The Organic Gardener's Apprenticeship Program

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Learn to plan, plant and care for annual vegetables, herbs, perennial fruits, nuts, and berries throughout a whole growing season.

Work alongside farmer Jason and Tasha, earth-turning land stewards at Urban Gourmet Family Farm.

One 5-hour day (Tuesdays) a week, June through October

Cultivate connection with plants, land, self and a small community of like-minded folks

Learn by doing…using your body and engaging all your senses

Hands-on experience with dozens of edible plants

Experienced, welcoming, patient mentors

Monthly or one time payment options available

Sliding scale pricing based on income

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Get your hands in the soil!

Get your hands in the soil and attune your body to the rhythm of the seasons

Becoming an organic gardener’s apprentice will equip you with skills to nurture reciprocity and create a thriving garden within a healthy ecosystem. Join us for one day (9am-2:30pm) each week throughout the growing season, in our dedicated learning garden, farm market and herb gardens. You’ll get the experience of living and working with natural rhythms through in-depth garden walks, clear + hands-on guidance about what needs doing and when, and the practice (not just theory) of how to do it.

What to Expect...

Organic Gardening emphasizing
regenerative and permaculture practices.

This season-long, one-day-a-week apprenticeship will give you a deep understanding of how to plan/schedule your plantings for consistent, season-long harvesting, how to support plant growth at various stages, how and why of companion planting, crop-specific harvest methods and more.

We’ll work in our well-established gardens, a new learning garden, and food-forest edges. You’ll get a chance to learn and do every step along the way for the full growing season.

As a result, you’ll harvest knowledge of sowing seed, transplanting, tending, pruning, feeding, and caring for more than a dozen annual and perennial food/herb crops.

This apprenticeship is all about...

Learning by doing, while guided by folks who have been growing in this area for a long while.

Bed preparation

Planting

Thinning and weeding

Mulching

Trellising

Pest and disease management

Planting and managing cover crops

Tillage (breaking ground)

No-till techniques (soil building / bed maintenance)

Season extension techniques

Pruning, mulching, shaping,

Harvesting crops

Plus whatever else comes up as the season unfolds (believe us, something always comes up)!

Attuning to the Rhythms of the Seasons

Growing food is all about observation & timing.

You get the opportunity to shortcut through our past years of trial and error, learning through guided mentoring and hands-on practice how to work in concert with ecological rhythms.

Through this program, you will come to understand there is a seasonality to every garden activity. You’ll begin to feel the flow of the seasons within you and develop a sense of the right timing for your food and herb producing activities.

Seasonal Activities

You will have the opportunity to work with and learn the rhythms of more than a dozen species of vegetables & herbs along with some fruit and nuts.

This is a generalized outline of what we will be doing:

Spring

Start seeds in flats; cut some cover crops to prepare beds for spring planting, plant other cover crops; harvest weeds for eating, prepare garden beds, plant out frost-hardy plants in garden; transplant up some vegetable starts into larger pots, weed recently sown beds; prune, mulch and tend perennials, identify and squish bugs.

Summer

Start seeds for late summer/fall plantings, continued planting of frost-hardy and cool-sensitive plants, harvest berries/fruit, build trellises, make and use plant-based “tea” fertilizers, weed and mulch, squish bugs; a lot of harvesting.

Fall

Continue to plant crops for fall/winter harvest; sow cover crops; harvest storage crops; weed and mulch, winterize garden, put up hoops with row cover

Serious Dirt Time!

We will gather and work in rain, wind, hot sun, cold and sometimes snow.

The Organic Gardener’s Apprenticeship includes real work. You’ll be bending, kneeling, crouching, reaching, using tools, carrying heavy loads, pushing wheelbarrows on uneven ground, climbing ladders, and working in varied weather. We never push anyone beyond their own physical abilities, but everyone is expected to “pull their own weight.”

Before you apply, be sure that you’re up to the physical and mental challenge of working hard outside for a full day each week. If you have specific physical limitations, but still want to participate, reach out to us so that we can discuss if it’s a good fit.

Please note: this program does not include a weekly "share" of vegetables. During abundant times of year, apprentices will be sent home with produce to enjoy, but food is not considered part of the program.

This program is for You if

Growing deeper connections with food and plants, the earth, and people!

Learn how to grow (and eat!) the healthiest, nutrient dense food

Grow enough food to off-set your grocery bill expense significantly

Reduce reliance on a broken food system

Learn how to garden in a way that supports all life

Love spending time outside

This program can stand-alone, or be a compliment to your at-home gardening and permaculture projects. If you’ve got the space and inclination, we encourage you to plant some things at home, too, and apply your learning right away with them.

Schedule, Timing & Cost of the Program

at Urban Gourmet Family Farm

We meet Tuesdays, June - October.

During the June 4th–October 29 timeline, 20 of the 22 Tuesdays will be apprenticeship days. Two Tuesdays, July 16th & Sept 3rd, will be skipped for breaks.

If you have obligations that prevent you from coming for a few Tuesdays, that’s okay as most apprentices will miss a day here or there. We ask that you not miss more than one apprenticeship day per month.

We’ll meet from 9:00am-2:30pm.

We will be welcoming a maximum of 10 apprentices (6 minimum) into this program. If you are interested, please apply as soon as possible.

Pricing: $1,400 – $2,000

Please pay what you can afford. The median price is suggested to help cover the full cost of hosting this class. Please select the low end of the sliding scale if you are low income. If your income places you in the upper-middle class or wealthy, select a rate on the upper range of the scale. Please place yourself in the range where you deem appropriate, based on your income.

One time or monthly payment options available.