ALM Organic Farm

Camosun College Courses

Register with Camosun Collge Continuing Education - phone (250) 370-3550 or register online

• ORGANIC FARMING AS A BUSINESS -Are you thinking of organic farming as a profit-making business? Learn the in's and out's of finding farm land, determining acreage, planning for efficiency, maximizing tax breaks, developing your farm plan, identifying profitable crops, finding labour, selling produce, and finding support organizations. Emphasis is on planning, operating and marketing your organic farm. Includes two Saturday fieldtrips to visit local organic farms. Eight classroom sessions:

• ORGANIC GARDENING - INCREASING YOUR YIELD Raise beautiful organic vegetables and fruits year round! Learn techniques used in organic farming including building your soil, avoiding pests, planning your calendar year, saving your own seeds and planting difficult crops. This popular course includes three Saturday fieldtrips, Classroom sessions

Courses at Farm - Spring

Register by phoning (250) 642-3671 emailing us at info@almfarms.org

You may also register and pay online using a credit card or Paypal account.

• PLANTING CALENDAR WORKSHOP
  Get the most out of your garden and take advantage of our mild climate. The key to having food from your garden year round is to create a good planting/seeding schedule. In this course we will create a planting calendar for the year. We will look at pushing planting dates in the spring and fall to extend the season and harvest, planning succession sowing for continual or extended harvest of certain vegetables, and getting more than one crop off a bed in the season. We will discuss materials and shelters that help to extend the season for the more delicate crops. Please bring a blank calendar to the course.
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• SALAD THROUGHOUT THE SEASONS
  Learn how to grow salad virtually all year. In this course we will talk about the different salad ingredients that grow well through the winter and in early spring. We will also talk about shelter options for the greens, planting/succession dates, growth rates, and harvesting. Together we will pick and enjoy an early spring salad. Bring your own lunch or enjoy an organic lunch for $14. Course includes salad seedlings ready to transplant in March. Taught by Marika Nagasaka at ALM Organic Farm
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• EDIBLE/MEDICINAL HERB WALK
  
Come walk and gather fresh edible "weeds" on ALM farm. We will identify some of the often neglected (and abundant) weeds and then talk about their edible and medicinal uses. Join us for an optional lunch for $14 where you get to taste the goods;- salad, soup and bread made with the wild foods we found. Taught by Holger Laerad at ALM farm
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• GROW AMAZING TOMATOES
  Have the earliest producing and greatest tasting tomatoes in your neighbourhood. Learn how to select the best varieties, propagate from seed, prepare the soil, transplant and train a variety of types of tomatoes. Also learn how to protect your crop from pests and save seed from your favourite tomatoes. Course includes 5 seedlings of a variety of heirloom tomatoes ready to transplant in May. Taught by Mary Alice Johnson at ALM Organic Farm
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• PLANT PROPAGATION
  Do you have these questions? Am I drowning my seedlings or keeping them too dry? When should I direct seed and when should I start my seedlings in a pot? Which plants need dark to germinate and which need light? Learn how to get vegetables, herbs and flowers started from seed, cuttings and divisions – even the hard ones. Save money and end up with healthier plants by growing them yourself from seed or taking cuttings or divisions from your neighbor’s garden. Practical and hands on taught by Mary Alice Johnson. Participant will go home with cuttings and newly seeded plants.
  Bring your own lunch or enjoy an organic farm lunch for $14 Taught by Mary Alice Johnson and Marika Nagasaka at ALM Organic Farm
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• EARTH OVEN BUILDING WORKSHOP
  We are building a wood fired oven using local building materials including cob. Join us in community, learn by doing, and help build an oven. Holger will share various oven designs, materials, and techniques to inspire you to build your own. Bring your own lunch or enjoy an organic farm lunch for $14. Taught by Holger Laerad.
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• THE WINTER GARDEN
  One of the difficult parts of having food for the winter is remembering to plant the crops in the busy summer months, which is essential to get plants established. In this workshop we'll look at planning, prepping and planting the winter food garden. We'll talk about specific planting dates for a variety of crops, create a planting calendar, explore the importance of bed prep, and start some transplants and direct seed some crops for winter use. There are some difficulties to getting seed to germinate in the hot summer months which we will discuss as well. Participants will go home with some transplants for their own winter garden. Bring your own lunch or enjoy an organic farm lunch for $14 Taught by Marika Nagasaka at ALM Organic Farm
  
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• CHICKENS 101: MANAGING A SMALL FLOCK
  Get the basic information on how to successfully raise happy and healthy laying hens. We will touch on the basics: housing, bedding, feeding, watering, dust baths, pests and diseases, egg handling as well as where to find chicks, equipment and other resources. Please bring rubber boots or other muck friendly footwear as we will be going into our hen houses to look around. Taught by Marika Nagasaka at ALM Organic Farm
  
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• OVEN/COB PLASTERING WORKSHOP
  Natural plasters are a beautiful and sustainable way of finishing walls and other projects. Come and get your hands in the mix as we explore and apply various natural plaster materials and colors. We will look at some examples of previous plaster work and then practice applying the mixes. Bring your own lunch or enjoy an organic farm lunch for $14 .Taught by Holger Laerad at ALM farm
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• GREENHOUSE CONSTRUCTION AND MANAGEMENT
  Have you been thinking of building a greenhouse in your garden. Learn what kind of greenhouse is best for you. We will look at a variety of designs from a small 10’x14’ home garden greenhouse constructed from easily accessible materials to a large commercial metal pre-fabricated greenhouse. Get the names of suppliers of greenhouse materials and equipment and learn how you can create a snug comfortably warm environment in the dead of winter and control excessive summer heat. Bring your own lunch or enjoy an organic farm lunch for $14.
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• SEED SAVING
  It is important to save your own seed for long term sustainability, to improve the quality of your seed, and to save money. Learn how to select, harvest, clean and store seed from your favourite vegetables, herbs and flowers. Which varieties are the easy save and how do you save those that a little more difficult. Practical and hands on taught by a farmer with 20 years experience. Participants go home with 5 varieties of seed. Taught by Mary Alice Johnson at ALM Organic Farm
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• PRESERVING THE HARVEST
  Learn how to store food for the winter months in a variety of ways. In this course we will look at the many ways of preserving the bounty of the harvest season (canning, drying, freezing). We will also look at storage techniques for a variety of storage crops (potatoes, apples, winter squash, tomatoes). Bring your own lunch or enjoy an organic farm lunch for $14. Taught by Marika Nagasaka at ALM Organic Farm
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• FERTILITY AND WEED MANAGEMENT
  In this course we will look at the importance of building and protecting your soil on an ongoing basis. We will look specifically at how to protect the soil through the rainy winter months. Main points of the course will be making compost, green manuring, mulching, and long term weed management. Taught by Marika Nagasaka at ALM Organic Farm
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• EDIBLE/MEDICINAL HERB WALK
  Join us for a walk and talk about staying healthy through the change of season. As the days get shorter plant energy moves into the roots, so we will focus on 'root medicine' for the Fall and Winter. After gathering the plants we will make a tincture. Bring your own lunch or enjoy an organic farm lunch for $14. Taught by Holger Laerad at ALM farm
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  Dates of building projects at farm

  • Light clay - July

  Phone 642-2131 or 642-3671 for information about how to participate.