SEASONAL WINTER WILD ABUNDANCE, FROM GARDEN TO TABLE – URBAN KITCHEN & MARKET GARDENING: THE PERMACULTURE WAY- July 2023

Description

Part time                1 weekend per season, 4 times in a year (Max 8 students)

Course prices are include full board, (course material, vegetarian breakfast, lunch and dinner, tea/coffee, treats, all excursions and transport) but exclude accommodation at Cape Dutch Quarters which offer 2 & 4 Star double, twin and single occupancy rooms.

 

Skills Learnt

Sustainable and profitable market/kitchen gardening techniques

Harvest and Market preparation

Annual, Perennial and Bi-annual Food Production (Vegetables, Salads, Fruit, Herbs and flowers)

Food preparation, preservation and presentation skills

 

Average Daily Routines (Weather dependent)

Mornings               Nursery & Garden skills

Afternoons            Classroom in the garden. Workshops and educational farm visits

Evenings Kitchen Master Classes – Food preparation and preservation skills

SUBJECT BREAKDOWN

• DESIGN ANALYSIS – Cultivate your own garden first
  1. Mapping
  2. Own design principles – Dare to Dream

 

• APPROACHES
  1. Agriculture (Forestry, farming and ranching)
  2. Horticulture (Study of soil, plans, landscaping)
  3. Permiculture (Twelve design and ethics principles of regenerative/sustainable farming
  4. Certified Organic or organically grown. (Free range/Barn yard/Grain Fed)
  5. Biodynamic (Esoteric -Earth/Moon cycles, sacred spiritual connections)

 

• TYPES OF PRODUCE (Detailed at end)
  1. Herbal Medicine
  2. Culinary Herbs
  3. Vegetables (Root, Leaf, Stem, Fruit, Flower)
  4. Salads
  5. Fruit & Orchards
  6. Sprouts & Shoots

 

• PRINCIPLES OF SUCCESSFUL PERMACULTURE KITCHEN/MARKET GARDEN
  1. a) Build soil above all
  2. b) Manage water (Slow, Store, Spread, Share)
  3. c) No tread policy (No Dig/ no step)
  4. d) Mulch, Chop & Drop
  5. e) Create a complex Polly-culture with Guilds & Companion planting
  6. f) Regular inspection
  7. g) Create and manage a surplus
  8. h) Finding balance
  9. i) Succession planning – Think in circles

 

• URBAN KITCHEN GARDEN DESIGN (GROWING SYSTEMS)
  1. Aesthetics, begin with the end in mind – sense of permanence
  2. Earthworks & structure – Permanent raised and rotated beds
  3. Earthworks & Structure – Infrastructure, Pathways & Access
  4. Chicken based gardens (Straw yards/Chicken Tractors/Mandala systems)
  5. Herb spiral
  6. Banana Circles
  7. Orchard Husbandry & Esplinading
  8. Food forests
  9. Bee Keeping
  10. Security perimeters
  11. Community food security and exchange systems

 

• BUILDING SOIL – INPUTS
  1. Soil overview (Consistency/health/testing)
  2. Compost
  3. Marrying water with soil
     1. a) Irrigation, filtration, purification
     2. b) Grey water reticulation
  4. Minerals, Primary & Secondary
  5. Nutrients (Teas, liquid manure, fungal inoculations, additives, humic acid, worm farms)
  6. Bio-Char (Manufacture for nutrient deployment)

 

• SEEDS
  1. Organic/non-organic/ heirloom varieties
  2. Seed saving
  3. Seed storage
  4. Seed bank beds

 

• PESTS & DISEASES
  1. Organic commercial products
  2. Farm concoctions –grow your own
  3. Identification & Eradication
  4. Bug Hotel

 

• TOOLS & TECKNOLOGY
  1. Standard & basic garden Implements
  2. Popular & novel garden tools (flame weeder & mechanised seeders)
  3. Tunnels, hot houses, hardening off area
  4. Social media, aps & online help
  5. Books
  6. Other local organisations

 

• FARM EDUCATIONALS & EXCURSIONS
  1. Foraging with Marcel
  2. Mushrooms
  3. Organic Wine Farms (Waverly Hills)
  4. Nuts
  5. Tulbagh Dried Fruits (Sulphates & Preservatives)
  6. Honey Factory
  7. White Mountain Produce
  8. Eikelaan Farm
  9. De Heuwel Farm
  10. Vindoux Farm
  11. White bridge Farm aquaponics
  12. Oakhurst Olives
  13. Adene’s Flowers
  14. Protea Farm
  15. Porterville Farmers Market
• PRODUCTION MANAGEMENT & THE BUSINESS OF MARKET GARDENING
  1. Yield/Profit & efficiency
  2. Marketing
  3. Sales Management
  4. Distribution & Food flow
  5. Cyclical thinking (Crop Rotation & Succession Planning(
  6. Pier review systems

 

• FOOD PRESERVATION
  1. Fermenting (Sour dough, Apple cider, pineapple beer)
  2. Distillation (Fruit vodkas)
  3. Pressing (Citrus & Fruit Juices)
  4. Pickling (Pepper dues & Jalapenos)
  5. Drying (Herbs, chilly flakes, aubergine, cherry tomatoes)
  6. Bottling ( Rosehips & Quince)
  7. Preserving (Reduced sugar jams & jellies)
  8. Storage (Root vegetables)
  9. Medicinal herbs & tinctures

 

• FOOD PREPARATION & PRESENTATION
  1. Kitchen & Culinary skills
  2. Juicing & Smoothes
  3. Plant based versions of traditional favourites (Lentil bobotie/musake)
  4. Mastering difficult ingredients (Aubergines, Artichokes)
  5. Formal table settings, décor & flowers
  6. Nosegays / Tassiemassies

 

 

Don’t forget your “Get going kit” (Bio-char, seed selection, kalpak, worm castings ect)