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grapesSunbow Farm Grapes
(Summer, 2007)

Workshops

Sunbow Farm workshops are designed to provide you with skills to ease the transition during this time of the end of cheap petroleum living. The topics form an integrated knowledge base which, when set into practice, will feed you and all your relationships with a sense of total well-being.

10 AM TO NOON- PRESENTATION
NOON TO 1:00 PM - LUNCH BREAK/DISCUSSION
1:00 PM TO 3:00 PM- PRESENTATION/DISCUSSION
PRE-REGISTER, BRING LUNCH, PAY AT DOOR.
FEES
REGISTER
MAP

DIRECTIONS to SUNBOW FARM:
FROM HI 5 TOWARD CORVALLIS,
TAKE BYPASS TO OREGON BEACHES/PHILOMATH (turn left at this light)
GO UP TO 53RD ST., TURN LEFT
THEN 7/10ths OF A MILE TURN RIGHT ON PLYMOUTH DR.
LAST DRIVEWAY ON LEFT BEFORE STOP SIGN


Winter 2008


ESSENTIAL SPRING-SUMMER ORGANIC GARDENING
February 3 - Instructor: Harry MacCormack
Over 50 years of gardening experience, author of several hundred gardening articles and the forthcoming book In The Spirit of the Garden. A workshop on basic methodology to help ensure your gardening success.

-Decisions: what, where, when
-Secrets of Germination
-To transplant or not
-Fertility: how to maintain what plants need
-The Tao of mulch
-Choices of equipment
-Strategies for growing enough to feed 2, 4, 10 year round
-Weeds, sometimes they can help
-Irrigation
-How to harvest for maximum production
-Elementary permaculture

TURN YOUR LAWN INTO A REAL FOOD SOURCE
February 10 - Instructor: James Sneed, Organic Farmer at Sunbow Farm

James grew his first organic garden when he was three and gardened and learned with his Grandfather for 20 years. For the last 18 years he has survived in the wilds of Alaska gardening and gathering from the wild. He spent last season on Nash Huber's organic farm in Squim WA and is now back in Corvallis his long lost home base.

Learn from a teacher who has helped people convert traditional yards into food production. Bring a drawing of your yard, a ruler, pencil, eraser, pen and paper. You will leave with a concrete plan created by yourself in consort with James and the class. A workshop for those who really want to have very local food but don't quite know where to start and how to proceed.

-Assessing your yard, neighborhood and self for what will work
-Budgeting for available time, money and tools
-Locating materials and plants, new and recycled
-Low cost maintenance and the right tools
-Harvesting for fresh use and natural storage
-Designing the layout, planning a timeline

LIVING SOILS: BIOLOGY AND CHEMISTRY: AN INTRODUCTION
February 17 - Instructor: Harry MacCormack

Harry's grasp of the complexities of these topics were first unveiled in his classic book The Transition Document: Toward An Environmentally Sound Agriculture, in its 3rd edition, currently being greatly revised and updated

This workshop covers in 4 hours what it takes sometimes days to cover in other Soil Food Web oriented workshops. The material is essential to understanding how and why the dominant NPK paradigm and synthetic chemical practices work against a durable agricultural future. The microherd is our ally as we move away from inexpensive petroleum inputs.

-Who are the microherd?
-How do they work for you?
-What's really going on with soil chemistry?
-Micro interactions, composts and compost teas
-Harvesting for fresh use and natural storage
-Designing the layout, planning a timeline
-Your role in continual creation

Spring/Summer 2008


GRAFTING
March 2 - Instructor: Delbert McCombs of Earth's Rising Trees, Certified Organic Nursery

Grafting is both a skill and an art. A hands-on workshop. Both scion wood and rootstocks will be available. Charges for these products are in addition to class fee. You will leave with new skills and grafted trees to plant.

TAO OF DUCKS
March 9 - Instructor: Carol Deppe, Ph.D., geneticist, plant breeder, advocate for sustainable agriculture and farm-based research, and author of Breed Your Own Vegetable Varieties: The Gardener's and Farmer's Guide to Plant Breeding and Seed Saving.

This is a 1-day workshop on free-range egg-laying ducks, and a duck-based free-range egg industry for the maritime Northwest.
Egg-laying breeds of ducks lay better than the best chickens, are better foragers in the Pacific Northwest, are better-suited for free-range egg production, and love our weather.

