Directory of Hands-On Learning
Collection of local and small-town workshops
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Featured School
Ten Apple Farm - Living with Goats
Location: 241 Yarmouth Road Gray, Maine 04039
Description: We try to do several workshops in basic homesteading skills each season, to share what we have learned, or are in the process of learning. Workshops include Basic Home Cheesemaking, Baking, Poultry Slaughter & Processing, and Preserving & Canning. In some cases, we lead the workshops ourselves, in other cases we may invite fellow homesteaders or skilled members of the greater food, farming and homesteading community to be a guest workshop leader.
Contact: http://www.livingwithgoats.com, info@tenapplefarm.com , 207.657.7880
Category: homesteading, Cheese making,cooking, Poultry, butchering, food Preservation, farming , animal husbandry, permaculture
Search Results for: gardening
Modern Self-Reliance
Location: Burlington, MA
Description: We teach homesteading and preparedness skills through online tutorials.
Contact: http://www.modernself-reliance.com, msr@modernself-reliance.com,
Category: Food preservation, soap making, cheese making, survival,gardening
Ploughshare Institute for Sustainable Culture
Location: 608 Dry Creek Rd. · Waco, TX 76705
Description: Our goal is to transmit a vision for a cohesive, integrated agrarian way of life, but one that aims toward bringing forth complete individuals and whole families in a supportive and tangible context, a context respectful of the natural environment. We are dedicated to recapturing and perpetuating a sense of intentional community which includes rediscovering and perpetuating the knowledge and skills that can provide for essential human needs (both socially and spiritually as well as materially) on a sustainable basis.
Contact: http://www.SustainLife.Org, info@sustainlife.org, (254) 754-9600
Category: Gardening, Beekeeping, Poultry, Dairy Cows, Dairy Goats, Horse, Organic, Gardening, Orchards, Bread/Pizza, Cheese making, Soap making, Basket making, Fiber arts, carpentry, Blacksmithing, Pottery, Quilting
Wild Abundance
Location: P.O. Box 1991 Asheville, NC 28802
Description: Wild Abundance is here to empower people with skills for self-sufficiency and interdependence. We develop deeply meaningful and effective classes, programs, and demonstration sites to bring people closer to the each other and to the web of life. We believe that these skills are humanity's legacy; we strive to make them accessible to all people with a hunger to learn through sliding scales and scholarships.
Contact: http://wildabundance.net/, info.wildabundance@gmail.com, (828) 775-7052
Category: Permaculture, Gardening, Foraging, Carpentry, Homebuilding, Butchering,Tanning, Food preservation, Cooking
Nifty Homestead
Location: 900 1st Ave South, Suite 205A Seattle, WA 98134
Description: Nifty Homestead was founded to help aspiring and expert homesteaders learn and grow. We post resources on gardening, raising animals, natural building, sustainable energy, and tons of other topics related to homestead living.
Contact: https://www.niftyhomestead.com/, hello@niftyhomestead.com ,
Category: Milling , Carpentry, gardening, Urban Farming, Off the Grid, Plant ID, Aquaponics, Poultry, Beekeeping, Goats, Permaculture, Soapmaking, Quilting, Knit, Fiber arts, Weaving
The Grateful Garden
Location: 965 Washington St. Hanover, MA. 02339
Description: A sustainable garden center and vegetable gardener's resource center. The Grateful Garden offers a variety of organic and heirloom annuals, edible perennials, fruit trees, native flowers, growing supplies, as well as education programs and vegetable garden design/installation. Focused on cultivating avid vegetable growers, we are not just a plant supplier we are a resource center for local vegetable gardeners. Quite simply we grow vegetable gardeners!
