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!