Farm School NYC Course Descriptions

Below are Farm School NYC's core courses (phase one of the Certificate in Urban Agriculture Program). Students who are interested in taking any of these courses without enrolling in the full certificate program may apply via Individual Course Enrollment.

For individual course enrollment, applications are accepted on a seasonal basis. Please see Applications and Fees for more information on applying to either the certificate program or to individual courses.

In addition to the below-listed core courses, second-year Certificate students enroll in our advanced courses. Please see our Programs page for more information the sequence of courses and the Advanced Courses for descriptions of these classes.

Winter Season (2012)

Training of Trainers (3 weeks: January 18-February 4, currently only offered for Certificate students): This dynamic course explores popular education methods, emphasizing the concepts of learner-centered teaching, and hands-on, participatory learning. Students will explore various styles of learning, and practice planning, designing and leading an effective workshop.

Food Justice (4 weeks: February 10-March 10): With NYC as the stage, this course will provide an overview of food politics, food justice issues and approaches. This course will look at economic, political and social disparities, and the innovative people and projects working to overcome them. This course will include an intensive weekend Undoing Racism training, giving students a food justice foundation to build on in their food movement work.

Botany (3 weeks: March 14-March 31): Study the plant body and the main component parts of the plants we eat: roots, stems, leaves, flowers and fruit. This course will better prepare students for Propagation, Growing Soil, Pest/Disease ID and Management and Crop Planning.

Spring Season

Propagation (2 weeks: April 11-April 21): This course will cover the basic aspects of plant propagation and best practices for raising healthy seedlings from seed to transplant, including: Plant reproduction, the use and management of propagation tools such as greenhouses and hoop houses (managing microclimates, pests and diseases, and record keeping), creating and using propagation media such as soil mixes and common containers, and proper watering techniques for different types of seedlings and stages of growth.

Crop Planning (2 weeks: April 25-May 5): This course will explore the best crops for NYC’s climate, weed management, succession planning and planting, inter-planting, harvesting and post-harvest handling techniques, review of common crop plant families and their specific needs.

Growing Soil (5 weeks: May 9-June 9): Essential to growing healthy plants is growing healthy soil. This course will cover everything from basic soil science, soil remediation and the current state of NYC soils to soil fertility, proper irrigation and cultivation, and compost (biology and system construction).

Irrigation (2 weeks: June 13-June 23): Within the context of NYC’s watershed, we’ll cover the role of irrigation in farm systems, types of irrigation, how to set up these systems and where to source equipment.

Summer Season

Pest/Disease ID and Management (3 weeks: July 11-28): An introduction to common NYC pests and diseases, organic pest control prevention and treatments.

NYC as an Ecosystem (2 weeks: August 1-August 11): This course will provide an overview of the forces which shape our ecosystem, both natural and man made. We will discuss geology, hydrology, vegetation patterns, wildlife, Native American history, and disturbance. Students will leave the course with an understanding of how to apply these concepts in an agricultural setting.

Season Extension (2 weeks: August 15-25): Learn about the best crops for late-season production. Students will also learn about common season-extension tools: row covers, sun boxes, cold frames, greenhouses and hoop houses. We will cover the benefits and challenges of using these materials, and sources for them.

Fall Season

Carpentry and Building Intro (2 weeks: September 5-15): Learn carpentry basics: reading and drawing building designs relevant to urban agriculture (raised beds, compost bins, chicken coops, cold frames, greenhouses and hoop houses, rainwater harvest systems). Outdoor building classes will cover tool safety and maintenance as well as provide hands-on building experience.

Preparing for Winter (3 weeks: September 19-October 6): This course will cover seed saving, garlic planting and varieties, garden clean-up and tool storage, cover-cropping basics (varieties, sowing methods and planting calendar) as well as food preservation techniques.

Small Farm Planning and Design (5 weeks: October 10-November 10): This course will review the value of and types of record keeping for your community garden, urban farm, or food-related business. Learn practical elements of community garden, school garden and urban farm design, business planning 101, beginner marketing concepts and program planning. Learn about the theory and practice of asset-based community mapping.

Transformational Leadership (1 week: November 17-18, currently only offered for Certificate students): This course will explore ways of connecting our values to our goals and tools for reaching them. We will practice holding spaces to examine the power of story telling in our communities. We will practice deep listening and dialogue as a means of cultivating leadership skills that will transforms and cultivate practical learning experiences.