Contact: http://www.thegratefulgarden.biz/, todd@thegratefulgarden.biz, 617-212-9223
Category: Permaculture, gardening, composting
Owl Ridge Homestead - Homesteader's club of CT
Location: 06010
Description: The Homesteading Club brings together a community of like-minded people who are living, or aspire to live, a more self sufficient lifestyle. The club fosters a support system where ideas, projects and experience can be shared in casual conversation. The club is a steady growing group of Homesteader's that have a wide range of skills and experience that we share with each other. We run workshops, talks, and organize tours of farms, homesteads, breweries, and wild edible forages. We have lots of plans for the upcoming fall and winter!
Contact: https://www.facebook.com/groups/238004919636636/, 860-508-0552
Category: beekeeping, animal husbandry, foraging, gardening, wine/beer/cider, fiber arts, off the grid, survival , permaculture, land surveying
Northeast Organic Farming Association
Location: 411 Sheldon Road Barre, MA 01005
Description: Our Mission: Through education and advocacy NOFA/Mass promotes organic agriculture to expand the production and availability of nutritious food from living soil for the health of individuals, communities and the planet. Our Vision: NOFA/Mass envisions a commonwealth of people working together to create healthy landscapes that feed our communities and restore our environment.
Contact: http://www.nofamass.org, info@nofamass.org, (978) 355-2853
Category: cooking, gardening, farming, sustainable agriculture
Southeastern Massachusetts Agricultural Partnership
Location: P.O. Box 80625 South Dartmouth, MA 02748
Description: SEMAP is dedicated to preserving and expanding access to local food and sustainable farming in southeastern Massachusetts through research and education.
Contact: https://semaponline.org, info@semaponline.org,
Category: poultry, fiber arts, wine , gardening,urban farming
Cedar Circle Farm & Education
Location: 225 Pavillion Road, East Thetford, Vermont
Description: Cedar Circle Farm is an organic farm with a social mission. We engage the community to develop and share practices that promote regenerative agriculture, good health, and a resource-rich environment. We invite you to visit our farmstand, greenhouses, coffee shop, and pick-your-own fields along the Connecticut River in East Thetford, Vermont.
Contact: https://cedarcirclefarm.org, growing@cedarcirclefarm.org, 802-785-4737
Category: cooking, gardening
The Organic Farm School
Location: PO Box 837 Freeland, WA 98249
Description: An experiential training program designed for aspiring farms to learn and practice the skills they need to run a small-scale organic farm.
Contact: https://organicfarmschool.org/,
Category: Gardening, Pest Control, Carpentry, Animal husbandry, Beekeeping, soil management
Cornell Small Farms Program
Location: 15A Plant Science, Cornell University. Ithaca, NY 14853
Description: Online courses for aspiring, new and experienced farmers looking to start a farming business.
Contact: http://smallfarms.cornell.edu/, smallfarmsprogram@cornell.edu, 607-255-9227
Category: Animal husbandry, Beekeeping,gardening, farming, sustainable agriculture
Practical Farmers
Location: 600 Fifth Street, Suite 100 Ames, IA 50010
Description: Strengthening farms and communities through farmer led investigation and information sharing
Contact: http://www.practicalfarmers.org, info@practicalfarmers.org, 515-232-5661
Category: Animal husbandry, gardening
Washington State University
Location: Washington State University, Pullman WA 99164-5220
Description: Online certificate program in organic agricultural practices and food industry management.
Contact: https://online.wsu.edu/cert/organicAgriculture.aspx, online@wsu.edu , 509-335-3557
Category: Organic ,Gardening , sustainable agriculture
Stockbridge School of Agricutlure. University of Massachusetts, Amherst
Location: 208 Paige Laboratory, 161 Holdsworth Way, Amherst, MA, 01003
Description: Online certificate program for the small farming demographic
Contact: https://stockbridge.cns.umass.edu/SFF-Certificate, abthorpe@umass.edu, 413-545-2222
Category: farming, Homesteading, Pest Control, Organic, Gardening Beekeeping, Animal husbandry, Poultry, soil management
Organic Growers School
Location: PO Box 17804 Asheville, NC 28816
Description: A series of in person workshops and a collection of online tips geared towards inspiring farmers.
