Gardening for the Future
Enrollment is now OPEN for 2026 In-Person Gardening for the Future Class:
REGISTER HERE
What are the concrete skills needed to grow food in the face of climate change? How do we build a resilient community while growing food for the future?
We are living in rapidly changing times. This year, we saw SNAP benefits withheld and people go hungry, while farmers struggled to sell their crops. Fires and floods tore through communities while federal supports halted, leaving soils contaminated and supply chains disrupted. Now more than ever, we must remember how to take care of each other and the land while growing healthy, life-giving food.
Societal forces seek to separate and divide us. And yet, the earth offers itself as a source of nourishment through it all. How can we learn to work with the earth in the face of all this change? How can we grow food in ways that help build resilient communities?
This course meets every other week from February 2026- June 2026 and guides you through the spring planting season, with lessons geared towards upcoming gardening tasks while supporting you to develop a local community project. Projects might be: creating a neighborhood PYO garden, growing food for an end of summer potluck, or growing and processing medicinal herbs to distribute for a local mutual aid organization. Readings and other educational opportunities will be provided in-between classes.
Each of the topics below will be explored through the lens of climate and social resilience. This course will deepen one’s connection to the natural world through a scientific, social, spiritual, emotional, and creative lens. There will be space to share knowledge participants bring to the topics, as well as ask questions specific to your gardening projects and interests.
You do not need to be a gardener, or even have a garden to participate!
REGISTER HERE
General Course Overview:
Click here to read a more in-depth description of the content of each course. Each of these topics will be taught through a lens of climate and social resilience. The general overview is as follows:
Class 1- Course Overview, Introductions, and Visioning
Class 2- Crop Plan and Project Design
Class 3- Seed Ordering, Seed Saving, and Seed Swap
Class 4- Soil Health, Soil Testing, and Soil Remediation
Class 5- Direct Seeding and Cover Crops
Class 6- No-till Principles and Bed Prep
Class 7- Transplanting and Irrigation
Class 8- Disease and Pest Management
Class 9- Project Presentations and End of Class Celebration
**This year, students will have the choice to learn this material in the context of an annual vegetable garden system or through establishing a perennial garden system in a flood plain. The majority of the course material will be the same, but the hands-on learning will be slightly different at the two sites.
Testimonials
“Rose's teaching style is curious, kind, intimate, collaborative, inspired, loving, and generous. They invite us into a beautiful balance by offering their own experience and knowledge while encouraging us to explore, imagine, and share what we have cultivated from our own lived experience, with or without gardening”. - 2025 Gardening for the Future Participant
“The class is experiential, deeply knowledgeable, and encouraging”. - 2025 Gardening for the Future Participant
“Gardening for the Future invites you to slow down and create space for those moments that you feel are hard to access and hard to hold during a busy week. There is space to reflect, ask all your questions, and contribute your experience and knowledge in a way that will spark further discussion and generate interest…. Rose holds space in a way that fosters curiosity, encourages further exploration and investigation which are all critical to continuing to build a knowledge base”. - 2024 Gardening for the Future Participant
“The class is hands-on, kind, with some tailored instruction, with lots of space to slow down to the pace of the earth and plants”. - 2024 Gardening for the Future Participant
“Rose is in my mind the best kind of teacher, as they have deep experience and knowledge while also being a student themselves. They are generous and kind and serve as a kind of mentor or guide in meeting the students where they are”. - 2023 Gardening for the Future Participant
2026 Class Schedule
Perennial/Flood Plain Garden Class will meet on Saturday afternoons from 2pm- 4:30pm, at Astarte Farm, 123 West St. Hadley, MA -OR- Grow Food Northampton, at 140 Meadow St, Northampton, MA (depending on the week)
Classes will take place on: February 14th, February 28th, March 14th, March 28th, April 11th, April 25th, May 9th, May 23rd, June 6th.
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Annual/Vegetable Garden Class will meet Sunday mornings from 10am-12:30pm, at Astarte Farm, 123 West St. Hadley, MA.
Classes will take place on February 15th, March 1st, March 15th, March 29th, April 12th, April 26th, May 10th, May 24th, June 7th.
Course Fees
The baseline cost for this course is $575.
In order to register, you must either pay the whole cost or a $200 deposit to hold your place. Starting one week before the class begins, refunds will no longer be able to be accepted. This includes people who have signed up for payment plans. However, if you find yourself unable to make the classes for any reason, you are always welcome to find someone who can go in your place.
In the case of a snow storm or other inclement weather, class will meet online on zoom. But in the case of just heavy rain, we will meet at an indoor location at Astarte Farm.
If Rose becomes unable to teach any given class, a knowledgeable alumni of the course will teach in their place.
10% of all course fees will be given as a land tax to Pequoig Farm. (You can learn more about the concept of a land tax from the Sogorea Te’ Land Trust here).
If this price level is inaccessible to you for any reason, simply email Rose at gardening4thefuture@gmail.com to figure out a payment plan or reduced rate that works for you.
If you have access to more resources and want to contribute more to subsidize those who can afford to pay less, you can indicate that in your registration form as well.
This year, we are offering a $75 discount if you sign up with a friend! Every participant will be developing a garden-related project. If you sign up with someone who wants to work on your project with you, you will each receive $75 off the registration fee.
Access notes
All classes will take place at Astarte Farm which is located at 123 West St. in Hadley, MA 01035 -OR- at Grow Food Northampton’s Community Gardens at 140 Meadow Street, Florence, MA 01062.
At Astarte Farm: Please park on West St. on the common (there will be a sign out) and walk into the farm along a gravel driveway. The walk is pretty even, with some potholes, and it is about 150 yards from the parking location to the picnic table where we will gather for each class. The class will take place mostly in one section of the farm, but there will be times we will walk around the 3 acre farm. Parking closer to the picnic table is possible, just reach out to Rose to arrange that option. There is a composting toilet available. Bring your own water and snack and folding chair if that is desired. When we meet outside, masks are welcome, but not required. Classes will be taught in a participatory, circle-based style and there will be lots of hands-on learning.
At Grow Food Northampton: Please park either in the spot along Meadow Street, or pull into the Community Gardens and follow the signs designating parking spots. The walk from parking to the land is on an even, gravel road and is about 250 yards. Parking closer is possible, just reach out to Rose to arrange that option. There is a composting toilet available. Bring your own water and snack and folding chair if that is desired. Classes will be taught in a participatory, circle-based style and there will be lots of hands-on learning.
In the case of a snow storm or other inclement weather, class will meet online on zoom. But in the case of just heavy rain, we will meet at in indoor or covered location at Astarte Farm or Grow Food Northampton.
We will begin each class with solo time on the land, and you can expect a check-in each class about how everyone’s projects are going, discussion from readings sent out between classes, as well as hands on learning and observation throughout. There will always be plenty of time for questions and for participants to share the knowledge they are bringing. Reach out to Rose at gardening4thefuture@gmail.com with any other access questions and/or needs.