Our 5th annual edible landscaping course is being offered through Durham Tech’s Greenway program. Register through Durham Tech here today! Our first class begins right after the holidays, running Tuesdays and Thursdays, 1/7 through 2/13, $99 for the course. 

Ten years ago if you would’ve told me that BB would be teaching a gardening class to adult students and peers, I would’ve been skeptical to say the least! Like all of us at BB having come through varied, exciting, but not always democratic or pleasant, work experiences, I turned to gardening and horticulture as a move toward more personal independence. Even in 2003, there was a glut of information on gardening but so much of it was exclusively split into seemingly un-mixable categories. Vegetables, perennials, herbs, flowers, fruit–like so much of our collective societal wisdom–they were all siloed and compartmentalized, their aspects seemed fundamentally the same though. Wasn’t it possible to have all of that happening simultaneously in one garden?!? It wasn’t easy to get the kind of broad, generalized overview of how to get started gardening in the most effective & sustainable way. Over the years, I feel like all of us at BB, through a combination of classes, practical experience, and collective/ individual study built our knowledge base. Together, we brought together an effective cooperative business and we bring that same energy to our class. For us, it took too long, so we’ve condensed what we and our special guest teachers bring into 8 fun and informative classes! Each year since our first class at Durham Tech in 2009, there has always been a beautiful convergence of ideas, discussion, and people that make this class such a great learning environment. Topics covered include:

• edible landscaping

• annual vegetables

• permaculture and food forest design for everybody

• pollinators, beneficial insects and beautiful plants to attract them

• fungi–growing and cultivating gourmet & medicinal mushrooms

• composting, vermicompost–turning waste into wealth

• basic soil science and best organic practices

• and much more!

More than 100 people have participated in the class so far, and so many have gone off to start healthy, productive, and beautiful gardens throughout the Triangle. Beyond that, there is good camaraderie throughout this blue time of the winter for everyone involved, and then when the class is over, Spring is (usually) about to be upon you so there is no choice but to jump in with what you’ve learned!

Register Here!

Mushroom workshoppers inoculating shiitake logs in 2011

Over the last 7 years, we’ve always tried to do one or two mushroom workshops per year, and it’s definitely one of the most fun and interactive classes ones we do. More than 300 people have participated in that time, and many of those logs have produced beautifully and abundantly. Some have continued to drill & propagate the spores after the workshop, but for everyone there is a new connection to be made with this amazing force of life, mycelium. There is nothing quite like the experience of a fruiting shiitake log after a Spring rain or September temperature drop, from the shady corner or damp back porch you never use—truly it appears to be something out of nothing.

Fungi are the humble and often under-appreciated fourth kingdom of Life, but they will be given their due this Saturday as we co-host our 10th mushroom growing workshop with Duke Mycology in Durham. Mushrooms are the delicious fruiting body (12%-18% protein by dry weight) that we know and love, but there are no kings in this kingdom, likely a big reason why they’ve survived two mass extinctions. They are potentially a cornerstone of homegrown nutrition and vitality, and a simple way for us to engage more fully with the natural world.

Dr. Khalid Hameed will be demonstrating how to grow Oyster mushrooms, bionic biological superheroes of the fungal realm. Oysters are saprotrophic, meaning they function to break matter down into its composites–usually woody debris. In the garden, they are incomparable decomposers and creators of organic matter and soil nutrients. But they can also break down dense, highly complex chemical chains…like petroleum! Oyster mushrooms have been used to help clean up oil spills, the ones used in this San Francisco operation were tested and left no trace of oil in their mushrooms. Our fellow beings of the Fourth Kingdom may ultimately provide more answers than anything Technology proposes for beginning to heal the incredible damage humans do (some more than others), and have been doing on a daily basis for centuries. Another reason, perhaps the most important one, to come out and learn more about them this Saturday!

“It is my conviction that culture works very effectively to make invisible and even ‘impossible’ the actual affiliations that exist between the world of ideas and scholarship, on the one hand, and the world of brute politics, corporate and state power, and military force, on the other.

In this two-part series, Abanitu Organics (a whole-farm ecological classroom and sanctuary) owner Bernard Obie will explore the current economic and social crisis relative to the earth’s eco-system, African history, ancient ethno-healing wisdom systems and agricultural farming traditions of the Southern United States.

Join high yielding horticulturalists Bountiful Backyards of Durham, NC this June 19-22 and make your yard an edible oasis full of culinary herbs, blueberries and delicious homegrown Organic produce.
For more than three years, our community enterprise has shared the urban agriculture skills and expertise that enables everyday folks, schools, and communities to create maximum-self-maintenance at minimal cost.
Our special will focus on relatively sunny areas (3+hrs) that are between 30 and 200 square feet, including:

• 2-4 Rabbiteye Blueberries (10-15 lbs of fruit per plant after 3 years!)
• Oregano, Thyme, Chamomille, Parsley, Sage, and Winter Savory
• Lavender, Bronze Fennel, Echinacea, Anise Hyssop, Lemon Balm, Coreopsis, and Asters
• Heirloom Tomatoes and Peppers transplants
• 500-700 pounds of fully amended and turbocharged organic soil for a living soil food web
• A layer of oak mulch to retain moisture and nutrients for young plants

Work alongside us and gain planting & maintenance techniques, and a detailed plant list to familiarize you with your new edible landscape!

Depending on the site area’s size and workability, the price of this package will range between $650 and $950.

This small investment will fully pay for itself within 3 years while adding value to your home and community!

This special deal also includes email support and a one year plant warranty.

To schedule an installation, please give Bountiful Backyards co-founder (and former DC resident) Keith Shaljian a call at 919.519.0164. Visit our website at www.bountifulbackyards.com, or to contact us via email, its bountifulbackyards [at] gmail [dot] com
We’ll be making trips to DC all summer, so friend us on Facebook, here

Check out what some of our local media outlets have to say about Bountiful Backyards impact in the community!

Chapel Hill News
Durham Magazine
Raleigh News and Observer
Tree Hugger