Contact: http://organicgrowersschool.org/, outreach@organicgrowersschool.org, 828-214-7833
Category: Homesteading, Organic, Gardening , Farming,
Tufts University's Sustainable Farming Project
Location: 45 Merrimack St, 5th Floor, Lowell MA 01852
Description: A curriculum geared towards beginner farms that are looking to start or have already starting their farming business.
Contact: https://nesfp.org/, nesfp@tufts.edu, 978-654-6745
Category: Animal Husbandry, Land Surveying, Gardening, Farming
Stone Soup Institute
Location: 298 Allen Point Road, Harpswell, ME 04079
Description: An international school offering courses of study integrating traditional and contemporary practices and knowledge in the agrarian arts and sciences, crafts and fine arts.
Contact: http://stone-soup-institute.org207-833-2884, mail@stone-soup-institute.org, 207-833-2884
Category: Animal Husbandry, Homebuilding, Fiber arts, Gardening, Farming, Forestry, sustainable agriculture
Wolfes Neck Farm
Location: 84 Burnett Road, Freeport, ME, 04032
Description: A two year residential organic dairy research and farmer training program
Contact: https://www.wolfesneck.org, general@wolfesneck.org, 207-865-4469
Category: Organic, Dairy animals, Gardening, Farming
Hannaford Career Center
Location: 51 Charles Ave, Middlebury, VT , 05753
Description: Our mission is to provide educational experiences that prepare secondary and adult students with the knowledge and skills to enter the workforce in careers that are high skilled, high demand, and that pay a livable wage and to continue their education. Including adult education courses.
Contact: http://www.hannafordcareercenter.org, jbosworth@pahcc.org, (802) 382-1012
Category: welding, cooking, animal husbandry, plant ID, poultry, gardening, organic, composting, sustainable agriculture, cooking,
Koviashuvik Local Living School
Location: 71 lake Drive, Temple, Maine
Description: Founded in 2008, Koviashuvik is a working homestead and school of simple living. We offer the Family Sustainability Stay, programs for schools, The Simple Life Internship, and weekend craft classes. Through these venues we teach skills that inspire a lifeway of connection, resilience, and gratitude. Woodwork, wild gathering, tool sharpening, homestead agriculture, food preservation, basketry, fire from friction, leatherwork, acorn processing, rocket stove construction, cooking over fire, humanure composting…. These skills, from all different traditions and times, empower us to choose a positive relationship with mother earth.
Contact: http://koviashuvik.com/, info@koviashuvik.com, 207-778-0318
Category: Carpentry,foraging, homesteading, sustainable agriculture, gardening, food preservation, basketry, basket making, camping, leather,homebuilding, cooking , composting
Cluck!
Location: 399 Broadway, Providence Rhode Island 02909
Description: cluck! is a small, woman-owned business founded in 2013 to serve urban agriculturalists and gardeners in and around Providence, Rhode Island. cluck!'s goods and services focus on small-scale food production, backyard small animal husbandry (especially chickens and bees) and homesteading-based self-reliance. We have the tools, supplies, ideas and education you need to grow, raise and preserve your own food while helping to keep your community healthy and beautiful. We've also got unusual, thoughtful gifts for all ages. We run year-round classes, workshops, readings, and family-friendly programs and maintain a teaching garden of edibles and habitat-supporting native plants. We also keep bees and raise chickens.
Contact: http://cluckri.com/, drake@cluckri.com, (401) 274 1160
Category: poultry, gardening, urban farming
Vermont Tiny Homes
Location: Various Locations: VT
Description: Peter King is an experienced Vermont carpenter, an inspiring teacher, and a tiny house enthusiast. He has been building Tiny Houses in Vermont for years. He conducts weekend workshops in Northern Vermont. Join the new socioeconomic housing movement that reduces the world's carbon footprint by building small and living large.
