IRISH SEED SAVERS. Association

Transcription

1 IRISH SEED SAVERS Association Autumn / Winter 2016

2 BIG WORKSHOP WEEKENDS Our Big Workshop Weekends offer a range of full-day courses to choose from. You can take a single course, or more over the weekend. Our courses always get positive feedback from participants, and you will benefit from on hand expert tutors with years of experience in their field. The weekend format also offers you the opportunity to meet like-minded people and to spend some time in our gardens, orchards and woodlands in beautiful East Clare. COURSE PRICES ( 70 inc. VAT) for a full day course 10% discount for supporters ( 62.95) Bookings & Information You can book courses online by visiting our web site or you can telephone us on or Courses are suitable for adults only For safety, children under 18 years are not permitted to attend the workshops. Lunch & Refreshments The Honey Ball Café will be open during the workshop weekend, serving soup, tea and coffee, and home made cakes. The Café is vegetarian and uses organic ingredients from the gardens and orchards whenever possible. ABOUT IRISH SEED SAVERS The Irish Seed Savers Association was set up in 1991 to save Ireland s heritage and heirloom vegetable seeds, potatoes, grains and fruit trees from extinction. We have over 800 varieties of organic, open pollinated heritage seeds in our purpose built Seed Bank and our extensive heritage gardens house the native Apple Tree Collection together with the country s only self-rooting orchard. We share our skills and knowledge with thousands of children and adults through courses, camps and outreach programmes. The Irish Seed Savers Association is one of very few organisations in Ireland engaged in this urgent work. Please join us by becoming a supporter. Your contribution will ensure that this living legacy can be held in trust for future generations.

3 WORKSHOP EVENTS AUTUMN AND WINTER WORKSHOP WEEKENDS Saturday September 10th, 10am - 4:30pm Sunday September 11th, 10am - 4:30pm Saturday October 1st, 10am - 4:30pm Making the most of your Polytunnel Getting Started with Bee keeping Seed Saving in your Garden Creating an Orchard Introduction to Herbal Remedy Making Wild Food Foraging Cider Making Mushroom Foraging Saturday November 19th, 10am - 4:30pm Sunday November 20th, 10am - 4:30pm Saturday January14th 2017 Basket Making Winter Pruning Beer Making made Simple Creating an Orchard Natural Cosmetics Making An Introduction to Permaculture Winter Pruning DETAILS OF EVENTS Heritage Week and Potato Week An opportunity to see all of the Irish varieties on display (Free entrance all week) Talks: tbc 20th-28th August Heritage Garden Day at Irish Seed Savers Join us for a relaxed day celebrating all that is good about Irelands Natural Food Heritage with fun for all the family 28th August

4 BEEKEEPING Getting Started with Bee keeping This course will cover the care and management of bees in the Autumn and Winter, covering honey extraction and marketing, varroa treatment and getting the best from your queen heading into Autumn. Products of the hive: honey, wax, propolis, pollen. The importance of the native black bee, apis mellifera mellifera. Includes an apiary inspection (weather permitting). Saturday, September 10th, 10am-4.30pm GARDENING Creating an Orchard We are continuing to see a renewed interest in the revival of the traditional Irish Orchard and most people have fond memories of orchards from their childhood. This course will cover choice of site, layout of orchard, choosing rootstocks, soil preparation, drainage, maintenance, health and disease, and choosing varieties. Soil health and improvement and pruning techniques will also be covered. Whether you are a farmer, a small-holder, or an apple enthusiast, this workshop will provide you with a perfect grounding. Highly recommended. Sunday 11th September, 10am-4.30pm & Sunday 20th November, 10am-4:30pm Making the most of your Polytunnel A Polytunnel is a wonderful addition to your garden for year round vegetable production. It provides a bright warm space for sowing seeds, propagating plants and for growing heat loving vegetables like tomatoes, peppers and cucumbers. It can extend the growing season of some vegetables considerably and provide a family with a constant supply of fresh healthy greens throughout the year. If you want to get the most out of your tunnel then this is the course for you. The day will cover creating the right conditions for continuous production, how to keep your plants healthy, managing pests and diseases, successional, autumn and winter sowing and some hands-on propagation of crops you can grow now and take home for your own tunnel. Material cost: 5 Saturday 10th September, 10am-4.30pm An Introduction to Seed Saving Saving seeds is completing the gardens natural cycle, from seed to seed. Selection, harvesting and drying. This workshop will give gardeners basic skills to harvest and save seed from vegetable crops in their own gardens, to keep varieties going from year to year. It will include a little bit of botany and lots of practical experience harvesting seeds in the Irish Seed Savers Association gardens. Saturday 10th September, 10am-4.30pm

