CLASSES

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We can't wait to start offering these free classes to our community!

 

Free Garden Space

  • We will offer at least 10% of our raised garden beds to families and people in need free of charge. 

Anticipated free classes:

  • Gardening 101: The Basics

    • This class will cover the very basics of gardening. From different types of garden beds to watering, soil types, location of your bed and easy-to-grow types of plants to begin with.

  • Gardening 102: High Desert Gardening

    • Now that you know the basics, this class will give you all the tips and tricks to keep your garden flourishing even in our arid desert environment. In this class we will introduce types of cover for your beds, trellising, placement of plants as relative to the sun, and more!

  • Cooking 101: How to harvest and prepare your produce

    • In this class you will discover the joy of harvesting your own produce and what to look for when you do so. Blemishes on your fruit may be just fine while small holes may indicate a pest living in your tomato. In this class we will explore how to examine your produce, what types of dishes to add your produce to, how to prepare your produce for use and how to properly store it.

  • Cooking 102: How to make basic meals using your harvest

    • In this class you will discover how to combine your great produce in seasonal dishes to create healthy home-grown meals in just a few easy steps! This class may include building a salad from scratch, creating a simple fruit and vegetable pasta, and more!

  • Busy Bees Children’s Intro Class:

    • Explore the garden and look for bugs and birds, harvest some fresh produce such as carrots and peas to learn how to wash and eat garden fresh produce, and play in the mud to make mud balls for seeds to grow in. A fun and interactive introduction to gardening!

  • Elementary Field Trips:

    • Students can visit the garden on a free field trip where they will get to plant the seedlings that they have grown in class! (SEE Classroom-to-Garden information below!)

 

Anticipated paid classes may include (but is not limited to):

  • Canning 101: Making jam

  • Canning 102: Canning fruit and vegetables

  • Canning 103: Pickling

  • Drying your own herbs

  • Homemade Baked Bread 

  • Advanced cooking classes

  • Busy Bees Extended Fun

  • Advanced gardening classes

  • Master Gardener talks

  • Grands and Me (grandparent and grandchild/ multi generational gardening program)

Contact

Classroom to Garden Growing!

Free educational program for schools!

While we plan to offer a lot of free classes to our community members, we will also be creating a free program for our local schools! We want to host field trips for all students with a focus on Classroom-to-Garden growing! 

 

What is Classroom-to-Garden growing?

 In our Classroom-to-Garden program, we will encourage local teachers to borrow seed-starting equipment for their classrooms, the students will get to plant and care for seedlings, then the students will get to take a free field trip to the garden where they can then plant their seedlings in their own class garden bed on a FREE field trip!

 

    As an educator myself, I know firsthand that while many teachers would love to have a school garden, the burden of responsibility will usually fall on their own shoulders to care for the garden through the rest of the school year, summer and into the fall of the next school year. This is usually where gardening dreams of teachers end and the reality of keeping a school garden sets in. 

But we are here to provide for our teachers and students and keep their garden dreams alive through our Classroom-to-Garden program! By allowing teachers to borrow our seed starting carts to start their seeds in the safety and convenience of their own classroom, providing their class with a free field trip to the garden where they will get to plant their own class-grown seedlings, providing their classroom with a garden bed free of charge, and tending to the bed throughout the summer and fall, we will make class gardening easy and realistic!

Through this program we can reach hundreds of students every year and not only once, but twice! We want to encourage schools to have consecutive grades cooperate, such as third and fourth grade, so that the students will get to plant their seeds at the end of their third grade year and then return in the fall when they are in fourth grade to see how their gardens have grown over the summer! 

Stephane Leon

 

In addition to visiting the garden during the school field trips, students will also be welcome to bring their families throughout the summer to work in their garden bed, eat some freshly grown produce right out of their class beds, explore the Prescott Food Forest, and volunteer too! What a great way to get our youth excited about gardening and a fantastic way of providing for our community!

WATER USAGE AND ESTIMATED NEED

 

According to the University Of California UCCE Master Gardener Program, each large 4’x8’ garden bed (or two 4’x4’ beds) will use approximately .625 gallons per square foot or 20 gallons of water per week in the highest and driest part of the summer. In the summer, we estimate that if all of the garden beds are in use (1,280 sq ft) then the total water usage for the beds will be approx 800 gallons of water per week for four weeks for a total of 3,200 gallons.

 

The community garden area is estimated to use .623 gallons daily per square foot over 250 square feet. This comes out to an average of 156 gallons per day. In four weeks the total water used will be about 4,368 gallons.

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The forest area, when it contains (50) young fruit trees, will need to start with only 2 gallons per tree per week, totaling 100 gallons per week in their early development. With their added shrubs and other under-growth neighbors we can increase the estimate by another 2 gallons per week per tree. Over four weeks this total will be about 800 gallons.

 

The greenhouse will be utilizing tower style aeroponic growing methods and according to towerfarms.com, each tower will use approx. 1 gallon of water per day for up to 44 plants in each tower. We hope to install 40 towers for an average of 40 gallons per day and a total of 1,120 gallons per four weeks.

The estimated total water usage for a dry summer month is approximately 9,488 gallons

 

We will also have hoses available for gardeners to wash their hands and produce as well as to add extra water as needed to their garden beds as well as water for bathrooms and eventually a kitchen. 

 

According to EPA.gov, the average family household uses 300 gallons of water per day for an average of 8,400 gallons per four weeks.

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This garden is projected to use less water than the needs of two family households!