Beginning with an August 2005 tomato canning workshop in a church kitchen, Post Oil Solutions (Re)learning to Feed Ourselves workshop series has expanded to 40 workshops over the past two years, serving more than 700 people.
The series continues in 2011, and Post Oil Solutions will be partnering with the Grafton Nature Museum (www.nature-museum.org), which will co-sponsor workshops in February in Bellows Falls. Robert King of Putney will again lead the January-February gardening workshops.
The series will kick-off with four workshops in January. They will be held at the Rotch Building, School for International Training, Kipling Road, Brattleboro.
• Sunday, Jan. 2: Eating from the Garden All 12 Months
• Sunday, Jan. 9: Starting Seeds, Potting Soil, Containers
• Sunday, Jan. 16: 9x12 Garden for Beginning Gardeners
• Sunday, Jan. 23: Cold Frames
All workshops are 1-3 p.m.; they include handouts and light refreshments. The fee is $10/$70 sliding scale, with no one refused for lack of funds. Pre-registration and payment are required: call 877-886-7397 for January workshops only. Payment at the door is $20, and only if there is room.
While the February offerings repeat a number of workshops and features from January, please note the following differences: they will be held at the United Church of Bellows Falls, 8 School St., and will run from 2-4 p.m.; the charge is a sliding scale fee of $10/$40 with no one refused for lack of funds; and pre-registration and payment are again required, and $20 will be charged at the door. For February workshops, call 802-843-2111 to register for the following.
• Sunday, Feb. 6: Eating from the Garden All 12 Months
• Sunday, Feb. 13: 9x12 Garden for Beginning Gardeners
• Sunday, Feb. 20: Root Cellars
• Sunday, Feb. 27: Cold Frames
Looking ahead to the late spring and summer, Post Oil Solutions will again be partnering with Jay and Janet Bailey of Fair Winds Farm for their backyard animal raising and harvesting workshops.
Post Oil Solutions also hopes to introduce their Neighborhood Greenhouse building workshop sometime this year, a project that they've been successfully partnering with Transition Town Putney around this past year. Several workshops around putting food by and the garden to bed will again be offered in the fall.
Further details about these workshops can be found by visiting www.postoilsolutioons.org, or by contacting them at [email protected] or 802-869-2141.