LEARN HOW TO GROW YOUR OWN FOOD

Growing your own food isn’t just good for the environment, it’s good for the soul. Successfully harvesting your first fruit or vegetable is reward enough—and then you get to eat it. “The more local organic food we can grow ourselves means less chemicals in the air and water and less transport of food from long distances. Moreover, the act of growing some of the food that you need each day teaches you that just as a garden needs the ‘gardener’ to thrive, so does the earth benefit from active human stewardship,” says Shawn Harrison, founder and co-director of SOIL BORN FARMS Soil Born Farms is home to the Center for Food, Health and the Environment, a living laboratory that encompasses 55 acres of organically managed gardens, farm fields, orchards, pasture, creek and native habitat. Through a variety of weekly classes, tours and activities, youth and adults can build the skills necessary to grow some of their own food, get in the kitchen to support simple and delicious cooking, and better care for the earth. Whether you have a forlorn packet of starter seeds collecting dust somewhere or you’re looking to take your homesteading to the next level, Soil Born has a class for you.

And growing food isn’t just for people with gardening skills or sprawling backyards. If you don’t have much of a green thumb, try lettuce, radishes, kale, summer squash, arugula and tomatoes. If you have limited space, try culinary herbs like thyme and oregano and salad ingredients like lettuce, radishes and turnips.

To learn more, visit soilborn.org.