resilience
skills
for
everyone
Acerca de
CREATE AN ABUNDANT AND NURTURING LANDSCAPE,
REGENERATE ECOSYSTEM HEALTH
AND PROVIDE HEALTHY FOOD FOR YOUR FAMILY
Imagine...
what it would be like to walk out of your door or venture into your community commons and be surrounded by food abundance, nurtured by your landscape as it provides sanctuary from the pressures of the outside world. Everywhere you look there is LIFE - green, lush, woodland-style plantings of trees, shrubs, and herbaceous plants, insects and birds. Plants that provide ecosystem services, pollinator support, food and medicine. Plants that support healthy nutrient cycling, beauty and scent. Enticing pathways that invite you onward as you pick ripened fruit, berries, and other edible treats. There's an incredible feeling of peace and tranquility in the awareness of belonging to this vibrant, diverse and beautiful forest garden ecosystem that you've mindfully and respectfully helped create, knowing that you will evolve together through the years to come, and that the future will indeed be fruitful!
What if you could turn this enticing vision into your reality?
If you're like most folks, you grew up with a fairly established idea of what a property landscape should look like, and it usually involved a sea of grass and whole lot of maintenance to go with it. Lawns as far as the eye could see, a monoculture of manicured monotony, and not an edible in sight.
But what if there was a way to turn this boring, maintain-the-status-quo, useless space into a productive and beautiful landscape that would provide value and abundance for many years to come?
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IF YOU'RE READY TO DITCH THE CURRENT POPULAR PARADIGM, AND ARE KEEN TO BUILD DEEP LAYERS OF RESILIENCE INTO YOUR LANDSCAPE, WE'VE DESIGNED THIS WORKSHOP TO HELP GET YOU STARTED!
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It doesn't matter whether you have a tiny courtyard garden, a small plot, an average urban lot or are living the rural life on the homestead- this workshop will give you the information, resources and strategies you need to take that next step into bringing more food security and resilience into your life and helping you shorten your food supply chain, all while giving you the power to exercise greater control over the quality (and safety) of your own food.
Did you know that as recently as the 1940s, Canada produced all of it's own basic fruit and berries? Now, 80% of all fruit sold in our grocery stores is imported, and much of what we do produce is exported to other countries.
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The good news is that by planning and planting a forest garden, or food forest, you can grow a diverse polyculture of productive species that you know will produce well in your climate and growing zones, and you can meet your needs hyper-locally.
There's never been a better time to plant
a forest garden!
PERENNIAL GROWING SYSTEMS + ANNUAL VEGETABLE SYSTEMS = COLD CLIMATE FOOD SECURITY
Hands down, one of the best strategies to employ if you want more cold-climate food security is to utilize both annual vegetable gardens and perennial systems, allowing you to leverage seasonal currency in the short and long term. And this holds true even if you don't live in a cold climate. It just makes sense. You can be sure this is how our ancestors managed their food supply, augmenting their annual gardens with foraged fruit , berries and mushrooms, harvesting useful plants for medicines, dyes, weaving, and other uses, as well as cultivating fruit trees that were good producers for their area. They knew which fruit were good "keepers" for winter eating, and how important it was to have a diversity of foodstuffs through the seasons.
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So why plant a forest garden and not just throw in a few fruit trees?
A forest garden is comprised of so much more than a few fruit trees. Through thoughtful planning you can create an assemblage of species, with various roles and functions that not only support the health and productivity of your main production species but also support ecosystem health and dynamics. You can include plants that meet your specific requirements for medicinals, herbs, dyes, pollinator support, nutrient cycling, and so very much more. You can accomplish this by mimicking the way natural forests function, using nature as your guide, and setting the stage for the ecosystem to create multiple matrices of relationships that help the system thrive and require minimal management.
HERE'S WHAT YOU'LL LEARN IN OUR FULL-DAY, INFORMATION PACKED
ONLINE WORKSHOP
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Food forest fundamentals - the foundations of success
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Requirements for ecosystem health
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Ecosystem dynamics
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The importance of diversity
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Ecosystem succession
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Plant roles and functions in the food forest (and why stacking functions is important!)
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Plant niching
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Site and soil preparation for your forest garden - what works and what doesn't!
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Nutrient cycling in the food forest, and how to best support ongoing levels of fertility
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Plant guilding- the art of assembling mutually-supportive species
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and so much more!
Meet Your Instructor
Owner and founder of Calgary’s URBAN FARM SCHOOL, Carmen Lamoureux is dedicated to helping gardeners and permaculture enthusiasts gain the freedom, confidence and skills they need to live more abundant and resilient lives.
With a background in the fields of sustainable land management, forestry, soils and silviculture, as well as in the horticultural sector, Carmen’s grounded base in ecosystem dynamics informs her practical approach to meeting our needs while respecting natural systems.
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Carmen is an experienced, respected and sought-after designer of regenerative landscapes in both urban and rural settings, and has consulted on hundreds of properties. She believes that our landscapes can be designed to provide not only healthy food, but also sanctuary, beauty and ecological vibrancy.
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Through URBAN FARM SCHOOL, Carmen offers practical workshops and presentations to inspire conscious and creative solutions for regenerative local food production. The lead instructor for the Verge Permaculture Design Certification program, Carmen is also a regular instructor for Lee Valley, the Calgary Horticultural Society, the Alberta Master Gardeners Association and various other organizations.
If you're ready to get started future-proofing your property and creating your very own food sanctuary, register below !
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AN INCREDIBLE VALUE AT ONLY $75.00!