We are so excited here at Cornell Garden-Based Learning to launch a long-awaited program for regenerative gardening practices for both food security and climate adaptation skills!
Announcing the Food Forest Trial Garden Project!
Growing edible, perennial landscapes has long been a practice in agroforestry, indigenous agriculture and permaculture. Now we are bringing these groundbreaking practices to CCE educators, Master Gardener Volunteers and home gardeners with a program that builds hands-on ecological gardening skills for educators and funds small pilot demonstration gardens to spread this knowledge across our state. Thank you for the generous funding provided by the Food Forest Trial Garden Project grant from CCE Administration.
Project updates are below:
- Food Forest Trial Garden kick-off meeting (9/10/21): watch recording here Food Forest Trial Garden kick-off meeting
- Five forest garden sites will be designed and planted across New York State with the hope of bringing this pilot program to other sites around the state. Counties awarded mini-grants include CCE Erie, CCE Monroe, CCE Livingston, CCE Steuben, and CCE Tioga.
- An Advanced Training for Master Gardener Volunteers course has been created for Master Gardener Volunteers who have completed their initial training and are interested to expand their learning in new areas. In this series of mini courses, you will find topics including cover crops, weeds, seed saving, pollinator protection, unusual fruits and nuts for the home garden, engaging low-literacy audiences, climate & water wise plant selection, biocontrol for the home gardener, and food forest garden design and ecosystem services.
- Food Forest Trial Garden Field Days: Two field days were held in Spring 2022.
On April 30, the inaugural Food Forest & Ecological Gardening Field Day event was held at CCE Tioga’s new Hilltop Community Farm. This event brought together over 50 CCE educators and Master Gardener volunteers from around the state to take part in a number of hands-on workshops, including habitat for beneficial insects, perennial propagation, no-till gardening techniques, soil and water best practices and propagation demonstrations. The leading demonstration was on the design and planting of a Food Forest Trial Garden site for Tioga County. A key takeaway from the day was the power of a small group to quickly create a sustainable, educational garden space featuring plants that will be resilient to climate change impacts and support food sovereignty while mimicking the native forests of the area, a wonderful learning tool for both gardeners and farmers.
Check out this CALS News article on the field day to learn more!
On May 13, over 25 CCE educators and Master Gardener volunteers from around the state gathered at Cornell Botanic Gardens to learn and explore sustainable plantings. Sites toured included the Botanic Buzzline, Judd Falls Native Planting, North Walk, and Bioswale Garden
See flyer below for additional information and agendas.
