Free Military Veteran Farmer Training New Mexico, 2012

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2012 Military Veteran Farmer Basic Skills Training in Albuquerque, New Mexico

A FREE program is being offered for veterans to learn basic skills and best practices for sustainable farming as a business or hobby with significant therapeutic and community benefits.

All training sessions will be held at the Downtown Action Team Offices, 100 Gold Avenue SW (corner of First Street and Gold Avenue).  Depending on availability and enrollment, transportation from the V.A. Medical Center may be arranged.For more information and up-to-date schedules contact: Robin at 505-217-2027 (toll free outside of Albuquerque at 877-775-2667, or e-mail her at robins@lamontanita.coop.

*All Basic Skills Training sessions will be held at 4:00 p.m. unless otherwise noted

January: 1/11 – Veteran Farmer Basic Skills Training Overview—V.A. Education Center, (Bldg. 39); 1/12 – Veteran Farmer Basic Skills Training Overview—Downtown Action Team Offices; 1/19 – Picking your Seeds—Brett Bakker, NMDA, formerly of Native Seeds/SEARCH; 1/25 – Building Soil and Fertility—Joran Viers, Cheryl Kent, Bernalillo County Extension Service (BCES); 1/30 – Season Extension, Row cover building—Gabe Baker, BCES

February: 2/9 – Basic Botany—How Plants Grow—Joran Viers, BCES; 2/16 – Getting a Head Start—Seeding Start Trays—Gabe Baker or Gina, BCES; 2/25 – Permaculture in the Garden, Michael Reed, Farmer, Permaculture Educator

March: 3/10 – The Blessing of Bees: Learning the Basics of pollination and honey production, Loretta McGrath, Coordinator, the New Mexico Pollinator Project; 3/16 – Boots and Roots Down: More starts, more seeds and transplanting and seeding beds—Martin Sanchez, NMDA, East Mountain Organics; Ron Job, Veteran Master Gardener: 3/17* – Growing Compost Part 1—1:00 p.m., Certified Master Composter Omar Sadek, Second Harvest Composting Company; 3/22 – Season Extension Continued—working with row covers, Eli Berg; 3/24* – Growing Compost Part 2—1:00 p.m., Certified Master Composter Omar Sadek, Second Harvest Composting Company

Additional classes and schedules will be provided for each quarter of the year. This project is a collaboration between: New Mexico Department of Agriculture; Bernalillo County Extension Service; Mid-Region Council of Governments Agriculture Collaborative; NMSU; Chispas Farms; Los Poblanos Organics; Master Composter Program; La Montanita FUND; Veterans Administration Hospital; Veteran Integration Center; What Would You Give Foundation