Eagle Bluff offers Homesteading Workshop March 9 and 10

Whether you have a backyard plot or acres of land, the Homesteading Weekend Workshop at Eagle Bluff will help you create an outdoors environment you can be proud of for years to come.  This series of classes in Beekeeping, Apple Grafting, Shiitake Mushroom Cultivation and Organic Gardening will be offered for the first time on Saturday and Sunday, March 9 and 10.

The Homesteading Weekend Workshop is one of many programs the Eagle Bluff Skills School is offering in Outdoor Education for Adults in 2019. It features experienced teachers in their craft.

Beekeeping: Chris Shad and John Shonyo of the Bee Shed are local beekeepers in southeast Minnesota.  Learn the basics of how to start your own bee colony and the techniques in how to maintain a healthy colony.

Fruit Tree Grafting: Dan Bussey is the former orchard manager at Seed Savers Exchange and the author of The Illustrated History of Apples in the United States and Canada.  He has taught hundreds of students the art of apple grafting. Learn how to graft your own fruit trees and how to care for your orchard from planting till harvest. Each student will leave with two grafted apple trees.

Beginning Organic Gardening: Sarah Hanson maintains a holistic farming operation on 13 acres of land in rural Minnesota.  Designed for the beginner, students will learn how to plan their garden and the types of organic inputs necessary for a production garden.

Shiitake Mushroom Cultivation: Joe Deden, former director of Eagle Bluff, has been cultivating shiitake mushrooms for nearly 40 years.  This class teaches you about log selection, spawn application, and use of equipment.  Each student will go home with an inoculated log.

Classes are arranged so that they can be taken individually or as an entire package. For more information and to register, go to www.eagle-bluff-skills-school.org or call (507) 467-2437.

The Eagle Bluff Environmental Learning Center’s Skills School is an outdoor education program designed to give adults life-long learning opportunities that lead to a deeper understanding of the world around them.

Get a head start this spring by learning skills that connect you to the earth and like minded individuals.