newsbriefs


Local Food & Garden Related Learning Opportunities


Green Blog Writer on How to Grow Food and Raise Farm Animals in the City


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nterested in learning


how to grow your own food and raise livestock in the city? In March and


April, the Green Corner Store will host a three-part Urban Homesteading Workshop Series. Whether you live in an apartment or house, this workshop will help you get started producing more of your own food, eating healthy and increasing self-sufficiency.


Nao Ueda will share tips on gardening, food preservation, raising farm animals, beekeeping, and more. Ueda lives in downtown Little Rock with her human partner, 2 chickens, 2 ducks, and several thousand bees. She co-founded the Arkansas Sustainability Network (ASN), helped start the ASN Local Food Club and coordinated the first green expo in Arkansas. Since 2008, she has been chronicling her green lifestyles on her award winning blog, GreenAR by the Day. The series begins March 8 with an


overview of urban homesteading and how to increase self-sufficiency. The March 22 talk will cover food production, how to source seeds, maximize space, and preserve harvest. The workshop ends April 5 with legal and caretaking information on raising city farm animals.


Classes will be held Thursdays from 6:00 to 7:30 p.m. and are limited to 15 participants. Each class costs $15 and comes with handouts and light refreshments. To register, contact the Green Corner Store at info@ thegreencornerstore.com or 501-374- 1111. See ad page 10.


6 Central Arkansas Edition/Little Rock


Green Living Center in Hot Springs Kicks Off Workshop Series


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eginning in March and continuing through 2012, the new Green Living Center in Hot Springs will present monthly workshops on


transitioning into a comfortable “Homesteading Lifestyle” with fun, easy methods. A seminar on lowering urban utility bills inaugurates the series on Sunday, March 18. Future topics include cheese and butter making, rain water capture for gardening & drinking and sustainable urban gardening, to name a few. Located on 2 acres in historic downtown Hot Springs, the non- profit educational center is dedicated to teaching-by-example so that city dwellers may learn how to leave a smaller footprint on the planet. Plans are underway for an urban greenhouse, city vegetable garden and in-town fruit orchard. Educator and chiropractor, Jody Grenga will present the simple steps she actually implemented to cut her household utility bills in half—then in half again! Winner of the Austin, TX Mayor’s Award for Environmental Excellence, inventor-author Grenga set a city record for low water-utility usage. The workshop is based on her book, “Extreme Low Urban Utility Usage.”


For workshop dates and registration information, e-mail: DocJODY@swbell.net or call 501-318-0000. The workshops are $15 per person and open to the public.


Organic Gardening Workshop: a Necessity of These Times


they live,” says Brad Archote, who will teach an organic gardening workshop Saturday afternoon, March 24 near North Little Rock. Archote will demonstrate a method to empower anyone to implement a small organic garden at home. He will discuss many ways to set up and grow a garden, depending on need and the available landscape. The use of an inexpensive hoop greenhouse will also be demonstrated along with simple composting methods. Archote worked at Meadowcreek, an environmental education center located


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StarlightRidge Your rejuvenation and inspiration station!


Retreat Center


near Fox, Arkansas where organic gardening/farming techniques were demonstrated, and world-renowned gardeners came to share their knowledge. He says, “Gardening is becoming no longer a hobby for many, but a necessity as consumer prices skyrocket. A small garden will yield many times over the value in food, and the health quality that we gain is immeasurable.”


The workshop will be held at Starlight Ridge Retreat Center in North Little Rock, a peaceful woodland getaway on sixty-five acres of beautiful ridge tops and valleys offering retreats, meetings, workshops, health and wellness programs and much more. The $40 paid registration is due by March 16. To register, contact Katherine at 501-470-9801 or shine@starlight-ridge.com. See ad page 8.


www.ArkNaturalAwakenings.com


veryone has the ability to grow something to eat no matter where


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