We have an exciting and wide range of workshop over this summer and autumn – join us for a taster or introduction or specialised focus on different food and land-based skills. We offer tiered fees with a standard fee of £65, the invitation to pay a higher solidarity fee, and a number of discounted places too. All courses are bookable from us on Ticket Tailor through the links here.
Here are the headlines – details below!
Salad growing – Saturday 23 May
Soil science for food growers – Saturday 20 June
Beginners’ beer brewing – Saturday 4 July
Fruit Care and Pruning – Sunday 19 July
Mushroom Cultivation for Beginners – Saturday 1 August
Seed saving for food growers – Saturday 5 September
Introduction to Wild Mushroom Identification – Sunday 4 October
Introduction to Wild Mushroom Identification – Sunday 18 October
Salad Growing
Saturday 23 May 2026, 10:30 am – 4:30 pm
Salad leaves can be grown successfully all year round, in a wide range of environments. But there’s more to a salad than just lettuce. Join us for a day of exploration where we study and celebrate the many different wonderful salad leaves and flowers which make up our beloved Hawkwood mixed salad!
This workshop will cover the following:
- a look at the many different salad leaves and flowers which can be used in a mix, including foraged leaves, trees and shrubs!
- designing a recipe around flavours, textures, shapes and colours
- basic cultivation: seed starting, site/soil, tools and aftercare
- winter leaves
- harvesting techniques to prolong the supply
Run by Hawkwood salad grower Rod Sazio, this one-day workshop will include a salad harvest which we can enjoy at lunchtime as well as the opportunity for participants to take seedlings to grow-on at home.
To book a place, please visit our Ticket Tailor page.
Soil science for food growers
Saturday 20 June 2026, 10:30 am – 4:30 pm
What is soil? How is it formed? What are its physical and chemical properties? This one day workshop will deliver the foundational principles of soil science which will equip growers with the knowledge they need to understand their own soil and work productively with it. Topics covered will include:
- The Rock Cycle
- Soil horizons
- Soil texture and structure
- Soil chemistry
- Techniques for developing and managing a healthy soil
Run by Hawkwood grower Rod Sazio, this workshop will be a day of information sharing and many practical explorations of how we can work with soil organically for healthier crops. Book your place here.
Beginners’ beer brewing
Saturday 4 July 2026, 10.30 am – 4.30 pm
Join us for an immersive one-day brewday workshop on the art and science of crafting homebrew beer. Designed for complete beginners who may have limited space and resources, we’ll guide you through the basics where you’ll learn about:
- Beer styles: an introduction to the wonderful world of recipes.
- Selecting your malt: the difference between base and speciality malts.
- Brewing the wort: converting starches into yeast fermentable sugars.
- Boiling and hops: boiling hops for bittering, flavour and aroma.
- Yeast fermentation: the important role yeast plays in creating beer.
- Bottling and carbonation: safely bottling and carbonating your beer.
Run by Hawkwood brewer Rod Sazio, this workshop will be based around a practical brewday where you’ll work with others to produce beer suitable for low-tech home production with a bottle to take home and enjoy! Book your place here
Fruit Care and Pruning
Sunday 19 July, 10:30 am – 4:30 pm
Love your fruit! This one day course for beginners and more experienced gardeners covers the essentials of pruning and looking after fruit trees and bushes. It includes plenty of practical experience in summer pruning with techniques that can be applied in winter too.
The course will combine classroom-based learning with practical training, and will cover:
- appropriate tools for pruning and plant care
- general pruning principles and practice – applicable to fruiting and flowering trees, bushes and shrubs
- specific pruning and planting techniques, including a range of wall/fence training techniques
- an overview of other fruit care and maintenance tasks.
The tutor is OrganicLea’s Fruit Grower Marlene Barrett, supported by our Fruit team.
Wear sturdy shoes, and bring all-weather gear for outdoor practical sessions. Bring gardening gloves and secateurs for pruning practicals if you have them. Book your place here
Mushroom Cultivation for Beginners
Saturday 1 August 2026, 10:30 am – 4:30 pm
This one-day workshop will deliver the foundational principles for cultivating many of the mushrooms considered edible. Combining theory with practical learning, the workshop will include the following topics:
- mushrooms we can and cannot grow
- understanding the mushroom lifecycle
- working with mycelium
- using liquid culture to create spawn
- selecting and spawning to bulk substrate
- incubation, fruiting, and harvesting
Run by Hawkwood mushroom grower Rod Sazio, this workshop will provide the basic knowledge you need to take your first steps in the home cultivation of edible mushrooms, as well as generating material which you can take home to start your growing straight away! Book your place here
Seed saving for food growers
Saturday 5 September 2026, 10:30 am – 4:30 pm
The food crops we grow today can provide us with the one resource we need to continue their cultivation – seeds. All we need is a basic understanding of their flower structure, pollination needs and lifecycle.
In this one-day workshop we will look at the seed saving needs of a selection of crops from each of the main food crop families. Topics covered will include:
- Plant families and their common food crops
- Flower structure and pollination vectors
- Techniques for maintaining cultivars
- Types of fruit and their processing needs
- Storage and seed viability
Run by Hawkwood grower Rod Sazio, this workshop will provide practical examples and the foundational knowledge and skills needed to begin your seed saving journey with a small selection of seeds to take home. Book your place here
Introduction to Wild Mushroom Identification
Course runs twice: Sunday 4 October and Sunday 18 October 2026, 10.30 am – 4.30 pm
This course is aimed at those who are interested in the fantastic world of fungi and would like to learn more about mushrooms, how to identify them, and taste some varieties not available in the supermarkets!
This one day course is for beginners – you do not need any prior knowledge of mushroom identification. It will cover:
- Mushroom ecology–what they do in nature
- Mushroom morphology–their body parts
- Mushroom tasting during lunch (but bring your own packed lunch)
- Using a mushroom field guide
- Major mushroom groups and families
- A walk in the surrounding area to collect wild mushroom specimens
This course is being run by Shannon Thaden, an OrganicLea grower and infrastructure worker who has over 15 years’ experience collecting and identifying wild mushrooms, including many edible species.
Please note this is a course designed for adults, so it is not possible to book places for under 18’s. Book your place: Sunday 4 October or Saturday 17 October
Seed Sowing for Beginners
Date tbc
This course is aimed at beginners, who are interested in understanding seeds and how to care for them especially when you want them to germinate and become a healthy plant! We will cover:
- What is a seed?
- Growing medium selection
- How to start and support seedlings
At the end of the course, you will be equipped with a foundational knowledge of seed sowing and be able to apply this to start your own setting. You will also take some of the seeds you have sown on the day home with you.
This course is being run by Danielle Ahmet, a Coop member, one of our Growers and tutors of the Level 1 Certificate in Horticulture. This topic was the very first course she attended and she attributes it as being the first step towards what became a major career shift. Booking to follow once date is confirmed.