Gardening workshops sprout from GRCC's Keller Future Center project

Last summer, Root Camp wasn't even a gleam in the eye of Sara Yob, a trainer in the GRCC workforce development program. After participating in GRCC's Keller Future Center's investigation into urban farming, however, it became evident that an opportunity existed.  

Yob explains, "As a result of the Future Center and our research, we discovered many people want to garden but aren't doing it. The reason we found was a knowledge gap."

In other words, people who currently garden learned it from their family and those who did not grow up in a gardening family typically did not take the time to learn about gardening on their own.

From that premise, Yob started Root Camp, a six-week series of lunchtime workshops focused on helping the beginning gardener get started.  Each session features a local expert gardener sharing their experiences and expertise.

According to Yob, the response has been great since its start in December, with the over 100 people attending the first three sessions.

Root Camp meets the 3rd Wednesday of the month, from noon to 1 p.m., through May 18, 2011.

With the success of Root Camp, Yob has also developed another seminar called Root Camp Boot Camp which covers the same material but in a two-day, 10-hour seminar on how to start your garden on April 16.

The sessions are free and open to the public. To register, visit their website here.

Source: Sara Yob, GRCC
Writer: John Rumery, Innovation and Jobs Editor