5 GARDENING Winter Pruning in the Orchard This workshop gives a detailed and practical introduction to formative, maintenance, restorative and disease pruning through theory, orchard observations and pruning demonstrations. By the end of the day you will have the skills to make informed pruning decisions on a wide range of trees. To start the morning you are introduced to all the pruning tools needed. Importantly, we then cover some pruning theory to understand fruit trees and, particularly, how they react to pruning a little better. Before lunch you are then given a detailed demonstration of formative pruning for young trees. We restart with a quick walk through our maturing orchards observing a range of fruit trees not only young but also old, strong and weak. Other considerations are also discussed. This is followed by a pruning demonstration on a number of these trees. The day finishes with a discussion on disease pruning, restorative pruning and more. The main tree shapes discussed are open-centre and central leader (a more pyramid style shape). As much of the afternoon will be spent outdoors weatherproof and extremely warm clothing (particularly warm footwear) is absolutely essential. Saturday 19th November, 10am-4:30pm & Saturday 14th January 2017, 10am-4:30pm An Introduction to Permaculture How we can live more sustainably, grow food intensively and strengthen the resilience of our communities? The answer could be to use nature as the inspiration to create solutions for our own and our community s wellbeing. The design process called Permaculture starts with the simple idea of working with, rather than against nature to create an ecologically sound way of living. In this workshop Davie Philip from Cultivate and Cloughjordan Ecovillage will introduce the context, ethics and principles of Permaculture design. This workshop is classroom based. Sunday 20th November, 10am-4:30pm CRAFTS & SKILLS Wild Food Foraging Join us for a day of exploring the hedgerows identifying the edible and medicinal uses of the local wild plants and trees we find along the way, together with some historical and folklore snippets. The day will include how to identify, harvest and process our finds into food, drink and remedies. Please bring notepad and pen, a clean empty jam jar, raingear and boots. Material cost: 7 Sunday 11th September, 10am-4.30pm

6 CRAFTS & SKILLS Cider Making We are seeing a huge increase of craft cider producers. This one day course covers everything you need to know about making craft cider, the trainee will be taken through every step of the process, from variety selection to bottling. The theory and the underlying principles of brewing and cider making will be supported by hands on experience such as apple pressing, juice analysis, cider racking, bottling and tasting. Trainees need to bring 6-8 kg of apples (but can bring more if you have them available) to obtain 4-5 litres of their own juice/cider to bring home. Also bring demijohn or fermenter with an airlock with you if you are bringing apples to juice. A good selection of carefully picked cider apple trees will be available to purchase on the day. Please inquire if you wish to order any of these trees or have any questions on equipment or materials. Sunday 11th September, 10am-4.30pm Introduction to Herbal Remedy Making (aka Reclaiming our Roots) This workshop will give participants a rounded introduction to some of the healing properties of common plants (our herbal and weedy friends!) found in gardens, hedgerows and wild places, and how to benefit from them in support of our health and well-being. It will be a practical course with a short herbal walk and all participating in the making of tinctures, vinegars, a glycerite and a salve. Plant Spirit Medicine, Flower Essences and Natural Nutrition will be included in our discussions.participants will take home a selection of herbal remedies they have made themselves, the knowledge required to make their own remedies at home, and handouts and recipes. Material cost: 10 Sunday 11th September, 10am-4.30pm Basket Making This course is designed for both beginners and improvers. Beginners will make a small willow basket that can be made in one day and taken home. The trainees will learn how to prepare the willows, how to make the base, setting the uprights, and learning different weaving techniques for the body. The willows and the main tools are supplied for the workshop. The improvers course will build on the beginners course, refreshing your mind on basic techniques but also building up your skills with a bigger shaped basket. I ll also introduce a new technique called randing. Materials and tools are provided for the course. Material cost: 5 Saturday 19th November, 10am-4:30pm

7 CRAFTS & SKILLS All Grain Beer Making Made Simple for just 30c a pint We are seeing a huge growth in the production of craft beers. This course will teach you everything you need to know about making all-grain beers (as opposed to extract or kit beers). Over the course of the day, we will make an actual beer (up to point of adding the yeast); including mashing, sparging, boiling, and wort cooling. The trainee will learn about fermentation and bottling and will be familiarised with the required equipment and methods to produce their own wholesome brews. The instructor has been brewing 5+ years and holds a certificate in brewing from the Institute of Brewing and Distilling. Notes will be provided. Saturday 19th November, 10am-4:30pm Natural Cosmetic Making (Winter Wellness, Nourish & Protect) Nourish your senses as well as your skin. Experience the natural beauty of herbal preparations, gorgeous aromatherapy oils, sumptuous nourishing oils, and skin-soothing balms and butters to create a world filled with scent and aroma, nourishment and healing. This is a practical course where you will learn how to make Natural Skincare products for yourself and your loved ones, friends & family. We will close off the day with a luxurious Herbal and Floral Footbath (please bring a towel). Footbath tubs are provided, but you may bring your own if you wish. During the day we will make: A Nourishing Body Butter, Floral Distillate Facial Mists / Toner, Massage Melts (Solid Lotion Bars), Lip / Skin Balm, Body Scrub, Herbal Bath Salts or Herbal Bath bombs. Participants will bring home the cosmetics they make on the day, the knowledge of how to make these at home themselves, plus handouts and recipes. There will also be a small selection of cosmetics, materials and containers for sale at the end of the day, for anyone who wishes to get started making their own cosmetics straight away! Material cost: 10 Sunday 20th November, 10am-4:30pm Mushroom Foraging Trainees will take a closer look at the fascinating and colourful world of forest fungi. Discover their true value in the forest web of life and learn how to find, identify and safely collect nutritious gourmet forest mushrooms from Ireland s natural woodlands. The day will also include cooking and tasting of the mushrooms. Participants will carpool to local woods to forage for mushrooms and will need appropriate clothing/footwear, a packed lunch and a small wicker basket for collecting mushrooms. Saturday 1st October, 10am-4:30pm Course prices: ( 70 inc. VAT) per course 10% discount for supporters

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