2011 Premium Workshops

Premium Workshop Tickets: $10-$15
Saturday premium workshops require the purchase of general admission entrance to the festival.
This year, we are offering additional premium workshops on Friday, the day before the festival. They do not require purchase of a general admission ticket to the Saturday festival and do not include entrance to the gardens and West Lawn of Monticello.

Pre-Festival Workshops, Friday, September 16

Special Guest Presentation:

Bryan Welch Publisher of Ogden Publications, the Publisher of Mother Earth News, presents
Beautiful and Abundant
Friday, 5:00 – 6:00 p.m., Woodland Pavilion, Thomas Jefferson Visitor Center

The publisher of well-known sustainability and forward-thinking publications like Mother Earth News and Utne Reader, Bryan Welch brings his vision into clear focus for readers with his new book. Join Bryan for a session that cuts through the pessimism and denial that pervade today’s discussions of sustainability, inviting readers to envision a verdant and prosperous future. He offers a practical guide with a process for making our current lifestyles more sustainable and inspires us to look beyond immediate obstacles. In the lives and accomplishments of farmers, gardeners, inventors, and entrepreneurs, Bryan shares a “Beautiful and Abundant ” path toward a world vision we can proudly pass on to future generations. $10

Workshop: Herbal Medicine-Making: Herbs for Children & Backyard Remedies with Heather Wetzel, Sacred Plant Traditions Center
Friday, 9:00 – 10:00 a.m., Double Classroom, Thomas Jefferson Visitor Center

Sacred Plant Tradition Center’s staff herbalist, Heather Wetzel, will discuss a variety of safe medicinal plants that support children’s health. Many of these herbal allies are found in the kitchen garden and yard. Learn easy and tasty ways to incorporate gently powerful herbs like thyme, plantain, Echinacea, and lemon balm into your home remedy repertoire. This workshop includes a demonstration of how to make a cough syrup. $15

Lecture: Heirloom Garlic & Onions: How to Grow these Culinary Essentials with Ira Wallace & Rob Danford
Friday, 9:00 – 10:00 a.m., Classroom 7, Thomas Jefferson Visitor Center

Multiplier onions are easier to grow than most storage onions and can produce a greater yield per area than any other vegetable except staked tomatoes. Learn how to add these hardy and productive perennials to your farm or garden plans. In addition, learn about different heirloom garlic varieties and how to plant, cultivate and harvest them. $10

Introduction to Permaculture – Regeneration and Perennial Polycultures with Christine Gyovai
Friday, 9:00 – 11:15 a.m., Woodland Pavilion, Thomas Jefferson Visitor Center

Learn how to create more sustainable homes, neighborhoods, and communities using the principles of permaculture—an ecological design method that uses observation and patterns in nature. This method also employs strategies to improve soil, grow food, create edible forest gardens and perennial polycultures, harvest water, utilize renewable energy and regenerative building techniques. Participants will leave the workshop energized with permaculture tools that can be implemented in their home and community. $15

Tour: Thomas Jefferson & Natural History Woodland Walk with Peggy Cornett
Friday, 9:00 – 10:00 a.m., Fish Pond, Monticello’s West Lawn

Thomas Jefferson’s passion for gardening arose from his truly wide-eyed curiosity about natural history and the “tranquil pursuits” of science. Peggy Cornett will lead this trek through the forests of Monticello Mountain. Participants will examine autumn wildflowers, seedpods, nuts, trees, mammals, birds, the skies, fungi, insects and geology with the historical perspective of the sage of Monticello ever in mind. $15

Lecture: Collecting Heirlooms and their Stories with David Bradshaw
Friday, 10:15 – 11:15 a.m. , Classroom 7, Thomas Jefferson Visitor Center

Dr. David Bradshaw shares his experience from the renowned Clemson University botanical garden, which he tended for 17 years. A retired, “gentleman farmer,” Bradshaw now keeps a country garden full of heirloom varieties. If you are interested in learning about heirloom vegetables, canning and preservation—don’t miss Dr. Bradshaw’s presentation. He will present a number of heirloom vegetables including various peas, pumpkins, corn okra, sweet potatoes and even a few special tomatoes. $10

Tour: Sustainable Gardening Practices in the Monticello Vegetable Garden with Ellie Thomas
Friday, 10:15 – 11:15 a.m. , Fish Pond, Monticello’s West Lawn

