FIELD SCHOOL is Crooked Farmz’ annual pedagogical program blending theory, practical, hands-on worker bee, mutual aid, shared food, and community. All workshops will take place at the Crooked Farmz plot at the Many Hands Urban Farm in Downsview Park.
There is a nominal pwyc fee to join a Crooked Farmz Field School event as a full Participant. If you enjoy the topic but cannot make the event or you would like to otherwise support our pedagogical program, you can also choose to become a Sponsor so that we can continue to offer pwyc flexibility for our events to other interested growers.
Fermented Plant Juice
Sunday, April 19, 2026
6:00–8:00am
$10/pwyc
Young plant tissues — the growing tips of grasses, the first unfurling leaves of spring weeds — carry elevated concentrations of plant growth regulators at this stage: auxins that govern root development and cell elongation, gibberellins that drive stem growth and seed germination, cytokinins that stimulate cell division and delay senescence. Capturing these compounds early, before the plant redirects its energy toward reproduction, is the core logic of Korean Natural Farming’s FPJ preparation.
In this Spring Field School session, we will work through the theory of KNF plant growth regulators, harvest in-season plant material from the CRAY@Downsview growing spaces together, and begin a collective ferment with brown sugar. Participants take home a small batch to complete at home over one week, ready to apply as a spring foliar. This “Sunday Breakfast Club” hands-on workshop will be followed by coffee and light refreshments.
This workshop will be of particular interest to home gardeners and market growers looking for low-cost, farm-made biological inputs.
Three-Bin Composting
Sunday, April 26, 2026
9:00–11:00am
$10/pwyc
Hot composting is the management of microbial succession — a deliberate manipulation of carbon, nitrogen, moisture, and aeration to accelerate thermophilic decomposition and produce biologically active soil amendment in a matter of weeks. The three-bin system organizes this process spatially across adjacent chambers: building, turning, and curing in sequence, ensuring a continuous supply.
In this Spring Field School session, we will work through the theory of thermophilic composting — feedstock ratios, bulking agents, moisture and temperature monitoring — and build a pile together on site at CRAY@Downsview. We will discuss what distinguishes high-quality inoculating compost from bulk fill, and how the three-bin system supports both volume and biological diversity. This “Sunday Breakfast Club” hands-on workshop will be followed by coffee and light refreshments.
This workshop will be of particular interest to gardeners and urban growers at any experience level who want to produce their own compost.
Flexible Infill Agriculture
Tuesday, April 28, 2026
11:00am–1:00pm
$10/pwyc
Toronto has formally declared a food access state of emergency. The city also contains an abundance of vacant parcels sitting idle between ownership and development — land that could grow food, but doesn’t, primarily because the economics of temporary farming on degraded urban soil have never worked.
In this Spring Field School session, we will walk the 70-pallet Flexible Infill demonstration farm at CRAY@Downsview, examining the agronomics of this modular container system — what crops thrive at five inches of depth, how soil biology is maintained across biologically isolated containers using compost tea re-inoculation, and how the system can be replicated on any vacant urban lot with minimal capital. We will also discuss the economics and politics of infill farming: land access, food justice, and what city-scale food sovereignty could look like in practice.
This workshop will be of particular interest to urban growers, community food advocates, and anyone curious about the intersection of agronomic design and land access.
Introduction to Natural Farming
Thursday, April 30, 2026
11:00am–1:00pm
$10/pwyc
Masanobu Fukuoka spent decades arguing that the most productive farming is the least interventionist — that soil, seed, and local ecology, given minimal disturbance, outperform systems built on external inputs and mechanical tillage. His proposition was not romantic; it was grounded in close observation of what biological systems do when they are not simplified away.
In this Spring Field School session, we will walk the full learning space at CRAY@Downsview, reading each element of the farm as an expression of natural farming principles: minimum necessary intervention, locally-derived inputs, landrace seed saving, and the cultivation of a soil microbiome that needs support rather than substitution. Together we will tend the grounds, make seed balls for wild sowing following Fukuoka’s method, and prepare the growing spaces for the season ahead.
This workshop will be of particular interest to gardeners and growers of all experience levels who want to understand the philosophy underlying regenerative practice.
