Grafting Class

Jerome Osentowski gave a grafting workshop on Wednesday, May 28th here at CRMPI. Several grafting techniques were demonstrated by Jerome and the class was given knives and practice material before grafting scion wood that had been collected by Jerome for the class. Each student was given a donor piece of scion wood to graft to one of several selected trees in the CRMPI forest garden that are used for training. The Macintosh apple tree that was used contains over 10 different types of apples grafted throughout the years of training at CRMPI (it's a Frankenstein tree). Jerome gave the class a detailed tour of the property and explained the many guilds contained in the forest garden. These guilds employ several permaculture techniques to support fruit and nut-bearing plants that generally cannot grow at the high altitude and cool climate of the Rocky Mountains. The class distributed mulch over selected guilds and learned the importance of mulch as pest and weed control and insulation and compost for the beds.

Ute City Farms - First Day

Jennifer Craig, owner of Ute City Farms in Woody Creek, has graciously offered her land for the development of a CSA farm and training facility. The farm is a beautiful 40 acre section of a sprawling 1,000 acre ranch. Ute City Farms is a 30 year old established farm with very rich soil and a nearly unlimited water supply provided by a rain reclamation ditch and a large pond. The farm is located in a sheltered valley that provides a  wind break, and the the beds are on an incline to maximize solar potential.

The class will have the unprecedented opportunity to take over the operation and management of a well-established organic farm and apply the CSA model that they are learning. Jennifer Craig will help oversee and assist the class, but the responsibility for future success of the farm will be theirs. This will be an excellent hands-on learning experience for the class and will provide valuable practical training not contained in books. The class is currently scheduled to work at Ute City two days a weeks and may increase visits as needed.

On the morning of Tuesday, May 27th, the class received a tour and lessons about planting and farm equipment safety before beginning work in the field. Pulling up perennial plants and weeds was the first task of the day, followed by weed-eating and tilling to prepare the beds. The class shoveled and raked the carefully measured bed structure, and then brought compost up from one of many large piles on the property and spread it over the tops of the beds. A short primer on seeding given by Jennifer Craig followed, and the class went back to the field to sow the chosen seeds in the prepared beds.

A delicious organic lunch was provided by CRMPI and Ute City which provided a break for the volunteers and a time to recap the morning's events. Wild hummingbirds whizzed around the property and a nest of red-tailed hawks could be observed in a tall tree behind the barn.

The afternoon work consisted of more weeding, bed prep and seeding. The class ended with a participatory round up of a small herd of Wagyu Kobe Beef cattle in the adjacent field. The day was a great success and hopefully heralds a promising future for the CSA school.

For the full photo set for this event please click here.

Peach Valley CSA Day 2

Despite the rain, class went on as planned. Ken taught the volunteers to build PVC irrigation manifolds. Most of the class had no previous experience with PVC or plumbing in general so the day was very informative. Ken and his wife Gail showed the class the weekly vegetable shares produced by Peach Valley CSA before they were to be delivered to drop off points throughout the valley. Many of the potential issues of meeting a quota of vegetables and the unpredictability of the seasons were discussed. The class also transplanted small basil seedlings and seeded celery into seed cups. To view the full photo set for this event please click here.

First day at Peach Valley CSA Farm

Our core group of volunteers visited the Peach Valley CSA Farm on Monday. Ken Kuhns instructed the volunteers on planting onions and placing drip tape irrigation. The irrigation system is gravity-fed from rainwater collection ditches on the property. Ken also gave demonstrations of egg collection in the henhouse and transplanting pepper plants. The volunteers will be visiting the farm each Thursday to work and learn market farming skills. To view more info about Peach Valley CSA Farm visit their site at www.peachvalleycsa.com. To view the full photo set for this event, please click here

Welcome to the new CRMPI blog!

Hello, and welcome to our new blog. We will post current events and photos to keep everyone up to date on what is happening with the Central Rocky Mountain Permaculture Institute and it's partners.