GREEN BAY, Wis. (WBAY) – A community workshop series is back for its second year, aiming to give Green Bay residents the knowledge and skills to maintain Seymour Park’s food forest — and their own backyards.
The “Grassroots in the Garden” workshop is organized by a non-profit focused on promoting healthy food access and education as a way to support the Green Bay community.
Dillon Weist, a member of Northeast Wisconsin Technical College’s Sustainable Agriculture Program, said the skills involved are accessible to anyone willing to practice.
“It’s really not that hard to learn how to take care of all these things. It’s just having a little.. have the opportunity and practicing. That’s all it takes. That’s really all it takes,” Weist said.
Skills covered at the workshop include maintaining fences to protect crops from animals such as deer and rabbits, and pruning techniques to make crops more accessible to reach.
Yaya Wong, an Oneida community member, said the workshop aligns with her personal goals.
“We’re all stewards of the land. So, I just want to learn to take care of things and help things grow. We want to build a food forest. A small scale one in our home. We just bought a piece of small land. So yeah, this is very beneficial,” Wong said.
The workshop is also about ensuring community members have access to fresh food in their own backyards.
“I hope to have kids someday. I hope to take the ol kids and say, ‘Yeah, your dad planted this 20 years ago.’ And now you can just reach up and take peaches and pears and plums and everything,” Weist said.
This is the first of nine work sessions planned by the organization. The next session is scheduled for April.
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