We’ve been hosting a bunch of workshops lately, with lots of wonderfully inquisitive attendees. Half of our workshops have been covering different food preservation techniques such as dehydrating, freezing, and fermenting vegetables and other foods. The other half of our workshops focus on improved organic gardening techniques for small-scale backyard and community garden growers. Gardening topics covered so far have included efficient garden planning and arrangement techniques to maximize the efficient usage of small spaces, succession planting techniques, soil health and fertility characteristics, and cover cropping techniques. Here are some photos of one of our guest presenters, Grace Hall, leading a workshop on how to ferment your garden goodies into something that will keep even longer and taste delicious. Turns out it’s pretty easy!

Lots of attendees, eager to learn how to make tasty ferments. Everything from Kefir to old-style brine pickles and some delicious sauerkraut.

Lots of attendees, eager to learn how to make tasty ferments. Everything from Kefir to old-style brine pickles and some delicious sauerkraut.

Here's Grace, having an in-depth conversation about what happens when we ferment vegetables

Here’s Grace, having an in-depth conversation about what happens when we ferment vegetables

More upcoming workshops to look forward to over the course of the next two months include water-bath canning, pressure canning, identifying and dealing with garden pests, and an introduction to small-scale season extension techniques. We hope to see you there. Check out the events on our calendar and facebook page for more details!
http://www.communityfoodinitiatives.org/

In other news, we’ve been hard at work maintaining and improving our community gardens around Athens County. Take a look:

Here's our OU summer service corps intern, Ian, helping to clean up some overgrown potato beds at the Glouster Community Garden.

Here’s our OU summer service corps intern, Ian, helping to clean up some overgrown potato beds at the Glouster Community Garden.

Here's another of our OU summer service corps interns, Adam. He's putting together some nice new raised beds for the Glouster Community Garden. The existing ones were pretty old and falling apart.

Here’s another of our OU summer service corps interns, Adam. He’s putting together some nice new raised beds for the Glouster Community Garden. The existing ones were pretty old and falling apart.

See what I mean? here's one of the new beds beside one of the falling-apart old ones. Many thanks to Superior Hardwoods of McArthur, OH for the large donation of fresh-cut white oak lumber that we used to rebuild the garden beds!

See what I mean? here’s one of the new beds beside one of the falling-apart old ones. Many thanks to Superior Hardwoods of McArthur, OH for the large donation of fresh-cut white oak lumber that we used to rebuild the garden beds!

Putting our new mower to good use by keeping the weeds down in some of the unoccupied plots at the Nelsonville Community Garden. All that johnsongrass is a pretty big pain to deal with if we don't stay on top of it.

Putting our new mower to good use by keeping the weeds down in some of the unoccupied plots at the Nelsonville Community Garden. All that johnsongrass is a pretty big pain to deal with if we don’t stay on top of it.

What a Wonderful garden! Here's a pretty species of amaranth one of our gardeners put in her plot. She's hard at work in the background, harvesting cucumbers and staying on top of those weeds.

What a Wonderful garden! Here’s a pretty species of amaranth one of our gardeners put in her plot. She’s hard at work in the background, harvesting cucumbers and staying on top of those weeds.