Join Monticello Gardener Ellie Thomas for an in-depth tour of the Monticello Vegetable Garden, where she will present an overview of sustainable gardening techniques including: natural pest controls, beneficial insects, and various bed preparation methods such as double digging.$15 SOLD OUT

Workshop: Wine or Vinegar Making with Gabriele Rausse
Friday, 10:15 a.m. – 12:30 p.m., Double Classroom, Thomas Jefferson Visitor Center

“No nation is drunken when wine is cheap,” said Thomas Jefferson, who experimented with grape plantings in his Monticello vineyards and enthusiastically promoted the beginnings of an American wine industry. Vinegar was an integral ingredient in many Jefferson-family recipes and there’s more to vinegar, translated literally as “sour wine,” than salad dressing. Most people are unaware of the rich traditions of using vinegar in cooking, as a food preservative, and even as a wholesome beverage. Join wine-maker and chef Gabriele Rausse in reviewing the basic principles of wine and vinegar-making, and learn how to use it in preparing vegetables and meat and in concocting delicious aromatized dressings. $15

Lecture: Hens in the Hood & Broilers in the Backyard: Practical Advice for Raising Chickens for Eggs & Meat with Guinevere Higgins & Leni Sorensen
Friday, 11:30 a.m. – 12:30 p.m., Woodland Pavilion, Thomas Jefferson Visitor Center

Backyard chicken-keeping is experiencing a renaissance in both urban and rural settings. This workshop will discuss the joys of keeping poultry and how to get started with chickens. Topics covered will include: basic coop setup, predator protection, egg production, starting with chicks, butchery basics and local resources for chicken-keepers. $10

Tour: Seed Saving in the Monticello Vegetable Garden with Pat Brodowski
Friday, 11:30 a.m. – 12:30 p.m., Fish Pond, Monticello’s West Lawn

Many special and common garden plants are unavailable from commercial sources and need to be preserved from year to year. Learn the dynamics of seed production, from pollination to timing, seed identification, cleaning and storing, while visiting the Monticello gardens for a hands-on collecting demonstration. $15

Workshop: Wild Fermentation I (Introduction to Fermentation) with Sandor Katz
Friday, 12:45 – 1:45 p.m., Double Classroom, Thomas Jefferson Visitor Center

Get a broad overview of fermentation. What is fermentation? Why has it been so important in human cultural evolution? How can ferments improve your health? What makes fermentation safe? What’s the easiest way to get started with a fermentation practice? Empower yourself with simple techniques for fermenting healthful foods in your home. Be part of the fermentation revival! $15

Lecture: Oral Histories – Connecting People, Plants, and Biodiversity with Jeff McCormack
Friday, 12:45 – 1:45 p.m., Classroom 7, Thomas Jefferson Visitor Center

Oral histories are a means of archiving past events and perspectives, as well as personal histories. They offer wisdom, unique viewpoints, and perspectives that may shift our understanding of the present. Oral histories can also capture information that may seem insignificant in the moment, but provide valuable information for the future, in a way we can’t predict. The role of oral histories in preserving biological diversity will be explored through the lens of Jeff’s work with heirloom seeds, medicinal plants, and ethnobotanical studies of Bahamian bush medicine. $10

Lecture: New Frontiers in Organic Gardening with Barbara Pleasant
Friday, 12:45 – 1:45 p.m., Woodland Pavilion, Thomas Jefferson Visitor Center

Choosing the best crops, varieties and cultural methods is essential to growing organic food crops in Virginia. Mother Earth News garden editor and author of “Starter Vegetable Gardens,” Barbara Pleasant will share news and tips to help you grow more organic vegetables, herbs, and fruits in your home garden. $10

Tour: Seed Saving in the Monticello Flower Garden with Debbie Donley
Friday, 12:45 – 1:45 p.m., Fish Pond, Monticello’s West Lawn

Lecture: The Small-Scale Poultry Flock, An All-Natural Approach to Raising Chickens and Other Fowl for Home and Market Growers with Harvey Ussery
Friday, 2:00 – 3:00 p.m., Woodland Pavilion, Thomas Jefferson Visitor Center

