Sustainable Sienna Ranch
Edible Wild Plant Guided Tours and Forays
December 4, 2011 10am – 1pm $40 (Sienna Ranch, Lafayette)
December 31, 2011 10am – 1pm $40 (Sienna Ranch, Lafayette)
January 29, 2011 10am – 1pm $40 (Sienna Ranch, Lafayette)
February 12, 2011 10am – 1pm $40 (Sienna Ranch, Lafayette)
Join me for a guided tour of local edible wild plants in the hills East of the Caldecott tunnel. Sample the promise of what the cool rainy season brings to our area in terms of foraging. In this class, as we have permission from the land owner, we are able to actually forage for many things! So not only bring your learning hat, but your bags and clippers, too!
TO REGISTER FOR "FERAL KEVIN'S" ADULT CLASSES, GO TO HIS WEBSITE BY CLICKING HEREEcoRanch Projects Presents the "Sustanability Series", weekend workshops for adults interested in learning homesteading and sustainable living skills.
| COURSE TITLE | DATE AND TIME | INSTRUCTOR | COST | MATERIALS | ||
| Start a Winter Garden | September 17th, 10am-2pm | Lindsay Dailey | $40 | |||
| Intro to Seed-Saving | September 18th, 1-3pm | Rebecca Newburn | $20 | |||
| Installing a Greywater System | Sept 24, 11-4 | Christina Bertea | $50 | |||
| Canning Basics | Sept 25, 1pm-4pm | Maya Blow | $40 | $10 | ||
| Basics of Fermentation | Oct 2, 10am-3pm | Maya Blow | $50 | $15 | ||
| Backyard Composting | October 9, 1pm-4pm | Trilby DuPont | ||||
| Build a Raingarden | October 22, 11am-4pm | Christina Bertea and Cleo Woelfle-Erskine |
$60 | |||
| Intro to Organic Garden Design | October 23, 10am-2pm | Lindsay | $40 | |||
| Natural Body Care Gift Basket | Dec 4 10am-3pm | Maya Blow | $55 | $30 | ||
| Rainwater Harvesting | Nov. 12, 10am-4pm | Christina Bertea | $50 | |||
CLASS DESCRIPTIONS
Start a Winter Garden
September 17th,
Instructor: Lindsay Dailey
Price: $40
Winter in
Intro to Seed-Saving
September 18th,
Instructor: Rebecca Newburn
Price: $20
Are you interested in learning to raise locally-adapted plant varieties, save money on seed, and build a resilient community? Join us as we celebrate the tremendous biodiversity of the plant world through the time-honored tradition of seed saving. This course is an introduction to seed saving basics, including some hands-on practice. Learn the basic vocabulary of seed saving and how to save seeds from the sunflower, pea, and nightshade families. No previous seed saving experience needed.
Design & Install a Graywater System
September 24, 11-4
Instructor: Christina Bertea
Price: $50
Interested in learning how to keep your garden green while reducing water consumption? Curious about how you can reuse your sink, shower and laundry water? Come to our design and installation workshop and learn how to irrigate your landscape with greywater.
This is a hands-on class: participants will construct a “branched drain” system diverting greywater from a bathroom sink to irrigate bamboo at Sienna Ranch. (This type of system can also be used to distribute tub and shower greywater.)
The class will cover: Greywater principles; types of greywater systems; lo-tech ways to reuse greywater from sinks, shower, and washing machines; the new
Please bring a lunch and wear clothes you don’t mind getting dirty.
Canning Basics
Sept 25,
Instructor: Maya Blow
Price: $40
Materials fee: $10
Enjoy the bounty of your garden in January by learning to can the abundance of summer fruits! This course covers the basics of canning safety, basic recipes, equipment, and ingredients. We’ll can up some organic seasonal fruit to make a jam, and a tomato sauce. You’ll go home with a few jars of goodies, recipes, and the knowledge to safely and easily start canning at home.
Basics of Fermentation
Oct 2,
Price: $50
Materials fee: $15
Fermenting foods is a healthy, delicious, and easy way to preserve food and deal with the abundance from your garden. In this class we will discuss the benefits and methods of fermentation, and will learn to preserve food with lactic fermentation, a technique which requires neither canning nor vinegar.
You’ll go home with samples of sauerkraut, a fermented herbal “soda”, and delicious crème fraiche, as well as a collection of recipes to try at home.
Backyard Composting
October 9,
Instructor: Trilby DuPont
Price: $40
Come learn how to turn food scraps or fallen leaves into “gardeners black gold”. Compost is a rich soil amendment that will greatly benefit your garden and the environment, by diverting compostable material from the landfill. Join us for a fun, hands-on workshop that will cover the basic methods of both backyard composting and worm composting. You’ll learn what to compost, how to keep your pile fresh and sweet-smelling,and different methods of composting. You’ll also get to build a worm bin and learn how ot let red wriggler worms do the work of composting for you!
