Spend some time outside and learn how to tap trees, prune fruit trees, plan a garden, and save seeds! Grayson LandCare, the Permaculture Group and the Independence farmers market are offering great classes and workshops.
Start with tapping walnut trees for syrup this Friday, February 9 at 1pm. Tapping, it’s not just for Maples! Join Rick and Cynthia Taylor for tapping and making syrup from black walnut trees. They will discuss supplies, tapping/boiling/evaporating and finishing. Rsvp to [email protected] for directions. This is a rain or shine event. Most of the activities are under shelter. Free.
On Saturday February 10 we’ll be at the Food Forest at Church of the Good Shepherd to prune fruit trees beginning at 11am. This hands-on pruning workshop will be held at 9441 Grayson Pkwy Galax, VA 24333. Casey Johnson, a new GLC board member who manages the apple orchard at River North will lead the workshop. He is is an International Society of Arboriculture (ISA) Certified Arborist who studied Urban Forestry and Arboriculture at Penn State. Please bring pruners and loopers if you have them. We’ll learn to prune several different kinds of fruit trees. Dress warmly, we will be outside! Rain/snow date is February 24, same time and place. Free.
Saturday February 17 is part one of the Grow More Vegetables workshop at the GLC/IFM office at 104 Courthouse Street from 9am to noon. The cost is $15 at the door and includes light refreshments. Learn to grow more vegetables no matter what size space you have. Planting dates, spacing, interplanting and succession plantings will be addressed. Using information from the best national and local gardeners you’ll learn to apply these techniques to a single container, a raised bed or a full-sized market garden.
In order to get the most out of the class, please come with a sketch, or even just the dimensions of your space. In addition, think about the top 5 vegetables you’d like to grow. This “homework” will give you a head start when we break into groups and design gardens for maximum production. Start planning for a successful garden now. The class is limited to 20 people. Please email Michelle Pridgen at [email protected] to register. Snow date February 24. This is a fundraiser for the Market.
March 2 is part 2 of Grow More Vegetables, same time, place and price.. It is not necessary to have attended the first class to take this one. Learn to control common pests and diseases in our area with organic methods. We’ll also talk about proper fertilization, taking soil samples and how to figure out which amendments to use and how to use a handy calculator to make the math easy! Adequate moisture is critical, you’ll learn about drip irrigation. AND Hands-on activities including: Using cool garden tools, saving seeds and germination tests. $15 includes light refreshments. Classes are limited to 20 people. Please email Michelle Pridgen at [email protected] to register. This is a fundraiser for the Market.
April 13 features the Open House at the Grayson County Seed library at the Wythe-Grayson Regional Library in Indpendence from 1-3pm. Not sure how the Seed library works? Want to learn how to save seeds? Looking for free seeds? Have seeds to share? Just want to come by for snacks and company? This free event is for you! We will have a short class on seed saving at 2pm. Free.