The Mustard Seed Community Farm is offering 3 classes this summer (in addition to our every Friday potlucks).

3 Practical Classes for building a sustainable lifestyle. 3 Zany and incredibly knowledgeable visiting teachers.

June 14-15 Natural building weekend workshop

Sunday June 29, 15pm Seed-saving 1 day workshop

July 26-27 Permaculture design weekend workshop

In the midst of unpredictable weather, economics and the potential failure of our industrial system, we might be wise to learn some skills that could help us be more resilient in changing times and and help us better cooperate with our ecosystem.
These classes will all be according to the gift economy: they are our gift to the community and we hope that you will think they are so worthwhile that you might give a gift to us as you are able - to help cover the costs of the class, or to offer your time to the farm, or perhaps you will be inspired by this class to go out and give a gift to the greater world.

June 14-15 Natural building weekend workshop
Beth Campbell has been a professional natural builder for 9 years, working on everything from straw bale homes to earthen playground features. Learn the craft of using earthen and natural materials to create a beautiful, functional outdoor kitchen. We will be using straw, clay, sand, and many reclaimed materials to create walls, counters, natural plasters, and other finishes.

Sunday June 29, 1-5pm Seed-saving 1 day workshop
Resilient Seed Saving: Re-storing Our Skills and Our Caches
Presenters: Koby Jeschkeit-Hagen, Tiny Diner and the Honey House Farm, Minneapolis, MN
Resilient seed systems are the foundation of a healthy, farming system.Today, research institutions and corporations seek to control our seed inheritance. Participants in this session will learn how to save seeds and restore our seed-saving expertise.

July 26-27 Permaculture design weekend workshop
Teacher: Adam Campbell from the Peace and Permaculture University in NE Missouri.

Permaculture concepts such as perennial food crops and biodiversity can add resilience to any food system.
a basic permaculture summary taken from wikipedia:
"Permaculture is a philosophy of working with, rather than against nature; of protracted and thoughtful observation rather than protracted and thoughtless labor; and of looking at plants and animals in all their functions, rather than treating any area as a single product system." - Bill Mollison [4]

The core tenets of permaculture are:[10][11][12]

•Care for the earth: Provision for all life systems to continue and multiply. This is the first principle, because without a healthy earth, humans cannot flourish.

•Care for the people: Provision for people to access those resources necessary for their existence.

•Return of surplus: Reinvesting surpluses back into the system to provide for the first two ethics. This includes returning waste back into the system to recycle into usefulness.[13]

Permaculture design emphasizes patterns of landscape, function, and species assemblies. It determines where these elements should be placed so they can provide maximum benefit to the local environment. The central concept of permaculture is maximizing useful connections between components and synergy of the final design. The focus of permaculture, therefore, is not on each separate element, but rather on the relationships created among elements by the way they are placed together; the whole becoming greater than the sum of its parts.