Go Food Gardening
2-Day Course
with Di-Di Hoffman

Learn how to create and manage an abundant
organic food garden in your own backyard.

For some people, starting a food garden from scratch or improving the results from an existing garden, can be intimidating. There seems to be so much you need to know.

Whether you are a gardening novice who wants to start your first food garden or an experienced gardener who just want to enhance it, this two day course offer the know-how and guidance you need to experience the thrill and satisfaction of successfully growing your own edible crops.

Developed by the SA Herb Academy, this intensive course is a proven fast-track to creating and managing a productive and sustainable organic food garden. Your food garden can be as small as a few pots on a windowsill, as large as a soccer field, or any size in between.

Course Outcomes

Upon completion of this course you will be able to:

• Set up and manage a productive and sustainable organic food garden in your own back yard.
   
• Grow good, un-poisoned herbs and veggies that tastes like they should.
   
• Delight your family and friends with home-grown green cuisine.
   
• Provide a bit of stretch to your household budget.
   
• Develop your own individual food gardening approach based on proven strategies, tools and practices.
   
• Unlock the full potential of your food garden.
   
• Pay it forward by sharing food with the needy and helping others setting up their own food gardens.

Course Outline

One of the strengths of this course is its combination of pre-course homework, classroom instruction, demonstrations, and practical work.

Another benefit is that it does not teach a one-size-fits-all approach. The why, where and when of each tool and practice is explained. This enables you to develop your own unique food gardening approach to unlock your food garden's full potential.

Day One:

Going Beyond Organic

• What is organic gardening?
• Guiding principles
• Formulating your philosophy
• Natural laws
• Values
• Eco-friendly goals and strategies.

Food Garden Planning

• Site survey
• Position
• Needs
• Scope
• Layout
• Hand tools
• Recordkeeping
• Goal setting

Soil Fertility Management

• The Nature and Nurture of your soil.
• Building soil organic matter with green manure; animal manure; compost; mulching; vermicompost.
• Building soil minerals with organic supplements.
• Soil cultivation: When and how to prepare beds for first time planting and subsequent plantings.

Day Two:

Crop Management

• Step-by-step crop planning to ensure continuous harvests: crop profiles, crop selection, plants per person, spacing, scheduling, rotation, bed allocation.
• Propagation: Sowing in containers, transplanting, direct sowing and thinning.
• Watering: how, when and how much water to apply.
• Supplemental fertilizing: how and when to apply; making and using compost teas.
• Pruning: why, when, how, tools.
• Harvesting: readiness, handling, storage, crop debriefing.

• Principles
• Diagnosing
• Strategising
• Control Options.

Booking is Essential

Bookings will be considered on a first come, first served basis. Bookings will only be confirmed once payment is received.

No refunds for no-shows.

Cancellations: Cancellations must be made 10 days before the course date and a 50% cancellation fee applies.

In the case of insufficient participants, confirmed bookings will be notified as soon as possible and will be refunded or booked for another course of their choice.

Contact saha.admin@gmail.com. Essential information to include in your email:

1. Your name and contact details - email, phone numbers, address (or just the area where you live).

2. The workshop and dates you want to attend.

3. Any relevant food gardening experience or background.

4. A brief statement of your motivation for participating in the course.

5. The amount you intend to pay.

Cost and Payment

R650 - R1500 per person.

Costs are based on a sliding scale, where participants decide on the amount to pay across the scale, appropriate to their income. The lowest amount is for low income people and students, the highest amount being for higher income people.

This range simplistically represents wealth discrepancy in society, with the aim of making the program accessible to the 'lower strata' whilst still enabling it to be viable for the facilitators and organisers.

Please follow your heart and give as generously as you are able to.

Bookings will be confirmed once payment has been received. (Payment details will be sent to successful applicants.)

Venues

Cape Town: Cape Winelands (Venue to be confirmed). Please note that Cape Town courses run on a weekend and not on two Saturdays.

Course Dates

Cape Town
Day 1: Saturday 6 November 2010; 09h00 - 16h00
Day 2: Sunday 7 November 2010; 09h00 - 16h00

Need More Information?

Please call me on 082 416 7145, or send an email to saha.admin@gmail.com

Director: SA Herb Academy