Workshops

Workshops

Winter Growing Tour & Talk

Saturday, Jan. 25th, 12-3pm
$20 per person

Come out to the farm and explore best practices for winter growing. Participants will tour our year-round growing infrastructure and then venture inside to talk about extension practices for the backyard grower (weather depending). There will also be a chance to purchase winter growing starters!

Note: The workshop includes a tour through our fields to the greenhouse. These are not plowed, and you should dress warmly for the outdoors. This workshop is best suited for adult learners.

Topics covered include:  What plants need to grow all winter, understanding photoperiod, microclimates, greenhouse components, maintaining soil fertility in a closed environment, designing your winter garden.

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Understanding Integrated Pest Management

Saturday, February 1st, 1 – 3pm
$15/person

Are the bugs and weeds in your garden getting you down? This workshop digs into integrated pest management and integrated weed suppression management practices. We’ll focus on organic solutions to help you get out of the weeds.  Topics covered include:  Pest identification, crop rotation & interplanting, deep organic pest control, and timing crops according to pest life cycle. Best suited for adult learners.

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Make Your Own Kombucha Workshop

Saturday, February 8th, 1-2pm
$12/person

Have you been wanting to learn how to make your own kombucha? Kombucha is a beverage filled with health promoting minerals, enzymes, and probiotics. Learn about the beneficial properties and how to make it yourself, taste test different flavors, and take home a “scoby” to begin making your own brew! Ages 12 and up

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A Better Way to a Cooler Planet: Water, Carbon, & Microbes

Thursday, February 13th, 5:30-7:30pm
$5 suggested donation

Join us for a talk and discussion with Spero Latchis, founder of Living Soil Network. He’ll share how we can use simple practical methods to quickly cool the earth and create climate stability. Our planet functions as a symbiotic ecosystem. When we examine climate from this scientific perspective, solutions present themselves that are not apparent by focusing on carbon dioxide alone. By understanding the natural cycles of microbes, plants, soil, and water, we discover nature’s key to restoring a healthy living planet.

Light refreshments at 5:30, talk begins at 6:00.

About the Presenter: Spero Latchis CCH. is the founder of Living Soil Network and longtime students of soil microbiologists Dr. Elaine Ingham and professor Walter Jehne. He regularly lectures on the profound relationship between soil health, human health, and planetary health.

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Past Workshops

Herb Workshop:  Salve Making

Make your own healing salve, the perfect remedy for dry winter skin and a great addition to your natural medicine cabinet. You can also use on burns, scrapes and bug bites. Take home your own tin of salve made from farm-grown calendula, comfrey and plantain mixed with beeswax and oil. Ages 10 & up.

Winter Wellness Workshop

Explore herbal remedies specifically for the winter season that will help boost your immune system to keep the winter blues and colds away. We’ll discuss the medicinal uses of a variety of herbs, and you’ll choose an herb to concoct into an herbal vinegar to take home to enjoy! Ages 10 and up

Immune Berry Syrup Workshop

As we approach colder weather and flu season, it’s time to get ready with your own herbal remedies. This Immune Berry Syrup will keep your body healthy by supporting your immune system. Craft your own syrup to take home using blackberries, ginger, farm-grown turmeric, and more! Ages 10 and up.

Herb Workshop: Fire Cider

As winter approaches and the nights start to get cooler, it’s time to get ready with your own herbal remedies. Join one of our farm educators to make your very own immune boosting cider tonic! This ‘fire cider’ is a unique immune boosting tonic made with apple cider vinegar, herbs and more. Use farm grown ginger, onion, garlic and more to craft your own fire cider to help you get through the chilly months ahead! Ages 10 and up.

Herbal Tea Workshop

Come and make your own herbal tea right here on the farm! Head to the gardens for this workshop with one of our staff educators to learn about the different herbs we grow at Wolfe’s Neck Center. We will then use fresh and dried herbs to brew a cup to taste, and then bring home your own loose tea to enjoy with your family. Recommended for ages 8 and up.

Fermenting Veggies Workshop

In this workshop, we’ll head up to the organic fruit and vegetable plot to harvest our own vegetables to ferment. We’ll discuss the health benefits of eating fermented foods, how to ferment veggies, and everyone will leave with a jar of their own personally crafted fermented vegetables to enjoy at home. Recommended for ages 10 and up.

Canning Workshop

Featuring University of Maine Cooperative Extension

Learn the art and science of making farm fresh jam at Wolfe’s Neck Center with experts from University of Maine Cooperative Extension and our own master canner. We’ll use what’s in season to make jam together and sample with crackers. See how value-added products are an important component of our fruit and vegetable farming enterprise.

Bee Medicine Workshop

Ever wonder why honey is so good for you? In this workshop, we’ll explore how bee products including honey, propolis, royal jelly, bee venom and bee pollen have been used since ancient times to aid humans with various health needs. Leave with the knowledge of what these bee products are, what they are used for medicinally, and how to incorporate these products into your life to assist your well being. Ages 12 and up.

Spring Tea & Herb Walk

Join us in this workshop to make your own unique tea blend to take home, crafted based on your personal health needs. We will talk about the medicinal benefits of herbs grown here at Wolfe’s Neck Center, visit the herb garden, and sample tea with both dried and freshly picked herbs.

Fruit Tree Pruning & Grafting

Start spring with an overview of orchard care for your backyard garden. We’ll start in the conference room for a brief lesson in fruit tree grafting and pruning, led by ReTreeUS program manager, Richard Hodges and Jason Lilley of UMaine Cooperative Extension. We’ll cover grafting science and techniques which will then be practiced out in the orchard.

From there, we’ll head up to the Banter Orchard for a field lesson on pruning young apple trees, and next to the vegetable plot to demonstrate proper grafting in the field. Workshop members will graft their own Black Oxford apple trees – an heirloom Maine variety! – which they will get to bring home and plant.

All About Seaweed Workshop

Explore the coast of Wolfe’s Neck in this workshop by learning about seaweed and its health benefits. Sample different varieties and leave with ideas on how to incorporate seaweed into your daily life.  Ages 12 and up.

Composting on the Farm

If you think you generate a lot of compost in your household, imagine what it looks like on a farm scale! In this workshop, we’ll discuss what it takes to manage food waste and biomass (leaf piles, grass clippings, etc.), both in your own gardens and on our farm. Learn the science behind what’s in your compost pile, followed by a walking tour of compost in action. The workshop will include both a lecture and a walk around barn and chicken tractor.

Family Tree Tea

Join us for a walk through the woods to gather white pine needles and forage for other edible plants to make tea with. We’ll come together around our forest fire pit to make a big batch of “tree tea” and talk about the health benefits of our ingredients.

Draft Power Workshop & Demonstration

Not everyone is burning fuel and using tractors to get the job done around the farm. Some farmers still work their land the old fashion way, with horses, oxen and walk-behind or ride-along equipment. In this workshop & demo, we will learn how the farmers communicate with, instruct and train oxen for farming from former Wolfe’s Neck educator and program participant Katie Josephs and her 4-H team. They will introduce their team of oxen to us and teach us how they are rigged up for work, and how they respond to commands. We’ll take a hay ride up to our vegetable plot and see the action begin as the oxen plow up a few rows!

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