Harvey Ussery presents his integrative, whole-systems, mixed-flock approach to poultry husbandry, as described in his book The Small-Scale Poultry Flock: An All-Natural Approach to Raising Chickens and Other Fowl for Home and Market Growers (Chelsea Green, 2011), a new and unique addition to the literature of home poultry management. Harvey will discuss use of electronet fencing for protecting the flock as they forage natural feeds; putting the flock to work for tillage, making compost, and insect control; using broody hens to hatch and raise chicks; home butchering; breeding poultry for breed improvement and conservation; producing high-protein live feeds with vermicomposting and cultivation of soldier grubs; and more. Harvey takes seriously the coming changes in the national and global economies, and hopes to encourage participants to use the home or small market flock to help close the circle of the homestead and small farm and become more independent of purchased inputs. Chances are good that Harvey’s new book will be published in time for its very first sales at this presentation!$10

Tour: Thomas Jefferson & Natural History Woodland Walk with Peggy Cornett
Friday, 2:00 – 3:00 p.m., Fish Pond, Monticello’s West Lawn

Lecture: Home Brewing Basics presented by Fifth Season Gardening Company
Friday, 2:00 – 3:00 p.m., Classroom 7, Thomas Jefferson Visitor Center

Want to learn how to brew your own beer? Fifth Season Gardening will lead a home-brewing demonstration geared towards beginners. The demo will focus on brewing with extract and starter kits while covering hop additions, yeast selection, and other tricks of the trade. We will also touch on advanced brewing methods like extracting sugars from different grains. $10

Workshop: Wild Fermentation II (Advanced Session) with Sandor Katz
Friday, 2:00 – 4:15 p.m., Double Classroom, Thomas Jefferson Visitor Center

A hands-on introduction to fermenting vegetables and simple tonic beverages. See a few different ferments started, discuss what to expect as they progress, and answer all your fermentation related questions. Be part of the fermentation revival! $15

Lecture: Adventures in the Seed Trade with Shepherd Ogden
Friday, 3:15 – 4:15 p.m., Classroom 7, Thomas Jefferson Visitor Center

Where does the seed you plant come from? How do the breeders (and dreamers) find new and old plants for the garden? Part travelogue, part behind-the-scenes, this picture-rich talk takes you around the world to places you might not otherwise see and introduces you to people you might not otherwise meet. $10

Workshop: Growing Medicinal Herbs in your Backyard with Jeanine Davis
Friday, 3:15 – 4:15 p.m., Woodland Pavilion, Thomas Jefferson Visitor Center

Enjoy a colorful presentation, discover the many herbs that can be grown in this region and learn the basics on how to grow them. Includes a hands-on session for propagating some herbs by seed and rhizome cutting. Everyone takes home a few pots. $15

Tour: Thomas Jefferson’s Revolutionary Vegetable Garden with Peter Hatch
Friday, 3:15 – 4:15 p.m., Fish Pond, Monticello’s West Lawn

“Thomas Jefferson’s Kitchen Garden at Monticello was an Ellis Island of new and unusual plants from around the world. Stroll with Peter Hatch through Jefferson’s 1,000-foot-long vegetable garden and learn about this experimental laboratory and some of the 330 vegetable varieties that provided the Monticello kitchen with the ingredients of a new American cuisine. $15 SOLD OUT

Grand Preview Dinner and Evening with P. Allen Smith
Friday, 6:00 – 9:00 p.m., Thomas Jefferson Visitor Center

Join us for an evening pairing a talk and dinner with the award-winning garden and lifestyle designer P. Allen Smith. One of the most recognized and respected garden design experts, Smith will discuss Jefferson’s legacy in gardening and beyond in his talk, Reflections on Jefferson: Gardening, Farming and Democracy. $90. Learn more about this event >>

Festival Workshops, Saturday, September 17

Workshop: The Small-Scale Poultry Flock, An All-Natural Approach to Raising Chickens and Other Fowl for Home and Market Growers with Harvey Ussery
Saturday, 9:00 – 10:00 a.m., Double Classroom, Thomas Jefferson Visitor Center

Lecture: Vinegar Making Basics with Gabriele Rausse
Saturday, 9:00 – 10:00 a.m., Classroom 7, Thomas Jefferson Visitor Center

Vinegar was an integral ingredient in various Jefferson-family recipes, and there’s more to vinegar, translated literally as “sour wine,” than salad dressing. Most people are unaware of the rich traditions of using vinegar in cooking, as a food preservative, and even as a wholesome beverage. Moreover, making vinegar at home is quite simple. Join wine-maker and master chef Gabriele Rausse in reviewing the basic principles of vinegar-making. $10

Lecture: The Pantry-Driven Garden with Barbara Pleasant
Saturday, 9:00 – 10:00 a.m., Woodland Pavilion, Thomas Jefferson Visitor Center

