A three-day garden planning workshop series to help you plan your edible garden so you can feed yourself and your community.
Feb 3, 4, 5 at 2:30pm PST
If you’ve been thinking about starting a garden this year but have no idea where to start…
If you tried planting seeds before and nothing sprouted…
If you’re tired of impulse-buying sad, diseased transplants at big-box stores and want to actually grow your own food…
This workshop series is for you.
Over three days, we’re going to plan a garden that actually fits your life based on your space, time, and budget. Together we’ll build a planting schedule working backwards from harvest. You’ll learn how to:
- Figure out your growing zone and assess your space, sun, and constraints so you know exactly what crops make sense for you
- Map your garden layout and create a week-by-week planting calendar that accounts for succession planting and your actual schedule
- Start seeds indoors with confidence, knowing what supplies you actually need vs. what’s marketing bullshit
- Troubleshoot common problems like damping off, leggy seedlings, and pests before they kill your plants
By the end, you’ll have a real plan and the knowledge to make it happen.
Here’s What We’re Doing
Workshop 1: Why This Matters + What You’re Working With
Feb 3 at 2:30pm PST
Figure out your zone, assess your space and light, decide what you’re actually growing for, and walk away with a crop list and seed shopping list.
We’ll cover:
- Why growing food is a political act (and why that matters right now)
- How to figure out your growing zone
- Assessing your space, sun, budget, and time constraints
- Calorie production vs. supplemental eating vs. niche crops (what are you actually growing for?)
- Matching crops to your constraints: no space, no time, no money—we’ll figure it out
- Where to get seeds for free or cheap
- Addressing your objections (“I kill everything” / “I have no space” / “I have no time”)
What you walk away with: A clear understanding of your space and constraints, a list of crops that make sense for you, and a seed shopping list.
Workshop 2: Make Your Actual Plan
Feb 4 at 2:30pm PST
Map your space, build your planting schedule working backwards from harvest, and leave with a week-by-week planting calendar you’ll actually use.
We’ll cover:
- Container and square foot gardening for maximizing small spaces
- Working backwards from harvest dates to planting schedules
- When to start seeds indoors vs. buying transplants
- Succession planting (so you’re not drowning in lettuce one week with nothing the next)
- Companion planting basics
- Intro to composting and making dirt
- Live working session: You’ll draw/map your space, make crop decisions, figure out layout and spacing, and create your planting calendar
What you walk away with: A completed garden plan with drawn/mapped layout, a week-by-week planting schedule for your zone, clarity on what to start when, and confidence to move forward.
Workshop 3: Get Your Hands Dirty (On Your Own Time)
Feb 5 at 2:30pm PST
See my seed-starting setup, get a shopping list with actual costs, learn what you actually need vs. what’s marketing bullshit, and walk away knowing exactly how to start seeds yourself.
We’ll cover:
- My seed-starting setup and what I learned from last year’s mistakes
- What you actually need (and what’s marketing bullshit designed to make you think gardening is complicated)
- Tools, soil, containers, and setup options
- Why dirt matters and how to make your own compost
- NPK basics and soil testing
- Step-by-step seed starting: how to read a seed packet, depth, spacing, moisture, light
- Caring for seedlings: watering, light, temperature
- Troubleshooting common problems: damping off, leggy seedlings, pests
- Hardening off and transplanting timeline
- Budget-friendly alternatives for everything
What you walk away with: A complete shopping list with actual costs, troubleshooting guide, and the confidence to start seeds on your own.
Why This Actually Matters
You eat multiple times a day. That’s not optional. It’s a built-in subscription model you’re committed to for the rest of your life, and the grocery store is counting on it.
When people are hungry, they get desperate. When people are scared and stressed, they’re easy to control. The current food system is designed to keep you dependent, to keep you coming back, to keep you from ever having enough power to opt out.
Growing food is infrastructure. It’s building a parallel power structure outside of corporate control, and it’s one of the most practical things you can do right now to take back some amount of agency in a world that feels increasingly out of control.
Every garden is a small act of resistance. Every seed you save is a refusal to buy into planned obsolescence. Every meal you eat from your own yard is a quiet rejection of the corporations banking on your dependence.
What You Get
- Three live workshops (Feb 3, 4, 5 at 2:30pm PST via Zoom)
- All recordings so you can rewatch or catch what you miss
- Workbooks and templates for planning your space, tracking your planting schedule, and organizing seed starting
- A complete garden plan by the end: what to plant, how much, where it goes, and a week-by-week schedule
Who This Is For
- Anyone who wants to grow food, regardless of experience
- Folks who’ve never grown anything before
- Folks who’ve tried and failed
- People with no yard, limited space, or weird constraints (we’ll work with whatever you’ve got)
- Anyone who’s tired of the grocery store being their only option
- People who want to build community resilience and feed others, not just themselves
This is practical, not theoretical. You’ll leave with actual plans and schedules, not vague inspiration.
I’m speaking from my experience growing in Zone 8b (Vancouver, WA / Portland, OR area), but the basics apply everywhere. We’ll adapt for your zone.
You don’t need any gardening experience to show up. If you’ve never grown food before, you’re in the right place.
All workshops are recorded. If you miss one or need to rewatch, you’re covered.
Sliding Scale Pricing
My goal is to make these workshops as accessible as possible. Pay what makes sense for your financial situation—all tiers get the exact same access, materials, and support. When people pay more, it allows me to donate more plants to community projects, offer scholarship spaces, and keep doing this work.
$47 —
$67 —
$87 —
What Happens After: Virtual CSA Membership
At the end of Workshop 3, I’ll tell you about the Virtual CSA membership on Substack.
If you’re not familiar with the CSA model: CSA stands for Community Supported Agriculture. Traditionally, you support a farm at the beginning of the season and get a box of produce all season long. A Virtual CSA works the same way, except instead of produce, you get ongoing support, education, and community as you grow your own food.
Virtual CSA members get:
- Weekly emails with what’s happening in the garden, resources, tips, and reminders
- Quarterly grow guides for every plant you’re growing
- Access to all future garden-related workshops I run throughout the year (included, no extra charge)
- A community of people learning to grow food together
We’ll talk more about this at the end of the workshop series, but if you want to keep learning and have support throughout the growing season, that’s the place to be.
About Me
Hi, I’m Dusti. I’m the founder of Hearth & Hollow, a backyard micro-nursery and plant CSA here in Vancouver, WA. I’ve been growing food in some capacity for 15 years, but last year I took it seriously—started selling plants at markets, got a permit to make jam, grew for my community, and launched a plant CSA.
Hearth & Hollow exists because I believe growing food is an inherently political act. It’s about food sovereignty, community resilience, and opting out of systems designed to keep us dependent. It’s about feeding people, building parallel infrastructure, and taking back some amount of control in a world that feels increasingly out of control.
I’m not a master gardener with all the answers. Every season teaches me something new. But I’m good at this, I care about making it accessible, and I want to help you figure out how to grow food in a way that actually works for your life.
If you’re local to Vancouver/Portland, you can find me at the Vancouver Farmers Market on Saturdays. If you’re not local but want to learn how to grow food anyway, this workshop is for you.
Ready to plan your garden?