The Greenville Urban Farm Tour is over for this year and we hope our visitors went home inspired to make their own green paradise.

During the UFT, we set up an “ask the site owner” table in our garden and one of the most frequent questions was, “do you consult and when are you going to offer classes?”

How about now? Here’s our new Appalachian Feet class schedule.

Photo Caption: UFT site owners were encouraged to have vending tables this year. We quickly put together a collection of our extra spring transplants, baby pomegranate trees, fresh organic bay leaves, local honey, and our daughter's folk art. Next year we plan to start a much larger variety of transplants that includes a mix of tried-and-true varieties plus unusual items for experimental gardeners.

We took an informal poll asking what kind of topics people are interested in. The result is a series of three classes that you can sign up for individually or as a discounted package. They are designed to turn a beginner into an advanced gardener and an intermediate gardener into an expert in only 3 days!

Classes are being offered June 12th – 14th from 6pm – 8pm each day. Topics include “Organic Gardening and Permaculture” (the foundation to a great garden — everything from how to deal with clay soil to reducing your need to water), “Fruits, Veggies, and Herbs for SC” (what you can grow here and how to grow it), and “Garden Bandits — Pests, Diseases, and Weeds in SC” (how to identify and fix the problems in your garden).

Click here if you’d like to see further details and pricing.

Photo Caption: Eliza's mother handled the vending table in the driveway. She said the most common parting comment as people left was, "I can't believe how much is back there, you can't tell at all from the road!" Visitors passed our heirloom pomegranate and straw bale cold frame on their way into the main garden.

We’re keeping class sizes small (so sign up quickly if you want a slot). If there is enough interest we may do a repeat of these topics on different dates.

If you’re in our area and have been waffling on whether or not to put in a garden, this may be your answer. It’s not too late to start annual veggies in Greenville this season — even as late as June!

Photo Caption: We saw hundreds of visitors during the May 12th, 2012 Greenville Urban Farm Tour. One of our friends arrived while we were setting up all the detailed plant labels, informative booklets, and display tables (with canning, brewing, lacto-fermentation, edible mushrooms, vermiculture, beekeeping, and gardening info). She winked and declared we just hadn't made it educational enough.

We’re hoping to offer seasonal classes throughout the year. We’ll continue to do pest & disease classes this summer along with topics like edible flowers and how to use culinary herbs. We may add classes like lacto-fermentation and solar dehydration so you can figure out what to do with your harvests.

In the fall we’ll focus on topics such as winter food storage and all-season growing. Winter will be perfect for classes on seed-starting — everything from which seeds need extra attention to how to handle lighting and diseases.

Photo Caption: Our worm bin was very popular with the youngest of visitors. Kids thoroughly enjoyed grossing out their parents.

We’ll likely teach some backyard chicken classes this summer, too. We’ve learned a lot since we got started and have plenty of tips on starting chicks, adult hen care, and how to keep predators away.

Photo Caption: Our daughter spent the entire day during the UFT talking to people about backyard hens.

If you’re looking for beekeeping classes we’re still going to recommend contacting the Piedmont Beekeepers Association. We strongly encourage local beekeepers to join the SC Beekeepers Association as well (check out their brand new website).

Photo Caption: Not only did she educate hundreds of people about keeping chickens, our daughter spent over an hour a piece making these to sell at our vending table. They look like our cuckoo maran, brown leghorns, and ameraucanas.

If you have any suggestions of class topics, we’d love to hear about it. Send us an email or leave it in the comment section below!

Photo Caption: Although it was cloudy during the UFT, the rain held off until the next day.

We’re looking forward to welcoming students onto our urban farm. If you’d like to know when we add new courses to the roster you can check for updates on the website or send us a note asking to be put on our market email list.