Wouldn’t it be great to eat from your garden every day of the year? Turning this dream into reality may mean growing more crops that store themselves, exploring novel food preservation options and maybe making your own wine! Mother Earth News garden editor Barbara Pleasant shares her strategies for growing, eating, and preserving a year-round homegrown food supply. $10

Workshop: Virginia Cider Making with Tom Burford and Kerry Gilmer
Saturday, 9:00 – 10:00 a.m., Monticello’s Vegetable Garden

It was a significant event when Americans began drinking their fruit rather than eating it. Tom Burford, the illustrious “Professor Apple” and international authority on apples, will review the Virginia cider-making tradition and then demonstrate the process. Although you will need to help turn the crank, the cider made from the Hughes’ Crab will be your just reward.$15

Tour: Thomas Jefferson & Natural History Woodland Walk with Peggy Cornett
Saturday, 9:00 – 10:00 a.m., Fish Pond, Monticello’s West Lawn

Tour: Sustainable Gardening Practices in the Monticello Vegetable Garden with Ellie Thomas
Saturday, 10:15 – 11:15 a.m., Fish Pond, Monticello’s West Lawn

Workshop: Translating Harvest to Table-Using Heritage Vegetables in the Kitchen with Michael Twitty
Saturday, 10:15 – 11:15 a.m., Classroom 7, Thomas Jefferson Visitor Center

“If we don’t use them, we’ll lose them!” That’s the message of living culinary historian Michael Twitty’s contemporary approach to endangered foods. Join Twitty for a workshop on how to turn heirloom vegetables and herbs into classic and innovative dishes of your own creation. Based on his work with African-American historic foodways and classic Southern recipes from colonial and antebellum sources, Twitty will demonstrate and discuss recreating historic dishes in the modern kitchen as well as “identity cooking”—your own personal fusion cooking. Twitty will discuss how to create new flavor pairings, make creative substitutions and recreate traditional flavors based on documentation. $15

Unusual Edibles for your Home Garden with Jeanine Davis
Saturday, 10:15 – 11:15 a.m., Woodland Pavilion, Thomas Jefferson Visitor Center

Looking for something a little out of the ordinary to grow in next year’s garden? This presentation will introduce a variety of edibles you may have never thought about growing including: wasabi, hops, truffles and yard-long beans. Learn a little bit about how to grow and find plants, seeds for harvesting unique garden goodies next year. $10

Workshop: Wild Fermentation with Sandor Katz
Saturday, 11:30 a.m. – 12:30 p.m., Double Classroom, Thomas Jefferson Visitor Center

Come learn how simple it is to make your own kimchi, kefir, and other fermented delicacies. Learn about the healing qualities and nutritional importance of live-culture ferments, as well as their illustrious history and integral role in human cultural evolution. Empower yourself with simple techniques for fermenting these healthful foods in your home. Be part of the fermentation revival! $15

Workshop: Gardening with Heirlooms with Diane Ott Whealy
Saturday, 11:30 a.m. – 12:30 p.m., Classroom 7, Thomas Jefferson Visitor Center

Discover how Seed Savers Exchange began its work with heirloom seed at this presentation. Find out the benefits of choosing nonhybrid seeds. Learn to incorporate heirloom vegetables into your backyard garden for an efficient, productive and colorful harvest. It’s the best way to eat seasonally and locally! $10

Hens in the Hood & Broilers in the Backyard: Practical Advice for Raising Chickens for Eggs & Meat with Guinevere Higgins & Leni Sorensen
Saturday, 11:30 a.m. – 12:30 p.m., Woodland Pavilion, Thomas Jefferson Visitor Center

Tour: Seed Saving in the Monticello Vegetable Garden with Pat Brodowski
Saturday, 11:30 a.m. – 12:30 p.m., Fish Pond, Monticello West Lawn

Workshop: Herbal Medicine-Making: Herbal & Berry Cordials – Food as Medicine with Teresa Boardwine, Sacred Plant Traditions Center
Saturday, 12:45 – 1:45 p.m., Double Classroom, Thomas Jefferson Visitor Center

Fresh and dried berries are full of anthocyanidins, which are purple, red and blue pigments that protect cell walls and strengthen the cardiovascular system. Learn how to turn these lovely, locally grown and harvested berries into delightful concoctions known as cordials. Blueberry, elderberry, hawthorn and others will be mixed with medicinal herbs for a truly heart lifting experience. $15