Contact: http://www.vermonttinyhouses.com/, peterking@vermonttinyhouses.com, 802-933-6103
Category: homebuilding, gardening, carpentry, forestry, farming, permaculture, milling,electric, plumbing,plant ID
Southeastern Massachusetts Agricultural Partnership
Location: P.O. Box 80625, South Dartmouth, MA, 02748
Description: SEMAP is dedicated to preserving and expanding access to local food and sustainable farming in southeastern Massachusetts through research and education.
Contact: https://semaponline.org/, info@semaponline.org, 508-243-6005
Category: Poultry, Wine/Beer, Gardening, Farming,
Prepper Camp
Location: 460 Orchard Lake Rd, Saluda, NC 28773
Description: An annual event where vendors and attendees alike can learn preparedness skills.
Contact: http://www.preppercamp.com/, SurvivorGarden@att.net,
Category: Aquaponics, Beekeeping, Hunting, Survival, Cooking, Blacksmithing, Beer, Wine, Cheese making, Food Preservation, Camping, Gardening, Animal Husbandry, Fiber Animals, Firearms, Off the grid, Trapping, Foraging, Plant ID
Self Reliant School
Location:
Description: An online blog for homesteading.
Contact: https://selfreliantschool.com/, Contact though the blog,
Category: Bread/Pizza, Gardening, Wine, Beer, Cider, Cooking, Soil Management, Food Preservation, Homesteading,
Tracie’s Community Farm, LLC
Location: 72 Jaffrey Rd. Fitzwilliam, NH 03447
Description: Growing pesticide, chemical free vegetables, fruits, herbs, and community since 1999 for the Monadnock region. We provide 350+ families with food through our Spring, Summer, and Fall Shares as well as our on site farm store in the barn, and transplants through the spring at our farmstand, open daily sunup to sundown. We also supply local restaurants like Fritz, Elm City, Fitzwilliam Inn, Inn at East Hill Farm and other items that we have in abundance. http://traciesfarm.com/wordpress/
Contact: https://www.facebook.com/Tracies-Community-Farm-LLC-172047872823613/, farmers@traciesfarm.com, 603-568-6102
Category: food preservation, pizza, cooking, gardening,
Encompass Community For Independent Learning
Location: Dartmouth, Massachusetts
Description: The Encompass Community For Independent Learning is located on 65 acres at Friends Academy in Dartmouth, Ma. We are housed under the existing Center For Education Innovation. With its overlap of progressive ideals and philosophical values, our program is a grant-funded partnership that serves as a bridge between the homeschool community and the learning community at large on the South Coast.
Contact: https://www.facebook.com/pg/Encompasscommunity/about/?ref=page_internal, egouveia@friendsacademy1810.org, (508) 999-1356
Category: gardening, plant ID,
Stone Barns Center for Food and Agriculture
Location: 630 Bedford Road Pocantico Hills, NY 10591
Description: Stone Barns Center for Food and Agriculture is a nonprofit organization on a mission to create a healthy and sustainable food system. We convene changemakers, train farmers, educate food citizens and develop agroecological farming practices.
Contact: https://www.stonebarnscenter.org/, info@stonebarnscenter.org, 914 366 6200
Category: cooking, farming, gardening,
Washington State University Extension
Location: 1919 NE 78th St Vancouver, WA 98665
Description: A series of college programs geared towards individuals who wish to expand their knowledge on many farming practices
Contact: http://extension.wsu.edu/, zena_edwards@wsu.edu, 360-397-6060
Category: Food Preservation, Soil Management, Pest Control, Sustainable Agriculture, Gardening, Animal Husbandry, Forestry/Milling, Fishing, Land Surveying
Soule Homestead
Location: 46 Soule Street Middleborough, Massachusetts 02346
Description: The mission of the Soule Homestead Education Center is to support and maintain a community-based nonprofit education center for the benefit of area schools and the general public while preserving and enhancing the historic Soule Homestead. Hands on learning opportunities include environmental programs, organic farming activities, traditional crafts, and cultural events.
