Courses

Principles and Techniques of Organic Growing
During the spring and summer months, you can combine your stay at Troed y Rhiw with a week long series of seminars exploring the principles and techniques of organic growing. Across 4 mornings, you will learn about the issues associated with organic growing and our increasing need for sustainable agricultural practice in a post-peak oil economic landscape. You will also learn about key organic growing principles including crop diversity, fertility building, crop rotation and maintaining natural habitats. This would be complemented by practical hands on experience in soil preparation, sowing seeds, plant nurturing and innovative organic forms of pest control. A master grower will work with you to develop a growing plan suited to your capacity and interests and offer advice on the best selection of plants to suit varying types of soil and growing conditions, speciality crops to consider and how to maximise production through layout of crops and complimentary growing.

Beekeeping—explore an ever-growing and immensely popular pursuit, particularly for urban dwellers. Bee populations across the world are collapsing catastrophically and we may lose one in three of every bite we eat. Keeping bees on a domestic level can be a vital way of supporting the bio-diversity that bees foster. We offer both weekend taster courses in beekeeping and a basic fundamentals course over a week in association with New Quay Honey Farm (http://www.thehoneyfarm.co.uk/).

Wild Food Foraging—our hedgerows, meadows, woodlands and coastal areas are full of a fantastic range of edible plants that are there for the picking if you know what they are and how to use them. Over the course of a week or a weekend, you will learn to find and identify a wide range of wild food in walks through varying environmental ecosystems. Led by an experienced forager, we will explore different ways of using wild food and each walk will conclude with cooking up what we find.

Please click below for a full schedule of courses for 2013

Course Outline and Booking Form>

Accommodation for course participants is available in Troed y Rhiw’s two converted diaries. Two cottages provide comfortable and well-appointed accommodation for up to 10 people and a fresh farm breakfast is provided for course participants. Click here for details on accommodation and booking. Should the cottages be booked, there is also ample accommodation for participants available within three miles of the Troed y Rhiw, which sits in the popular coastal belt. We are happy to help you find somewhere to stay for your course if you can’t stay with us.

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