Theme: The Backyard Gardener

Saturday, April 1st Schedule


Sunday, April 2nd Schedule

Talk Descriptions & Speaker Bios

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Bryon Pike

High Ground Gardens
Crestone, CO

High Altitude Backyard Gardening

This talk will cover:

  • Garden design
  • Soil building
  • Composing
  • Irrigation
  • Seed Starting
  • Harvesting
  • Storage

High Altitude organic grower that has been growing at altitude for 25 years. Owner of High Ground Gardens website, offering altitude adapted vegetable seeds, since 2015. Based in Crestone area with multiple garden sites in the area.

Bryon,his wife Leah, and son Cairn have lived in the San Luis Valley for 20 years. 

https://www.highgroundgardens.com/

 Thank you, Sponsors!

 


 


 

Tyler

Tylor Berreth

Alpine Valley Mushrooms
Saguache, CO

Backyard Gardening with Mushrooms

An intro to simple, at-home techniques for cultivating mushrooms. The information in this presentation will be applicable to the everyday backyard gardener that wants to add mushrooms to their repertoire of growing methods. Simple low tech methods can be achievable for most situations, and I will cover how to inoculate one’s own garden with beneficial mycelium as well as edible mushroom species in relatively simple ways.

My name is Tylor Berreth and I am an Integrative Healthcare focused Citizen Mycologist. What this basically means is that I graduated from MSU Denver with a degree focusing on Integrative Healthcare, all the while studying Fungi for most of my projects throughout my academic career there. During my time at MSU I found out how incredibly enthralled with fungi I was after my first herbal medicine class where I chose to grow a shiitake for my final project. After successfully cultivating a shiitake and becoming interested in mushrooms I studied incessantly about fungi and their medicinal values for humans, animals, and ecosystems. I formulated this knowledge into a passion project that my wife and I now have undertaken in the San Luis Valley in Colorado. My future plans are to help restore decimated ecosystems, prepare sights for future bioremediation projects, provide the SLV with much needed medicinal mushrooms and mushroom supplements, increase production of local food while focusing on water conservation and resource management, help spread knowledge of their importance in our lives, and help educate others about how they can participate in working with fungi!

https://www.facebook.com/alpinevalleymushrooms

 

 

My name is Tylor Berreth and I am an Integrative Healthcare focused Citizen Mycologist. What this basically means is that I graduated from MSU Denver with a degree focusing on Integrative Healthcare, all the while studying Fungi for most of my projects throughout my academic career there. During my time at MSU I found out how incredibly enthralled with fungi I was after my first herbal medicine class where I chose to grow a shiitake for my final project. After successfully cultivating a shiitake and becoming interested in mushrooms I studied incessantly about fungi and their medicinal values for humans, animals, and ecosystems. I formulated this knowledge into a passion project that my wife and I now have undertaken in the San Luis Valley in Colorado. My future plans are to help restore decimated ecosystems, prepare sights for future bioremediation projects, provide the SLV with much needed medicinal mushrooms and mushroom supplements, increase production of local food while focusing on water conservation and resource management, help spread knowledge of their importance in our lives, and help educate others about how they can participate in working with fungi!

https://www.facebook.com/breadsandbotanicals

David-Mauriello-2

Leah and I will discuss the process of backyard food and seed production in one of the most difficult growing environments in the US. This broad ranging discussion will go over site selection, local resources, building soils, swales, water catchment, and plant selection. We will discuss our different rigid, passive solar greenhouses and their thermal mass/heating technologies. We will also discuss the importance of manures as fertilizer, the biodynamic aspect of permaculture, and the benefits of raising animals. Lastly we will bring it full circle with the concepts of production, abundance, sovereignty, and community.

