August 20 Workshop - Build Soil With Sheet Mulch

When farmer Laurel Green first moved to Singing River Farm in Rockingham, VT the soil was so compacted that she couldn't stomp a shovel into the ground to take soil samples. Neighbors joked, "What did you expect? This is ROCK-ingham."

"We knew we didn't have to be stuck with compacted or poor soils," said Green. "Since then we have changed lawns that had been used as parking lots into 2,200 square feet of lovely garden beds."

You, too, can learn how to build soil with the help of Mother Nature and sheet mulching at a workshop to be held Sunday, August 20 from 1 to 4 pm at Singing River Farm.

You may be asking, "What is sheet mulching?" It is the practice of creating new soil by preparing a future garden area without cutting away the sod or tilling. Instead you can add many layers of bio-degradable materials to provide a feast for all the creatures in the soil. The micro life in the soil does the hard work of changing the organic matter into beautiful, compost-rich soil.

The hands-on workshop will include Permaculture ideas and methods that will deepen your understanding of life in the soil. The participants will compare soil in gardens that were sheet mulched 4 year ago to areas sheet mulched only two months ago. During the workshop you will prepare and lay out sheet mulch in a new garden bed. Be prepared to get your hands dirty! You'll take home a great sheet mulch "recipe" plus real experience you can use when you want to get help with your soil from the natural world.

The content of this workshop is based on Laurel's lifetime of gardening, observation of nature, and years of reading, research and experimenting.

The cost of the workshop is $40 per person or two people for $70. One scholarship is available to someone under the age of 18. Registration deadline is Friday Aug. 18 to allow us time for preparations.

Call 802-275-4646 or email [email protected] to register.