Project Name: Backyard Farming Workshop

Project summary and highlights:

The Muskoka Federation of Agriculture and the Muskoka Soil & Crop Improvement Association hosted a ‘Backyard Farming Workshop’ on April 20^th, 2024 at Winding Fences Farm in Windermere, Ontario.  Due to interest, a second mini workshop was held during the afternoon of the 20^th.  Despite poor weather, over 75 people participated in several sessions, including:

• Small flock poultry management
• Seedlings
• Sprouts
• Beekeeping
• DIY cold frames and mini greenhouses
• Mushroom inoculation

A BBQ lunch was provided, and participants were able to take several seedlings home with them to kick-start their gardens.  Participants were also able to learn about who the OFA and the OSCIA are and benefits of membership.

How were funds used, any partner contributions besides the Federation?

Funds were used to cover event specific costs, including marketing, food, workshop materials and a porta-potty.

Lasting and relevant impact to the OFA membership:  

We have seen a significant interest from people who want to learn how to produce their own food, as well as several new homestead farms in the area.  This event helped bring together OFA members, as well as many people who are new to farming, to learn from each other, build more networks, etc.  It has also helped shift MFA’s focus to similar events in the future, ensuring that members continue to have opportunities to engage with each other and learn.

Bonus – any lessons learned, or surprises?

We were surprised with the amount of interest/uptake.  We had over 100 people RSVP and as a result, held a second mini workshop during the afternoon of April 20^th.  Some lessons learned included:

• Using Eventbrite for RSVP’s, instead of providing an individual contact (compiling our own list might work for 15 people, but it is time-consuming for 100)
• Don’t forget the porta-potty!  When we were planning the event, we anticipated 15-20, so we had to allocate some extra money to a porta-potty once we realized it was a much larger event than planned.
• A full day workshop is a long time for the workshop leads to engage people – the main workshop lasted until 2:00pm, with the second workshop starting at 3:00.  Since the workshop leads had already hosted their session 4 times for the main session, it was quite draining by the time we started the second workshop.