tax incl)
Join us for a walk in London’s first food forest to harvest wild foods and learn the art of wild crafting. We will pick seasonal edibles, talk about preparation and cooking techniques and discuss those we come across that are not in season. The process of plant identification and best practices while foraging will be emphasized so that others in the present and in the future can continue to wild craft. Register here.

Wednesday August 21. INTRODUCTION TO FOOD FORESTS
WHEN: 18:00 – 20:00.
WHERE: Carolinian Food Forest
COST: TBD
Come walk through London’s first public food forest with us and discover how it works, why it is special and learn the building blocks to create your own food forest. A food forest mimics the structure of a natural forest ecosystem but is mainly made up of edible plants. The use of vertical layering allows much more to be grown in a given area than in a traditional vegetable garden. The use of mostly perennial plants also means that once the forest is established there is very little maintenance work required.

Saturday September 14 (pending funding) (rain date 15). FOOD FOREST PLANTING AND CELEBRATION
WHEN: 10:00 – 15:00.
WHERE: Carolinian Food Forest
COST: Your labour!
Help us expand and celebrate the city’s first public food forest. We will be planting trees, shrubs, and herbaceous perennials in the second phase of the Carolinian Food Forest. The 1 acre food forest was started in 2012 and will expand over the next couple of years to be a free source of sustainable perennial food, medicine and learning for the citizens of London. Lunch and music will be provided. Just bring your muscle power, work clothes, enthusiasm, and a reusable plate, cup and cutlery. More details to follow. Register here.

Friday September 20. FOOD SWAP
WHEN: 18:00 – 20:00
WHERE: TBD
COST: Free
Bring your homemade, homegrown, or locally foraged food to barter with others. No money will be exchanged - only goods you have had a part in harvesting or making. This is a great way to get rid of the excess veggies in your garden and trade for something you don’t grow. Preserves, baked goods and other prepared foods are welcome as well. Samples of what you are bartering are always appreciated and can help you close that trade good you covet. Register here.

Sunday October 20. BREADMAKING WORKSHOP
WHEN: 15:00 – 17:00
WHERE: Wild Craft Permaculture
COST: 35$
Warm your home up this fall with fresh bread baking in your own oven. Learn the basics of bread making so you can experiment in your own kitchen and make bread to your liking.
You will learn 3 different styles of yeast breads to give you lots of options in the kitchen depending on your schedule. 1) a traditionally risen loaf, 2) a 5 minute bread, and 3) a long loaf with an overnight rise. Each participant will go home with dough they have mixed together that can be baked up at any time over the following 2 weeks. And, of course, we’ll sample the goods together before you go home! Register here.

Past Events:

Introduction to Permaculture Workshop, 1/2 day or full day

Introduction to Food Forests, full day

Cuban Agriculture in 2011 – A Slideshow of Post Oil Possibilities

Food Swaps

Breadmaking

Seed Bombing Workshop

Talk “Permaculture, nourishing the earth back to health”

Movie Screening of Locavore - Local Diet, Healthy Planet

London Home and Garden Show

Civic Garden Complex Open House

Carolinian Food Forest Site Preparation

Talk "How to grow your own food without a vegetable patch"

Permablitz

Session for Permaculture Design Certificate "Urban Permaculture"

Building a Solar Dehydrator

Edible Garden Tour

Creative SPARK Conference at King's College

TVDSB Environmental Symposium