There is no domestic animal so agroecologically well-adapted to the PNW as the duck. Free-range laying ducks lay their eggs in their pens at night and in early morning, then are released or herded to forage during the day. Ducks are the easiest of all livestock to herd, and are the base of a free-range egg industry in many parts of the world. Why not the Pacific Northwest?

This workshop will cover: basic duck-keeping, egg-laying duck breeds, breed behavior with respect to free-ranging, feeding free-ranging laying ducks, home-grown foods, backyard ducks, ducks in the garden, herding ducks, managing layers, handling eggs, and duck-egg cookery. Samples of plain hard-cooked duck eggs and other duck-egg dishes will be included. Three of the best laying breeds of ducks (Khaki Campbells, Welsh Harlequins, and Anconas) are present on the workshop site. Duck herding will be demonstrated.

Note: We will be carpooling during the class to Carol's place to see her ducks.

MAKING AND UNDERSTANDING COMPOSTS AND COMPOST TEAS
March 16 — Instructors: Instructors: Shephard Smith and Harry MacCormack
Shephard owns and operates Soil Smith Services. He consults in Oregon and around the U.S. He has years of experience building biologically activated agricultural systems. Harry is owner/operator of Sunbow Farm and has written and lectured internationally on these topics. He has extensive experience in making the products he uses.

This popular workshop is a practical and hands-on introduction to the complexities of the Soil Food Web paradigm. Science for non scientists, our approach leaves you with basic information and techniques.

Understanding the microherd and how it works for you Making composts in various conditions of climate Making compost teas and extracts; brewers, foods, formulas, etc. Strategies for fertilization, disease protection, fungal control etc.

COSMIC AND OTHER SUBTLE INFLUENCES ON AGRICULTURE: Quantum and Nano Effects
March 30 — Instructor: Harry MacCormack

Practitioner of cosmic timing and other awareness in 35 years of farming, author of many articles for Llewellyn Publishing and others on these topics. This workshop has been well received as it leads your understanding through and beyond systems promoted by popular planting calendars.

Solar weather, what we now monitor, what is only recently seen, how forecasting is effected. Solar wind patterns; how they determine perceived cycles, ancient and modern; The circle of twelve: How and why the ancients named patterns we still use to calculate perceived effects; Correlations in germination, breeding, growth, ripening, harvest and diet

WATER: CELLULAR VITALITY IN AGRICULTURE AND HEALTH
April 13 — Instructor: Harry MacCormack

What is Water? How is water implicated in cellular metabolism?

HIS STORY & HER STORY: AGRICULTURAL MODELS AND CURRENT LOCAL FOOD TRANSITIONS
April 27 — Instructor: Harry MacCormack
A history buff who has written extensively on all forms of agriculture through the ages, Harry believes those topics have particular relevance in our current transition situation.

This workshop is an exploration of a range of food production designs from thousands of years of experience in many cultures prior to the age of inexpensive petroleum. For those concerned about our local food futures, this is essential information upon which to make informed decisions.

Her story — the often untold saga of how human decisions regarding food and fiber effect interactive life forces
His story — decisions, discoveries, innovations and their implementations as food production over the ages

ESSENTIAL SEED SAVING TECHNIQUES FOR HOME AND SMALL FARM
May 4 — Instructor: Carol Deppe, Ph.D., geneticist, plant breeder, advocate for sustainable agriculture and farm-based research, and author of Breed Your Own Vegetable Varieties: The Gardener's and Farmer's Guide to Plant Breeding and Seed Saving.

Food Security begins with the saving of seeds. On a small scale the techniques are crop specific. This used to be a skill passed through families. In our urbanized culture that has not been the case. Here's an opportunity to learn from those who do it successfully (most of the time) year after year.

IN THE SPIRIT OF THE GARDEN
May 18 — Instructor: Harry MacCormack

What are the "spiritual" elements so often stated as guiding Organic or any other agriculture?

What are the "natural" processes and how do we align with them?

WEEDS: THE TOUGHEST LIMITING FACTOR IN AN ORGANIC, BIOLOGICALLY BASED AGRICULTURE
May 25 — Instructor: Harry MacCormack

FALL AND WINTER ORGANIC GARDENING
June 1 — Instructor: Harry MacCormack

Along with a select few other growers in the Corvallis area, Harry and the others at Sunbow Farm have for 35 years worked out ways to grow foods throughout the "off season". He has shared much of this knowledge through articles and in lectures throughout this and other countries.

This workshop is both a goad and a revelation of secrets. You will leave the session knowing what seems simple but requires discipline, awareness, and daily practice. Off season gardening is a total yoga.