Contact: http://www.soulehomestead.com/, educator@soulehomestead.org, 508-947-6744
Category: ecology, organic farming, gardening skills, fiber arts, spinning, weaving, quilting, food preservation, carpentry, basketry, sustainable agriculture
New England Wild Flower Society
Location: 180 Hemenway Road Framingham, MA 01701
Description: New England Wild Flower Society conserves native plants in the wild and encourages gardeners and landscape professionals to choose natives when they plant outdoor spaces, particularly plants grown from local seeds, harvested sustainably in the wild. Our mission is to conserve and promote the region’s native plants to ensure healthy, biologically diverse landscapes.
Contact: http://www.newenglandwild.org/, information@newenglandwild.org, 508.877.7630
Category: plant ID, urban farming, gardening, composting
Magoo Farmstead
Location: Stoughton, MA
Description: Thanks for visiting! We're Karl and Jen, a city man turned hiker and a country woman fast becoming a chicken fanatic. Join us on our backyard farm, as we share our love and learning about: organic gardening, DIY homesteading, crafts, recipes, beekeeping, vermiculture, and, of course, CHICKENS!
Contact: http://www.magoofarmstead.com/, magoofarmstead@gmail.com, 781-436-0043
Category: beekeeping, composting, poultry,
The Resilience Hub & Portland Maine Permaculture
Location: 224 Anderson St Portland, Maine 04101
Description: The Resilience Hub is a collaborative organization based in Portland Maine. Our mission is to build resilience at the personal, household and community levels while creating thriving examples of abundance based on ecological wisdom. We do this by offering a range of events, education and training as well as resilience-building services and projects.
Contact: http://resiliencehub.org/, courses@resiliencehub.org, Highlights info row image (207) 370-7697
Category: permaculture, sustainable agriculture, organic farming, plant ID, gardening, farming
Maine Organic Farmers and Gardeners Association
Location: PO Box 170 Unity, Maine 04988
Description: The Maine Organic Farmers and Gardeners Association is a broad-based community that educates about and advocates for organic agriculture, illuminating its interdependence with a healthy environment, local food production, and thriving communities.
Contact: http://mofga.org/, mofga@mofga.org, 207-568-4142
Category: bee keeping, organic farming, gardening, sustainable agriculture, forestry/milling, poultry, butchering,
Adirondack Folk School
Location: P. O. Box 2 51 Main Street Lake Luzerne, NY 12846
Description: Adirondack Folk School (AFS) is a non-profit 501(c)(3) charitable organization, unique for its dedication to teaching the arts, crafts, and cultural heritage of the Adirondack region. Made up of local artisans, crafts people, and volunteers, we offer non-competitive education focusing on the student.
Contact: http://www.adirondackfolkschool.org/, info@adirondackfolkschool.org, 518-696-2400
Category: blacksmithing, basket making, gardening, carpentry, pottery, cooking, kids, fiber crafts, leather, jewelry, timber framing, soap making, essential oils, food preservation, cheese making, trades, masonry,
Roots School
Location: Roots School, 192 Bear Notch Rd, Bradford VT, 05033
Description: In April of 2007, Roots School was founded with the purpose of educating people of all ages and backgrounds in: Self Reliance and Survival Skills, Tracking and Naturalist Studies, Primitive and Traditional Skills
Contact: https://rootsvt.com/, Info@RootsVT.com, 802-456-1253
Category: Survival, Basket making, Permaculture, Gardening, Forestry, Tanning, Farming, Trades - Other
Wolfe's Neck Center
Location: 184 Burnett Road Freeport, Maine 04032
Description: Situated on over 600 acres of preserved coastal landscape in Freeport, Maine, Wolfe’s Neck Center uses its setting to connect people of all ages to the food they eat and where it comes from.
Contact: https://www.wolfesneck.org/, info@wolfesneck.org, 207-865-4469
Category: Dairy Animals, Farming, Gardening, Pest Control, Animal Husbandry, Poultry Care, Sustainable Agriculture,
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