New Leaf Foods is hosting the New Leaf Foods Bountiful Branches Guide: A mini-class for planning, planting, and maintaining your perennial food plants.

Edible landscape plants like raspberries, blackberries, elderberries, apple trees, hazelnuts, and currants not only enhance the beauty of any yard but also provide growers with yummy, healthy options that grow year after year.

If you are purchasing perennial plants from the New Leaf Bountiful Branches project you may have some questions about the best ways to plan, plant, and take care of these special food producers.  You have to plan for small plants now, that will grow large over the years.  

Typical questions include:
Which plants should I select?
What kind of habitat do they prefer?
How wide apart should I space the plants?
How big will they grow?
What kind of soil fertilizer might I need?
How deep do I plant?
How do I maintain and prune the plants?
What are the best options for weed control?
How long will they last?
When can I expect my first harvest?
How can I preserve the harvest?
What mistakes should I avoid?

Join Dillon Weist, the manager of the Bounty Garden for the Sustainable Agriculture Program at NWTC, as he guides you through the answers to these questions and more on Thursday, April 25th at 5:00 PM. This class is online via Zoom and in-person at the Brown County Central Library downstairs. Please RSVP using the form on this page.

We are partnering with NWTC and Brown County Seed Library on this event and this is the third year we are offering this class. 

Register Here: https://uwmadison.zoom.us/meeting/register/tJclcuiqqz8tHdJrH7Xnjdh1LEolcGnDWLRl

The UW-Madison Extension Community Food Systems Program will provide no-cost virtual workshops for small-scale food and farming business start-ups during Mondays in April, from April 1st to April 29th. Presenters include experts from DATCP, a food entrepreneur, and Extension educators.

Contact Name Jessica Jane Spayde

Contact Email spayde@wisc.edu

Contact phone 6082255799

Full Webinar Series: https://foodsystems.extension.wisc.edu/2024-webinar-series/

Please join us for our next seed-packing event. We will be gathering at the Brown County Central Library in the basement to clean and pack seeds. Open to all ages. Hope to see you there!

Central Library Address: 515 Pine St, Green Bay, WI 54301

Session 1: 9:30 am - 12:00 pm

Session 2: 12:30 pm - 3:00 pm

Please register below for the session you would like to attend.

https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLScdRQC8-tPfpxht4l9FfY-BllNpjZMyMhXS6jrR1FglEaCfWQ/viewform?vc=0&c=0&w=1&flr=0&usp=mail_form_link

Register Here: https://uwmadison.zoom.us/meeting/register/tJclcuiqqz8tHdJrH7Xnjdh1LEolcGnDWLRl

The UW-Madison Extension Community Food Systems Program will provide no-cost virtual workshops for small-scale food and farming business start-ups during Mondays in April, from April 1st to April 29th. Presenters include experts from DATCP, a food entrepreneur, and Extension educators.

Contact Name Jessica Jane Spayde

Contact Email spayde@wisc.edu

Contact phone 6082255799

Full Webinar Series: https://foodsystems.extension.wisc.edu/2024-webinar-series/

Use container gardens to boost the color and seasonal interest in any size landscape, garden, balcony, or deck. You will explore attractive combinations of trees, shrubs, flowers, edible plants, and those that attract pollinators. Plus, you’ll learn strategies for extending your enjoyment year-round by transforming all or a portion of the container planting with the changing seasons.

Register for this free webinar at:

https://us06web.zoom.us/webinar/register/WN_SwTJwDSaQgWnm7YU-iY0mg

Register Here: https://uwmadison.zoom.us/meeting/register/tJclcuiqqz8tHdJrH7Xnjdh1LEolcGnDWLRl

The UW-Madison Extension Community Food Systems Program will provide no-cost virtual workshops for small-scale food and farming business start-ups during Mondays in April, from April 1st to April 29th. Presenters include experts from DATCP, a food entrepreneur, and Extension educators.

Contact Name Jessica Jane Spayde

Contact Email spayde@wisc.edu

Contact phone 6082255799

Full Webinar Series: https://foodsystems.extension.wisc.edu/2024-webinar-series/

Register Here: https://uwmadison.zoom.us/meeting/register/tJclcuiqqz8tHdJrH7Xnjdh1LEolcGnDWLRl

The UW-Madison Extension Community Food Systems Program will provide no-cost virtual workshops for small-scale food and farming business start-ups during Mondays in April, from April 1st to April 29th. Presenters include experts from DATCP, a food entrepreneur, and Extension educators.

Contact Name Jessica Jane Spayde

Contact Email spayde@wisc.edu

Contact phone 6082255799

Full Webinar Series: https://foodsystems.extension.wisc.edu/2024-webinar-series/

This workshop will provide hands-on instruction on the various techniques of apple tree grafting, the best practices for care and maintenance of grafted trees, and the science behind successful grafts. Our goal is to empower you with the knowledge and skills to enhance the diversity and productivity of your own gardens or orchards.