Build a Rainwater Garden
October 22,
Instructor: Christina Bertea and Cleo Woelfle-Erskine
Price: $60
Want more for your garden? Harvest the rain!
Harvesting rainwater reduces your reliance on irrigation, infiltrates water into the soil to recharge groundwater, and reduces stormwater pollution in streams and the Bay. In this hands-on workshop, we'll build a rain garden at Sienna Ranch to catch water from the roof and surrounding areas and infiltrate it into the soil to grow edible, medicinal, and native plants. We'll explain how to integrate rain barrels and cisterns into the garden, and how to trace the flow of water through the landscape.
Intro to Organic Garden Design
October 23,
Instructor: Lindsay Dailey
Price: $40
Learn how to grow a healthy and beautiful garden that minimizes the impacts on the environment. From building a healthy soil with compost to selecting beautiful plantings appropriate for our climate, this workshop will give you the basics to implement sustainable gardening practices.
Topics covered include:
- How to build healthy soil
- Selecting climate-appropriate plants
- Designing your garden
- Yearly planting schedule
- Preventing nutrient run-off
- Natural pest and weed management
Sudden Oak Life Workshop
Oct. 23, 11:30 am to 12:30 pm (free), 1 to 4 pm ($40)
Learn how to improve and restore the health of the oak ecosystem in this enlivening workshop with “Sudden Oak Life” oak tree expert and scientist, Dr. Lee Klinger. For thousands of years the native California people tended oak forests and other food-producing ecosystems using prescribed fire and other methods of traditional land management. Now-a-days, with the suppression of fires, oaks and other trees are experiencing accelerated rates of decline in many parts of California, as witnessed by spread of epidemics such as sudden oak death. Join Dr. Klinger as he demonstrates various “fire mimicry” methods to help the oak ecosystem flourish. Demonstrations will include a variety of practical, hands-on techniques, and we will treat several grandmother valley and live oaks on the ranch. All treatment methods are organic, and no synthetic chemicals are used. Details will be presented on how fires and fire mimicry methods act to improve the fertility of soils and the health of trees, and results will be shown of case studies involving a suite of techniques and natural products to restore oak trees. Lee Klinger, MA PhD is an independent scientist and ecological consultant from Big Sur, CA with over 25 years of professional experience and over 50 peer-reviewed publications in the fields of biogeochemistry, forest ecology, and soil science. Dr. Klinger has worked as a staff scientist at the National Center for Atmospheric Research in Boulder, and has held scholarly appointments at the University of Colorado, the University of Oxford, and the Chinese Academy of Sciences.
To register, contact: Lindsay Dailey (707-889-3744)
Natural Body Care Gift Basket
Dec 4,
Instructor: Maya
Price: $55
Materials Fee: $30
In this fun, crafty class, you’ll create a beautiful gift basket of natural body care products using simple, low-cost herbal and natural ingredients. We’ll make a sugar exfoliating scrub, a body cream, and a glycerin soap, all blended with healing herbs. Join us to learn these simple recipes, discuss various herbs and their properties, learn where to source materials, and get recipes for making more fun concoctions at home. Plus, you’ll go home with a beautifully packaged gift basket to use as an inspiration for holiday gift-making!
Rainwater Harvesting
Nov. 12,
Instructor: Christina Bertea
Price: $50
Simple, low-cost rainwater harvesting systems can lower your water bill, increase your backyard harvest, and reduce storm runoff. This course presents the basic principles of harvesting rainwater in tanks. Participants will install a large rain tank in the
· How to calculate roof catchment potential
· Where to position a tank
· Types of storage tanks
· How to create “first flush” diversion
· Uses for overflow rainwater
· A low-tech system for gravity drip irrigation using stored rainwater
· Methods for linking smaller 55 gallon barrels
· Sources for tanks and materials and professional help if needed
· Bring a plan view with dimensions of your home if you’d like to calculate how much rain you can harvest from your own roof
Edible Wild Plant Guided Tours and Forays
December 4, 2011 10am – 1pm $40 (Sienna Ranch, Lafayette)
December 31, 2011 10am – 1pm $40 (Sienna Ranch, Lafayette)
January 29, 2011 10am – 1pm $40 (Sienna Ranch, Lafayette)
February 12, 2011 10am – 1pm $40 (Sienna Ranch, Lafayette)
Join me for a guided tour of local edible wild plants in the hills East of the Caldecott tunnel. Sample the promise of what the cool rainy season brings to our area in terms of foraging. In this class, as we have permission from the land owner, we are able to actually forage for many things! So not only bring your learning hat, but your bags and clippers, too!
TO REGISTER FOR "FERAL KEVIN'S" ADULT CLASSES, GO TO HIS WEBSITE BY CLICKING HERE