David Mauriello a.k.a. Diamond  & Leah Shaper

3Canyons Permaculture Farm Pagosa Springs, CO

The Backyard Gardener/Permaculturist Zone5a –

  • Topics To Be Covered:
  • Greenhouses / Hoop-houses for the backyard
  • Living Soil & Amending Soil
  • Seed Breeding
  • Backyard Gardening at High Altitudes
  • Beekeeping
  • Animal Husbandry
  • Water Conservation / Water Issues
  • Healthy Soil / Building Soil
  • Permaculture / Food Forests
  • Seed Saving
  • Food & Seed Sovereignty
  • Value Added Products from the Garden
  • Fermentation
  • Community Building Through Foodsheds

We are two humans, Diamond and Leah, who no longer support the inhuman, oligarchic empire model destroying our planet and our true nature as human beings. As activists we decided to do something about it, so we opted out of our former lives to begin anew. We are currently transforming alpine desert wilderness into a self-sustaining homestead and organic farm in preparation for the upcoming collapse. We present every step of our implementation in open source format for the benefit of all humanity. With our backgrounds in academia and the sciences (climatology, geology, philosophy of science, physics, and more) we aim to uncover the lies perpetrated by the mass media. Keep up with our progress by subscribing to the Oppenheimer Ranch Project YouTube channel, visiting our Facebook or Patreon pages, or following us on Twitter. If you’re curious about the name, interested in homesteading, permaculture, or just want to know what the heck earthships or grand solar mininums are, check out our website https://www.oppenheimerranch.org

YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC6VhLE7qAeW8NZm6PsXGGrQ
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/oppenheimerranch
Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/OppenheimerRanchProject
Twitter: https://twitter.com/Diamondthedave

Jared.Lineage.tintype

No matter what Lineage you come from, you come from a line of people that kept seeds. Beyond the obvious practicality, there is a deep relationship to participate in. 

Join Seedsman and Organic Farmer, Jared Hagood, for a deep dive into everything seed. From the practical gardening aspects, to the state of the seed industry, this will be an interactive talk intended for all. We’ll explore the depth of how having seeds can be a grounding practice in your life that opens doors within yourself that is not possible any other way. 

Whether you’re a beginner, a master gardener, or a market farmer, we will cover useful information for your journey with seeds.

Jared Hāgood

Lineage Seeds
Nambè, NM

Everything Seed:
Humble Royalty, Tangible Optimism, and a Long Game Generational Practice

  • Heirloom, Open-pollinated, Hybrid, GMO, what’s the difference?
  • Incorporating seed production in your vegetable garden
  • Dry vs Wet processing
  • Annuals and biennial production
  • Pollination Vectors
  • Isolation Distances
  • Seed Cleaning
  • Origin of Species
  • How long do seeds last and what’s the best way to store them?
  • Current state of seed banks and seed politics
  • Seed resources from tools to suppliers

Jared Hāgood is a professional seedsman of 16 years and the founder and farmer of Lineage Seeds, an organic seed company based out of Nambė, NM. His farming career started as market farmer producing  3-10 acres of produce for farmers markets, restaurants and csa’s before eventually focusing on seed production full time. He was brought into a Lineage of teachers that have been carrying this work for generations and since leaving the nest of his mentor, his seed work has taken him all over the world with most seasons settled in the the Front Range of CO and Northern NM. Today his full time focus is growing organic seeds, making clay seed pots, writing scrolls and being a bridge to bring the relationship to seeds back to the modern world.

https://www.lineageseeds.com – Nambè, NM
Masa Seed Foundation – Boulder, CO
Folks Farm and Seed – Fort Collins, CO

Kelly-Worm

Kelly Bull

Kelly Bull Permaculture Design Colorado Springs, CO

Design Like Nature

Learn how to listen to and emulate nature to achieve your goals in a regenerative way.

