Deep River Folk School offers handful of classes March 21-22

FRANKLINVILLE — Deep River Folk School at 282 Rising Sun Way in Franklinville offers various classes throughout the year. Five such offerings are available for the weekend of March 21-22.

Admission to each class $75, which includes 1 youth under 18 free with an adult registered for the same workshop. All materials are included in each class.

For more information:

■ deepriverfolkschool@gmail.com

■ https://www.deepriverfolkschool.org/2026-workshops for more info.

Saturday, March 21

■ 9 a.m.-noon — Success with Herbs (Growing and harvesting cultivated and wild herbs for food, seasonings, health, well-being and vitality)

Lunch included from noon to 1 p.m.

This hands-on workshop blends classroom learning with time in the garden and the field. Learn how to successfully grow herbs started from seed, bare root and transplants, and how to choose the right approach for different plants. Visit a nearby herb and pollinator garden to talk about tending spring herbs, supporting healthy growth, and knowing when and how to harvest different parts of the plant. Also explore wild and cultivated herbs growing along the way and in a nearby community garden, with discussion of practical and traditional uses. You’ll leave with a detailed handout to use as a long-term reference at home.

■ 9 a.m.-noon — Fail-Proof Gardening.

Learn the Fail-Proof Gardening Method developed and led by Harvey Harman, a long-time organic farmer/gardener, that allows anyone to have success at gardening. Follow simple, easy to implement principles for results that allow you to save money, eat healthier, get good exercise, connect to nature and develop long term food reliability.

■ 1-4 p.m. — Foraging: Food from the Forest (Utilizing woodlands for dependable food supplies)

Lunch included from noon to 1 p.m.

Join experienced forest farmer Chris Parker on a hands-on workshop finding and harvesting food from the forest. Learn new and ancient methods for increasing the food capacity of your forest or woodland. The workshop will cover trees and shrubs that produce edible parts (leaves, flowers, shoots, seeds, nuts, pods, bark, needles, fruits, saps, and roots) with a strong tilt toward mycology and reading the landscape and polycultures of plants, trees and shrubs to know what mushrooms should be growing on this land throughout the year. If fungi are missing from the land, strategies will be covered on how to reintroduce them. The workshop will also cover the many additional species in a woodland that also are important sources of food including, herbaceous plants, spring ephemerals, vines, animals, insects, and roots. 

■ 1-4 p.m. — Growing Food in Small Spaces (Sprouts, sprouts and microgreens)

Enthusiast Hapi Auser shares the techniques and supplies needed to grow these important nutritionally power-packed vegetables in your home or homestead and have predictable vegetables year-round in limited space. Learn all the simple tricks for regular success, what materials are needed and good supply sources.

Sunday, March 22

■ 1-4 p.m. — Grow Amazing Tomatoes

Learn a concept called Sister Regions. Just as human sisters can often wear the same pants, Sister Regions can happily grow the same plants. But if your rainy region isn’t akin to where a plant — like tomatoes — evolved, then they may struggle to do well, no matter how much effort you put into it. Learn the origins of the first tomato plants and their circuitous route to becoming the most valued vegetable (or is it a fruit?). Frank Hyman — author of Ripe Tomato Revolution — also throws in a few of his revolutionary tomato growing techniques that aren’t found in other books or blogs: A Tomato House? A straw bale patio? A compost bin on wheels? Expect your tomato growing to be radicalized.