Public Workshops

Each year the Friends of the UCSC Farm & Garden work with the staff of the Center for Agroecology & Sustainable Food Systems (CASFS) to develop a slate of fruit tree, gardening, and other instructional workshops for the community. These workshops range from 3-hour classes offered at the UCSC Farm and Alan Chadwick Garden on the UC Santa Cruz campus to free Q&A sessions at local garden centers. 

Workshops are geared to both beginning and more advanced gardeners. In-person workshops have traditionally been offered for a fee but upcoming online events are being offered for free. You can watch recordings of past online workshops on the CASFS YouTube channel.

 Summer 2021 Workshop Schedule

Winter Squash Grow Along, pt. III

July 7, 5pm-6pm. Online.

In part 3 of our winter squash grow-along, we will check in about our plantings. It has been a cool spring on the Monterey bay coast and everything's off to a slow start. This class will begin with a 30 minute talk on watering in a drought year, squash pests to monitor for on young plants, and a review of pollination including tips on how to pollinate by hand if you're growing to save seed, are lacking pollinators or are getting fruit drop. We'll reserve the last 30 minutes to open questions, anything you want to ask about your garden! This grow along is intended to be a virtual conversation. Send your questions and photos in advance to farmandg@ucsc.edu. 
Watch the Recording>>

Botanical Baking

July 24, 1pm-2:30pm. Online.

Bake your garden into your sweets and bring your blooms into your celebration rooms! This free, virtual workshop will detail how to create your own special treats incorporating ingredients from your garden. We will learn how to infuse buttercreams, bake with herbs, and decorate cakes with fruits and flowers. Attendees will receive recipes for Watch the recording>>

Sketching in the Garden

August 4, 5pm-6:30pm. Online.

In this class, participants will work on cultivating observational skills and artistic talent with inspiration from the Alan Chadwick Garden. Starting with a short presentation about a variety of approaches to field sketching and journaling, we'll take a look at several different examples of how to create a successful sketchbook page composition with an overview of materials, techniques, and a quick demo. All levels of experience welcome.
Watch the recording>>

Seed Saving and Sovereignty

August 31, 5pm-6:30pm. Online.

In this workshop led by Kellee Matsushita-Tseng of the UCSC Farm & Garden, we will explore foundational concepts of seed saving and seed sovereignty: how we build a movement towards seed sovereignty, seed saving for create resilient farm and garden systems, seed saving principles and practices, crop planning for seed production, and introduction to mating systems.
Watch the recording>>

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