Workshop: Growing Mushrooms at Home – An Introduction to the Permaculture of the Fungi with Mark Jones
Saturday, 12:45 – 1:45 p.m., Woodland Pavilion, Thomas Jefferson Visitor Center

Mark Jones offers mushroom spawn for sale and will demonstrate how to inoculate logs and wood chips with different gourmet mushroom species. $15

Tour: Seed Saving in the Monticello Flower Garden with Debbie Donley
Saturday, 12:45 – 1:45 p.m., Fish Pond, Monticello’s West Lawn

Low Energy Food Preservation with Cindy Conner
Saturday, 12:45 – 1:45 p.m., Classroom 7, Thomas Jefferson Visitor Center

Cindy Conner has been using solar food dryers here in humid Virginia and wants to share her work with you. She will teach you how to get your food from your garden to your table using the least fossil fuel. $10

Seed Saving for the Home Gardener with Rodger Winn
Saturday, 2:00 – 3:00 p.m., Double Classroom, Thomas Jefferson Visitor Center

You can easily save seeds from common garden vegetables. Rodger Winn will discuss saving seed from tomatoes, peppers, eggplant, melons and squash. This workshop will cover cultivation methods, isolation, harvesting, processing and storage. $10

Lecture: Reclaiming Our Food: Inspiration from the Trenches with Tanya Denckla Cobb
Saturday, 2:00 – 3:00 p.m., Classroom 7, Thomas Jefferson Visitor Center

Join Tanya Denckla Cobb on a visual photographic journey across the nation, learning innovative approaches and lessons from people working at the grassroots to advance their local food system. In addition to sharing her own evolving understanding of the grassroots food movement, she’ll share bright ideas and lessons learned about local food production, distribution, expanding access and social justice, drawn from her forthcoming book, Reclaiming Our Food: How the Grassroots Food Movement is Changing What We Eat. $10

Brewing Up a Historical Beer, Monticello Reserve Ale with Mark Thompson
Saturday, 2:00 – 3:00 p.m., Woodland Pavilion, Thomas Jefferson Visitor Center

Learn how beer is made and what it takes to produce a beer similar to what Thomas Jefferson would have made at Monticello. The course will walk through the basics of beer-making and how those universal principals were used even during Jefferson’s day. $15

Tour: Thomas Jefferson & Natural History Woodland Walk with Peggy Cornett
Saturday, 2:00 – 3:00 p.m., Fish Pond, Monticello’s West Lawn

Seed to Table in Six Weeks with Shepherd Ogden
Saturday, 3:15 – 4:15 p.m., Double Classroom, Thomas Jefferson Visitor Center

Shepherd Ogden discusses the process of taking a lawn and turning it into a productive garden in the course of one season. His garden was featured on the cover of The American Gardener and in Martha Stewart Living during its first season and when you see the pictures you’ll understand why. Step by step photographs leave very little to the imagination and you’ll be able to ask for any details you need to do the same in your own yard. $15

Lecture: Small Space Gardening with Kathy Jentz
Saturday, 3:15 – 4:15 p.m., Classroom 7, Thomas Jefferson Visitor Center

Whether your yard is 10-acres in the suburbs or postage-stamp sized in the city, you have the challenge of using your garden space and resources (time, energy, funds) as efficiently as possible. Learn tips and tricks for getting the most out of your space and thinking outside the box for creative solutions to common landscape challenges. $10

Lecture: Introduction to Permaculture – Regeneration and Renewal with Christine Gyovai
Saturday, 3:15 – 4:15 p.m., Woodland Pavilion, Thomas Jefferson Visitor Center

Permaculture is a design system for creating sustainable human settlements. By learning from natural ecosystem dynamics we can apply the same patterns to create gardens that function like a forest and home water systems that function like a wetland. From this introduction participants can take home some permaculture principles and put them into action. $10

Tour: Thomas Jefferson’s Revolutionary Vegetable Garden with Peter Hatch
Saturday, 3:15 – 4:15 p.m., Fish Pond, Monticello’s West Lawn

Thomas Jefferson’s Kitchen Garden at Monticello was an Ellis Island of new and unusual plants from around the world. Stroll with Peter Hatch through Jefferson’s 1,000-foot-long vegetable garden and learn about this experimental laboratory and some of the 330 vegetable varieties that provided the Monticello kitchen with the ingredients of a new American cuisine. $15