It will be taught by Dillon Weist and his associate, Will Dickinson. Dillon is the Lab Assistant & Garden Manager for the Sustainable Agriculture Program at NWTC. Will runs a local landscaping business, Wild Inspired Landscapes and apprenticed with master orchard manager. They are both members of the Brown County Food Forest Coalition; this workshop is part of their mission to grow more food where we live. 

What You Will Learn:

-Basics of tree grafting and its marvels

-Different grafting techniques for fruit trees 

-How to select rootstocks and scion wood

-Aftercare for grafted fruit trees

-How and when to plant them out

What to Bring:

-We will provide all necessary materials and tools for the workshop. 

-However, if you have scionwood from your fruit trees, feel free to use that instead of our selection. 

-we do not supply materials for storing your grafted tree until it needs to be planted. A container with holes like a milk jug and a medium like sand, peat moss, or potting soil will suffice; other options will be discussed. 

- our selection includes dwarf and semi-dwarf apple Rootstock, Pear Rootstock, American plum Rootstock and a variety of different scionwood cultivars. 

Registration:

Spaces are limited, so we encourage you to register early to secure your spot. Please RSVP by  by replying to this email or paying directly at https://wildterrainnav.com/#grafting2024

Whether you're looking to grow a food forest, expand an orchard, save an old family apple tree, or simply interested in learning a new gardening skill, this workshop is for you. 

Cost: $15 for one grafted tree, another $10 for each one after that**

Wisconsin Farmers Union's Farm Climate Smart WI event at the Oshkosh Food Co-Op on March 25, 2024 from 6:00pm to 7:30pm.

The event, Growing Climate Smart Agriculture in Northeast Wisconsin, will feature a meet and greet with Wisconsin Farmers Union, a presentation about climate-smart agriculture and the new Farm Climate Smart WI project, and a Q&A session. This event is free, family friendly, and open to the public. The event is especially relevant for small, mid-sized, beginning, veteran, women, and BIPOC farmers; conservation professionals; and interested community members in NE WI. 

Register here!

Farm Climate Smart WI is a project of the Fox-Wolf Watershed Alliance in partnership with Wisconsin Farmers Union, Pheasants Forever, Outagamie County, and Utah State University, and is made possible through the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) Partnerships for Climate-Smart Commodities program. The project is empowering Northeast Wisconsin farmers to implement climate-smart agriculture practices. The project supports farmers by connecting them to innovative tools, knowledge, and resources that help them to remain resilient in the face of climate and market changes. A map of the project area is attached. For more information about Farm Climate Smart WI, visit: https://www.wisconsinfarmersunion.com/fcs-wi

Brown County Central Library, 515 Pine St, Green Bay, WI 54301, USA

The date for this year is Mar 2 from 12-3 at the central library. The purpose is to introduce our new 2024 seeds as well as have a complete restock of the core varieties. We will have booths with multiple activities for kids and adults and educational opportunities, as well as several speakers, and a community seed swap. Local organizations that will have representation there are New Leaf Foods, Northeastern Wi Master Gardeners, Brown County Extension, Green Bay Community Gardens, Green Bay Botanical Garden, Wild Ones, Rooted In, and Green Bay Conservation Corp.

UWGB STEM Center - Room 136, 2019 Technology Way, Green Bay, WI 54311

Please join us for our next seed packing event. We will be gathering at the STEM Center in room 136 to clean and pack seeds. Open to all ages. Hope to see you there!

STEM Center address: 2019 Technology Way, Green Bay, WI 54311

Click here to register for the session you would like to attend.

Session 1: 9:00am - 11:30am

Session 2: 12:00pm - 2:30pm

Downtown Central Brown County Library - Combined Meeting Room 1 & 2 - CEN, 515 Pine St, Green Bay, WI 54301, USA 

Learn recommended tools and techniques to promote health, aesthetics and production through the “right cut” in pruning various species and cultivars. Dress for the weather! After an indoor presentation, head outside for real-life pruning of the small fruit trees in the library’s Children’s Edible Garden. Plus, get instructive handouts, recipes from Rooted In’s Chef Selena Darrow, and a brief overview of the local Food Forest initiative.

Led by Andy DiMezza, arborist and graduate of the State University of New York (SUNY) College of Environmental Science and Forestry. He has taught pruning classes in Milwaukee through the Victory Garden Initiative’s Fruity Nutty Program and the Peoples Orchard, and he now shares his expertise through the local nonprofit Rooted In, Inc.

This workshop is part of a monthly series organized by the Brown County Seed Library. The BCSL is a collaboration of Brown County Community Gardens Program; Brown County Library; Green Bay Botanical Garden; New Leaf Foods, Inc.; NEW Master Gardeners Association; UW-Green Bay and UW-Madison Extension Brown County.