Water Wise Container Gardens, John Starnes: Despite the blessed recent rains some of us are getting, the winter dry season is right around the corner, and we've had no tropical storms to saturate the soil beforehand. Plus, hopefully, we are all making wise water use a central focus in our lives as Florida's population continues to boom. So I’ve invented an alternative home made container garden that grows crops well with much less water, and that can be made for free to just $10. As a result, despite my yard being an urban farm, my June water use bill was just $1.35! This class teaches you how to make your own from free recycled plastic containers, how to create a great soil mix for it, and easy ways to maintain and sustain yours using cheap and/or dumpster-dived supplies. This simple design avoids the problems that many have experienced with others often described as "self watering containers". You’ll see several of mine in differing styles and stages of growth to help you decide what works best for you and your space and budget. I love how they use VERY little water vs. my growing the same crops, including my beloved Old Roses, in my in-ground gardens. Growing food crops in this manner can also allow a gardener to avoid using Tampa's and St. Pete's reclaimed water that has caused severe gardening difficulties for many folks due to the very high levels of salt and chlorides. Plus one is not supposed to eat raw veggies grown with reclaimed water, which rules out growing fresh salads and herbs from one's own garden!  Special attention will be paid to the very common problem of nitrogen deficiency often encountered in container gardening whether one makes one's own soil as I do, or purchases it in bulk or bagged.

*Growing Your Own Organic Garden, Willow La Monte:  Learn to create fertile, living soil with oak trees, companion planting, safe composting and mulching. Attracting beneficial insects, water saving tips..  Willow is a folk herbalist and long-time organic gardener, member of the American Herbalist Guild, the Florida Herb Society, and United Plant Savers.

Introduction to Permaculture, Rob Heck/Christina Bates: An approach for designing a sustainable way of living based on mimicking natural ecologies. Why is it forests continually produce abundance all on their own yet we toil away in our gardens and farms, often degrading the soil? We will cut through the complexity and discuss in an accessible way the potential permaculture offers for our future.

 Mushroom cultivation with shiitake logs, Rob Heck/Christina Bates: Fungi is an essential part of life on this planet. We will discuss home scale mycology, identifying wild mushrooms, and cultivating edible/medicinal species. Includes a hands on demonstration of how to grow Shiitakes on wood logs. Participants will be able to inoculate and take home their own log for a nominal fee (all materials provided).
http://wcpermaculture.org/

~Enagic Inc USA/ Kangen Water™ Ionizers, 6As - Sharon & Terry Brooks
 
We are being slowly poisoned by the foods that we eat and the liquids that we drink. After over 35 years of research by Enagic Inc., the data are clear:  alkalize or die! Almost all diseases are caused by too much acid in the body.  Too achieve balance is paramount!  Since the body is over 70% water, the obvious place to start is by changing your water.  The Enagic machine does just that.  The Enagic SD 501
machine is classed as a medical device in Japan, produced in a medical facility, and used in over 250 hospitals and clinics throughout Japan, for drinking, for sterilizing and for healing. In our water workshops we learn the importance of balancing the body chemistry - less acid and more alkaline.  By changing your water - you can change your life dramatically. Our live demonstration will show how damaging bottled water and other drinks are to the body. 
 "Change Your Water... and it WILL Change Your Life".    www.IAm4Kangen.com 

*Introduction to Permaculture, with Mary Davis and John Missing: What Permaculture is, how to apply to your current property & life. Slide show has examples of permaculture concepts.
 

Butterfly Gardens, with Leslie Zambito: Master Gardeners,:owner Taka Napa Farms

*Radical Recycling, with Mary Davis: How to cut down on your waste, and how to reuse things that other people consider trash.