Woolley Food Forest Living Mulch and Sheet Mulching Class and Work Party

Saturday, March 11th at 10:00 am, we will start our day off with a brief class on planting living mulches and sheet mulching. There are many plants that suppress unwanted weeds while providing for other needs in our developing self-sustaining mini-ecosystem. We will also be going over the basics of sheet mulching. Sheet mulching is a way of layering compostable material on top of cardboard to prepare a site for planting by killing competing weeds and improving soils and water retention. Class will be 45 minutes long. Reference materials will be provided to be taken home.
At 11:00 am, we will begin our work party planting living mulch at the base of trees and shrubs: comfrey root, sedum ice plants, musk strawberries, oregano, sorrel, sweet rocket, and feverfew. Bring a hori-hori knife or a garden trowel to punch holes through cardboard to plant. Expect to get your hands and knees dirty.
We will also be sheet mulching eastern boundary wild-edible hedgerow (200'x15) and far northern chestnut/elder row (200'x5'). This will require first spreading garden lime to lower soil acidity, laying cardboard, shoveling and raking compost and hog fuel mulch. Please bring shovels, hay forks, and/or rakes.
Light rain is predicted. Dress accordingly. We'll provide hot tea, drinks and snacks. We plan on finishing up at 2:00 pm or earlier.

The Woolley Food Forest is a 2-acre permaculture demonstration community food forest being planted in partnership with the Helping Hands Food Bank, the largest food bank in Skagit County.  We will be providing education, food and skills to help build resiliency and evolve our community from surviving to thriving.  Come join us!  For more information email us at info@woolleyfoodforest.org

Please plan on parking on road or at the neighboring cemetery on Wicker Rd.  The field is sodden, and we don't wish to unnecessarily damage soils or get folks stuck in the mud.