Hello Wonderful People!
After the lovely 4 day rain storm, things suddenly jumped into spring here. Color is popping up in the garden. Daffodils, spring crocus, geum are adding color. Apricots, plums and cherries are blooming all over town and raspberries are starting ti leaf out. I am getting serious about seed catalogs, trying to figure out how to squeeze in more fruit using vertical space and getting the early spring crops in the ground (peas, broccoli, dill, spinach). Here at IUH we are putting the final touches on our plan for the year with lots of new offerings and events in the works for you in 2014!

Spring Things (pt 1) Apricot Blossoms, Tarragon Emerging, Lavender
Spring Things (pt 2) Crocus, bunnies & daffodils oh my!

2014 Season is Online and Open for Registration

New for 2014
Design Clinics In an attempt to foster more community and community style learning , we're experimenting with an evening gathering format. These will be social gatherings with a portion of the evening dedicated to sharing ideas and getting answers to your questions. A couple IUH faculty will be on hand at each one to facilitate. Read more about the design clinics here. They are also listed under their individual topics in the general class listings.

Farm Tours By Appointment Due to the number of requests we get for tours through the year we now offer tours by appointment at several of our favorite Farm Tour sites. If your school group or business is looking for an informative, fun mid-day activity, consider booking a tour. For a small extra fee tastings are included.

Urban Permaculture Skills Weekend June 22-23. Come get the basics of permaculture under your belt. We have set up a full weekend of classes dedicated to permaculture principles and specific design skills. Take individual classes or sign up for the whole weekend. Share meals and build community.

New Class Topics
Cheese Making: Mozarella & Burrata 4/12, 9/17
COMPOST! Everything You Wanted To KNow (but were afraid to ask) 4/13
Drip Irrigation: Occupy the Flow! 4/27
Baking 101: The Scone As A Way of Life 4/30
DIY Electric: Know How and Repair 5/4
Kitchen Mastery: Wielding the Knife 5/14
Food Forests, Plant Guilds and Polycultures 6/21
Graywater Re-use: Laundry to Landscape 6/22
DIY Tile Setting 8/2
The Whole Pig: Community Pig Buy & Butchery 8/13
Made With Masa: Tortillas, Tamales & More 10/1
The Bitter Truth: Making & Mixing Homemade Bitetrs 11/7
The Turkey: Thanksgiving and Beyond 11/12

Welcome to Our faculty
Maya Blow, Josh Caraco, David Langsam, Jeremy Watts, Yasir Cross

Taught by new Instructors
Every Day Nut Milks & Cheeses is now taught by K.Ruby Blume
Wild Medicine" Local Remedies from Garden Weeds and Local Medicine: Tinctures & Teas for Winter Health are now taught by Maya Blow
Lotions & Potions (formerly Luscious Lotions Revealed) is now taught by Tanya Stiller

Mark Your Calendars
Spring Kick~ Off Tuesday, April 8
Movie Night & Urban Ag Social at the New Parkway
I am excited to announce that we are partnering with the New Parkway for the East Bay premiere of Growing Cities, a new movie about urban farming across the US. Mark your calendars --advance ticket purchase coming soon! We'll be kicking back and watching the flic and meeting up with urban farming friends old and new. There will be some fun add ons TBA-- possibly a raffle, silent auction, jam tasting, crop swap or....? your wonderful suggestions are welcome! Trailer of the movie is HERE.

Drought Resistance!
Although we've had a few wonderful days of rain, we are still in a serious drought. Please enjoy and employ this post from Catherine Sutton of Transition Town Albany whose garden, the Madison Street Postage Stamp was featured on our 2013 Urban Farm Tours.
Water Is Precious

The Raw Milk Revolution
After struggling for a week with conjunctivitis, natural healer and new IUH faculty Maya Blow suggested I put raw milk into my eyes. Raw milk as a cure-all is a well-kept secret these days, but before the turn of the 19th century "The Milk Cure" was used for every manner of ailment. My eyes cleared right up after 24 hours. We are hearing more and more about our impoverished microbiome (internal microbial eco-system) and the necessity of getting more healthy bacteria into our diet. Consumers are demanding that raw milk become more readily available and slowly it is becoming a reality. IUH faculty member (All About Avocados) and journalist Jillian Steinberger offers this excellent article on the topic Coming Soon: Raw Milk From Micro-Dairies

Yelp Review Raffle Reminder:
It's not too late! Submit a review by March 1 and win a free class. The odds are high (only 3 reviews submitted so far). We'll announce the winner of the class in our March newsletter. Here's a link to our YELP! PAGE

A sock being made on a vintage sock knitting machine at recent"Crank-In"
(gathering of people who use vintage and reproduction machines to knit socks)
organized by IUH student, Elizabeth Downing.