Kelly Bull is an ecological landscape designer and garden coach with an infectious love for plants and an endless fascination for soil. As owner of Kelly Bull Permaculture Design, she creates custom designs for backyard ecosystems that allow people to connect with nature through a thriving low-maintenance yet highly productive yard. Having been a teacher for almost a decade, she is passionate about education and enjoys helping other DIYers who love to learn and like to get their hands dirty.
https://kellybull.com

nick headshot 2021

Nick DiDomenico Jr

Drylands Agroecology Research Longmont, CO

Using Ecosystem Design and Forest Ecology to Build Soil, Grow Abundant Food and Medicines

Has the approach to modern and conventional agriculture damaged the landscapes we occupy?
What essential ways of relating with the natural world have humanity out of the garden of eden?
By understanding basic ecosystem function, we can learn to redesign our environments to produce abundant foods, medicines, and all the natural resources that we need for ourselves and our communities to prosper. As we return to right relationship with the land, we become positive participants in our ecosystems and return to true land stewardship. Rich, healthy soil and perennial crops are simple bi-products of a new framework of relationship with the natural world.


Hailing from the foothills of the Rocky Mountains, Nick is a regenerative designer, farmer, and builder. Inspired by indigenous culture and ancient farming practices, he works passionately to design the future of living systems. In 2015, Nick began farming on a barren and desertified 14 acre parcel of land in rural north Boulder County, now called Elk Run Farm. Now a thriving homestead, full of fruits, vegetables, grains, and livestock, the site has become the pilot research project for Drylands Agroecology Research (DAR), the nonprofit he founded with his partner Marissa Pulaski. Over 1,000 fruiting and useful trees have been established without supplemental irrigation in contour agroforestry systems designed to collect and store every drop of moisture that falls on the property. Today, Nick is working to develop climate change solutions through regenerative farming, working with private and public landowners across Boulder County. 

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Laura Parker

High Desert Seed + Gardens
Paonia, CO

How to Become a Seed Steward in Your Backyard and Why We Need You!

We will discuss saving seed in your backyard delving into the basics of seed saving, from defining your goals, things to keep in mind when saving seed in limited space, as well as delving into a few specific crops in detail. In addition we will cover why everyone should participate in stewarding a seed, and what it means to become a seed steward.

Laura Parker is a self proclaimed seed freak who owns and operates High Desert Seed + Gardens south of Montrose, CO. Her seed company is committed to the stewardship of seeds that thrive in the short season and arid regions of the west. Raised on a ranch in western Colorado that practiced holistic management, she has a deep passion for regenerative agriculture and systems thinking. After college she worked in India with Vandana Shiva’s seed banks and later with seed growers across the US as executive director of the Organic Seed Growers and Trade Association (OSGATA). These experiences crystalized her commitment to ethical seed stewardship and seed sovereignty. Maintaining seed free of restrictive intellectual property rights and preserving genetic diversity while adapting varieties to the pressures of place and climate change are a focus of the work of High Desert Seed + Gardens.

https://highdesertseed.com/

How To Guides  –  www. organicseedalliance.org

Jae_Sanders

Jae Sanders

SLV Seed Exchange
Moffat, CO

SLV Local Foods Coalition
Alamosa, CO

Food Access Presentation
A grassroots community effort has been taking place in Saguache County to address the health, food and entrepreneurial needs of the community. We’ve had four productive meetings and have assembled a presentation which outlines our objective of forming a coalition across the county to bring awareness to our collective situation and garner funds to create lasting and accessible food infrastructure. 

Jae Sanders has been working with non-profits and community endeavors around food sovereignty and food access issues since 2009.  She began the work in Taos, New Mexico, took it to Sebastopol, California and now resides in the Saguache County, Colorado.  Jae has supported and organized a CSA, outdoor farm store, ranch to family meat sales, bulk buying coop, hemp farming education and has helped organized the San Luis Valley Seed Exchange since 2019. 

Since September of 2022 Jae has been employed by the SLV Local Foods Coalition as the coordinator of the SLV Community Food & Agricultural Assessment.

Jae’s personal mission is to help create affordable housing and resilient food systems in her community; support farmers and ranchers to thrive; and curate education which inspires, enables and encourages more people to grow more food. 

SLV Seed Exchange – https://slvse.org
SLV Community Food & Agricultural Assessment – https://slvlocalfoods.org/cfaa