As the snow melts, it’s time to sow seeds again and Ralph Behrens, a medical doctor who originally trained as a professional agronomist, is here to help, hosting the third Rossland REAL Food Sustainable Living Conversation at Café Books on March 26 at 3:30 p.m.
Behrens uses his knowledge to maintain a highly productive home garden in Happy Valley and can share information about tending soils, growing vegetables, and building rock walls and greenhouses.
No registration is required and the event is free.
At the previous conversation in February, Scotty Miller — perhaps best known for his medicinal and delicious honey garlic sauce — passed on some of his experiences in farming and no-electricity homesteading to 20 keen gardeners and home improvers.
Leaving behind the pesticide-contaminated waters of rural Iowa, Miller studied botany on the West Coast before becoming a small scale farmer in the Kootenays.
His experiences range from vegetables and orchards to hay and livestock, and he’s built several innovative and inexpensive homesteads — one with just $200 in materials — using only quality hand tools and clever design principles.
For those who attended, Miller offered gentle inspiration, a model of smiling determination to forge a living and raise a family not just on, but with the land.
To learn more about Rossland REAL Food’s workshops to engage our community in a healthy, local food system — and for a host of helpful gardening tips and aids such as the recently added “online almanac” planting schedule — visit www.rosslandfood.com.