Check the Farm Apartment Calender for more details.

Tomorrow is jam packed with classes.  Take your pick. I’m going to be at David King’s workshop “What To Do And When To Do It” at The Learning Garden (This class is $25 with a discount if you buy a series of five classes).  He’ll be going over everything you need to do plan your summer garden.  On the East Side, Solano Community Garden is having a fundraiser garden sale starting at 8:30 AM.  Also, there are two free Fruit Tree Pruning Workshops: one in Westchester put on by The Environmental Change Makers, and other other in Highland Park at the Milagro Allegro Garden.

I don’t think anything says Valentine’s Day like “mold.”  That’s why on Sunday Joshua and I will be at The Wild Mushroom Festival at the LA Arboretum.  We even got tickets to see the Paul Stamets lecture “How Mushrooms Can Save The Planet.”  He’s not kidding either.  Stamets is currently working on a pesticidal fungi that trick insects into eating them, and mushrooms that can break down the neurotoxins used in nerve gas, as well as a new set of new powerful antiviral medicines.  If you can’t make the lecture, you can download an MP3 of one of his most recent talks at http://www.bioneers.org which I highly recommend.

As always, there’s lots of fun/free stuff goin’ on this weekend.

Go to the Farm Apartment Calender for more details.  Please let me know of any events or classes you’d like me to post.

Saturday, 2/6

Free Biodynamic Composting Class

23273 RED ROCK ROAD, TOPANGA, CA 90290

Another demonstration of how to make a biodynamic compost pile.  You can read about my experience at the the last demo here.

PLEASE RSVP via email to ecocentricliving@aol.com and I will send you the address more info.or  call 310.463.5323

“Eating food grown in Biodynamic compost will slow aging and heal the Earth.”

http://www.biodynamics.in/compost.htm

—-

Seed Swap at Venice Learning Garden

3000 Venice Boulevard Los Angeles, CA 90066

Annual Seed Swap, in conjunction with Environmental Change Makers, The Learning Garden will host a seeds swap!  Swap out those seeds you didn’t use last year for something new and different! The Learning Garden will sponsor our first seed swap on our patio February 6th. Email the Gardenmaster, greenteach@gmail.com, if you have questions.

—

Sunday, 2/7

EATLACMA begins

LACMA – 5905 Wilshire Blvd,90036

What began as the mapping of fruit trees in LA neighborhoods grew into Fallen Fruit, a full-fledged activist art project and collaboration among David Burns, Matias Viegener, and Austin Young. Rooted in the notion that all of us deserve to have access to “public fruit,” Fallen Fruit holds a pair of public fruit-tree adoptions, officially launching EATLACMA, the museum’s year-long series of food-related talks, performances, exhibitions, and other events on culture, art, politics, and eatables. February 6, TreePeople Los Angeles sponsors the public fruit-tree adoption at Watts Towers, and on February 7, it moves to LACMA. Potential adoptive fruit parents are encouraged to arrive early for the best selection.  – Tanja Laden

—-

Thursday, 2/11

Immoveable Feast – Fruit Tree Discussion

601 Santa Monica Blvd., 90401

SM Main Library – MLK Auditorium

Fruit trees can produce well into their eighties, but their permanence can also be a liability when the effects of drought, insect invasion, changing customer demand and delayed innovation combine to decrease production. This panel of experienced tree fruit growers and experts will discuss how they protect flavor and quality by applying age-old growing practices to bold innovation in their search to grow “the perfect fruit.”

If you’re an apartment-farmer, Darren Butler is someone you should know about. Consulting Arborist, Ecological Designer, Sustainable Landscaping Specialist, and Teacher, Darren is master eco-gardener.  Best of all, he wants to share his knowledge with you.

Darren has an exciting list of workshops coming up that will deepen the roots of your knowledge about all things organic gardening.

FarmApartment has arranged for Darren to lead a class in Small-Space Food Gardening on Saturday, February 27 at the Learning Garden in Venice.  In this all-day course for apartment, condominium, and other urban dwellers who lack land, Darren will introduce methods for growing edibles in spaces as small as a windowsill.  He will start with the basics and leave you with confidence to start your own apartment-sized farm.

Other workshops include:

Dormant Fruit-Tree Pruning, Grafting Basics, (double workshop), Sunday, January 31, 2010, 9:30 AM – 4:30 PM, Tarzana

Home Greywater Use and System Design, Saturday, February 20, 2010, 9:30 AM – 4:30 PM, Tarzana

Edible Landscaping and Perennial Food Gardening Certification Course, Sundays Feb 21, 28, Mar 7, 21, Apr 11, 18, 2010; 9:00 AM – 1:00 PM; Long Beach

Ecofriendly High-Yield Food Gardening, Sundays Feb 21, 28, Mar 7, 21, Apr 11, 18, 2010; 2:30 – 6:30 PM; Long Beach

7th Congress of Southern California Special Event: Launching the 50% Food Initiative, Saturday, March 20, 2010, 10:00 AM – 4:45 PM, Westchester  Link to email announcement

Because a garden is a terrible thing to waste.