Hello Farming Friendly Folks!
Hard to believe it is June already. The garden is a lush paradise of green and there are new blooms and blossoms every day. We hope you will join us in June for our last round of spring classes and one of our amazing farm tours. We've added a session of Canning Extravaganza (no more Canning classes til September so get it while ya can!) and we have our popular Mead and Melomel class coming up--well as learning how to make honey wine, an ancient and tasty drink, we'll be sample some half dozen finished wines on a happy Sunday afternoon.

The Farm Tours are Coming Up!
June 6th 9am-3pm
Walnut Creek & Concord
See 5 sites! Morning hospitality and lunch provided Get you advance tickets at: http://www.brownpapertickets.com/event/1475038
Tickets will also be available that day at the door. Please note that the Walnut Creek tour does not have a pay as you go option. However we will sell half day tickets for $25. Show up at our staging area at 9am or 12 noon to purchase a half day ticket.

June 13th Oakland 10am-4pm
Mostly East & Barely West
Our Oakland Tour has panned out to features mostly sites in East Oakland and there are some fantastic new offerings this year! 8 sites to choose from.. Check the event page for site descriptions. Support IUH and turban agriculture by purchasing your advance tickets here: http://www.brownpapertickets.com/event/1475063
You can also "pay as you go" at our Oakland Farm Tour and see just a few sites if you wish. $5 per person per site, no one turned away.
We will send out our digital program, including etiquette, addreses and directions via this mailing list on June 10th. Look for tho email in your inbox if you want to go. Advanc ticket purchasers will also receive this information through Brown Paper Tickets.

September 12
Hayward
The date of the Hayward tour has chaged (originally planned for Sept 19) We will be posting information about the sites next month and tickets will go on sale July 15

Volunteer Urban Farm Tours!
We still need volunteers to help at the staging area in Walnut Creek. Work a half day and attend the tour free the other half day.
In Oakland we need volunteers to help the farmers at their welcome tables. Volunteer a half day and attend the tour free the other half day.

How to Harvest Worm Compost
The worm bin-- a lusciously disgusting ooey gooey environment, right? I harvest mine about once a year and am lucky enough to have started one in a black compost bin with a slide up door at the bottom--this makes for easy access to "finished" worm compost…yet there is still much work to make the compost easily useable. Whether you have bottom access or not, you want to get to the stuff at the bottom. In a traditional worm bin this requires scooping off the newspaper bedding and any food scraps not yet decomposed For efficiency you could simply use this portion to start a second bin, then wait a few days for the worms to finish off what is in the original bin. Either way, pull out the finished black worm compost and spread onto a tarp in a low mound. As it dries you will scoop off the top layer and sift it through a soil, screen-het a heavy duty metal one that sits down into a 5 gallon bucket. Don't let your compost dry rock hard. It is easiest to work when no longer goopey but not yet completely dry. Sift a little bit at a time, scraping an inch or two off the surface of the mound every other day. You have gone too far if you are sifting worms! The worms will continue to crawl to the cool moist center of your pile. When you are left with a soccer ball sized clump, return that, with all your worms to your bin. Worm compost is rich and can be used on garden beds, as top dressing for containers both indoors or out, or as the basis for making compost tea.

What's Happening Next?
Right after the farm tour Founder Ruby Blume (that's me) will be packing up hitting the road—but I won't be going far. I will be spending time in West County near Sebastopol and visiting friends from Santa Cruz to Ukiah, from Nevada City to the high Sierra. I will be hunting rats, sheep shearing, exploring California and getting a well deserved rest from the daily grind. At the same time I have big plans ( as always!) to make contacts and develop curricula for our pilot project "Institute North" to work on a couple different book projects and generate materials for Bee Repair, my new consulting business promoting honey bee health through treatment free beekeeping and alternative hive systems. Newsletter will keep coming and photos too!

Yours truly at Sheep Shearing School in just now in May ( though UC Davis Extension).
Sheep shearing as well as fencing, gopher eradication, and other practical skills will be offered through our new rural skills wing, Institute North starting late in 2016.

Classes
Join us for the last few classes of the spring before a 3 month break.
Also included below is a small selection of september classes open for registration.
Registration : http://www.iuhoakland.com/register.html

JUNE
Sunday June 7 10am-1:30pm
Rabbit Butchering & Tanning Demonstration

Sunday June 7, 3-5:30pm
Mead & Melomel: Making Fruit and Honey Wines

Wednesday June 10, 7-10pm
All About Dehydration

Tuesday June 9, 6-10pm ADDED!!!
Canning Extravaganza!

SEPTEMBER
Sunday September 13 10am-1pm
Native Bees and Native Plants: Pollination for the People!

Sunday September 13 2pm-5pm
Natural Beekeeping 3: Fall & Winter

Saturday September 19 1-5pm
Canning Extravaganza!

IUH Founder Ruby Blume hits the road. Yes! That is a rooftop tent. Thanks to the good folks at Cascadia Vehicle Tents.

melon mansion & pepper paradise. we’ve already got peppers coming!