Hello Farming Friends
It is April and classes at the institute are starting up full swing. Gardens are getting planted and seed flats abound. The roses are wowing us with their pretty faces and fantastic smells and a
dahlia craze is in full effect—between two gardens I think we have over 35 Dahlias in containers. We are swimming in eggs, the first batch of bunnies arrived this week and yesterday the first swarm of the spring was caught as well. The quail will be arriving soon and the days are finally long enough to get something done in the garden. Lots of firsts and so much abundance. Yay for Spring!

spring artichokes ~ baby bunnies ~ spring swarm

Urban Farm Tour 2015 ~ Sites Announced ~ Tickets on Sale April 15
Event Information
Walnut Creek/Concord Site Descriptions
Oakland East & West Site Descriptions
Hayward, June 6 9am-3pm In our ongoing Urban Farm Tours experiment the Walnut Creek area tour will be a full day event with a set itinerary and hospitality. See 5 fantastic sites with morning hospitality and a simple organic lunch included.
Oakland June 13 10am-4pm. Focusing on West & East Oakland we have several beloved sites that have been featured in the past plus a few new goodies! Day Pass for pre-purchase or pay as you go.
Tickets on sale April 15 In our commitment to remunerating the folks who do the good work, we share the ticket sales with all participating farmers. The remainder after expenses and sharing benefits the work we do at IUH. We are an "income based" non-profit, offering over 75 classes and events through the year without any grants or additional funding. We work to balance affordability for participants with paying teachers well for their time and expertise and are proud to say that we offer one of the be test pay-scales for institutions of our kind in the Bay Area. Please support us! Your purchase of a "Friend or Patron of the Farm Tour Ticket" helps us out immensely! As a thank you, this year every purchaser of a friend or patron ticket will receive perks! Purchase a Friend ticket and receive eggs or honey from one of our farmers. Purchase a Patron ticket and get eggs or honey plus a copy of "Everyday Cheesemaking" by Ruby Blume or the Farm Tour How-to Zine (details coming).

In the Garden: Tobacco Tea Time
While the best protection against pests and pathogens in the garden is healthy soil, from time to time we may want to employ some sort of natural pesticide or pest control that will not hurt us or our plants. One of the most effective pesticides is a tea made from tobacco. This can be made by steeping actual fresh tobacco plants leaves (even the decorative nicotianas will work to a certain extent) or by taking loose leaf tobacco such as American Spirit and brewing a tea from it. Tobacc tea is a non-toxic (to us and environment) version of the dreaded Neo-nicotinad pesticides used in conventional agriculture which have been shown to cause colony collapse disorder). Nicotine is toxic to insects, impacting their nervous system. As I discovered last year, it is one of the few substance that can even kill bed bugs, who are immune to RAID and other conventional pesticides. Tobacco tea can be sprayed on aphids or on tender starts to protect them from being munched.

Four Month Sublet at Beegrrl Gardens June-October
Looking for the perfect sub letter(s) for my sabbatical June 17-October 15, 2015. Beautiful, artsy, spacious l furnished 2br upper flat (set up as 1br plus office) in sunny North Oakland. Close to public transport, cafes, farmers market. DSL, laundry, parking. A wonderful garden full of fruits and veggies already planted for your enjoyment. Two cats on property will need daily care and plants/garden will need watering. Discount in monthly rent for these tasks is already reflected. Rabbits and quail are optionally available to tend should the subletter wish it. Asking $1800/mo plus $1000 refundable security deposit. Water and garbage included, DSL & PGE will run about $60 per month extra. Feel free to forward to interested parties.

CLASSES
Go ahead, do it! Jump on our Propagation and Food Forest classes coming up here very soon! These classes offer valuable skills and will be offered only once this year. In addition we have opened new sessions of our popular favorites: Fermentation: The Works!, Cheesemaking 101 and Organic Gardening 101. Join us and change your world!