Food Forests
Friday, May 1, 2026
11:00am–2:00pm
$10/pwyc
A food forest is farming at the scale of decades. Modelled on the structure and succession of a woodland edge — canopy trees, understory shrubs, groundcovers, and climbers layered in productive relationship — it generates food, habitat, and ecological services with diminishing labour inputs over time. It is one of the few agricultural systems that improves the more it is left alone.
In this Spring Field School session, we will begin planting the food forest guild along the northern perimeter of the Downsview Park Farm, establishing pawpaws, American hazelnuts, serviceberries, and companion species. Before we plant, we will gather in the Lunar Garden to read and discuss Robin Wall Kimmerer’s essay The Serviceberry: An Economy of Abundance — a reflection on reciprocity and gift economies in ecological relationship. The session then moves to the food forest site to work through the translation from design document to planted ground.
This workshop will be of particular interest to growers, gardeners, and ecological designers who want to think and work at the scale of decades rather than seasons.
Bokashi
Wednesday, May 6, 2026
11:00am–1:00pm
$10/pwyc
Most composting methods rely on aerobic processes — microbial breakdown of organic matter in the presence of oxygen. Bokashi works differently. Closer to fermentation than decomposition, it breaks down organic matter anaerobically using an inoculated bran medium and effective micro-organisms (EM-1). It retains more nutrients in plant-accessible form than traditional aerobic methods, and is particularly well-suited to indoor composting.
In this Spring Field School session — offered during International Compost Awareness Week — we will work through the theory and practice of bokashi technique, build bins at various scales, and tap fermented leachate (“bokashi tea”) for participants to take home as a spring soil amendment. This hands-on workshop will be followed by coffee and light refreshments.
This workshop will be of particular interest to urban home gardeners, apartment composters, and growers looking to expand their composting toolkit beyond aerobic methods.
Johnson-Su Composting
Thursday, May 7, 2026
11:00am–2:00pm
$10/pwyc
Most composting systems work quickly, breaking organic matter down through heat and bacterial activity in a matter of weeks. The Johnson-Su bioreactor works differently — slowly, fungally, and without turning. Developed by David Johnson and Hui-Chun Su at New Mexico State University, the bioreactor is a passively aerated, no-turn method designed to cultivate fungal-dominant microbial communities over twelve months or more. The result is a compost rich in fungal hyphae, glomalin, and the biological complexity of mature forest soils — the same foundation that drives the Crooked Farmz compost tea program.
In this Spring Field School session — offered during International Compost Awareness Week — we will tour the Johnson-Su bioreactors at the CRAY@Downsview site and work through the theory and practice of building and maintaining a bioreactor — from construction to feedstock layering, moisture management, and fungal succession. Participants will leave with a free jar of freshly-brewed Crooked Farmz compost tea, inoculated with Johnson-Su extract, to apply directly to their growing spaces.
This workshop will be of particular interest to market gardeners, ecological farmers, and urban growers curious about fungal-dominant soil biology and long-term composting infrastructure.
Soil Health and Microbial Life
Sunday, May 3, 2026
10:00am–12:00pm (via Zoom)
$25
A single teaspoon of healthy soil contains more microorganisms than there are people on earth. The bacteria, fungi, protozoa, and nematodes living in that teaspoon are not incidental to plant growth — they are its engine, cycling nutrients, building soil structure, and extending the reach of root systems far beyond what plants could achieve alone.
In this Spring Field School session — offered during International Compost Awareness Week — we will work through the fundamentals of soil composition and the key microbial players in the soil food web: decomposition chains, fungal networks, bacterial communities, and the probiotic strategies growers can use to support all of them. The session covers composting theory, the science behind compost tea, and practical soil health principles applicable to any growing context.
This workshop will be of particular interest to gardeners and growers of all experience levels who are curious about soil science and want to build healthier, more productive growing spaces.
The Lunar Garden
Sunday, May 17, 2026
9:00–11:00am
Free
The Three Sisters — corn, beans, and squash grown together in a single mound — is one of the most ecologically sophisticated polycultures ever developed: corn provides structure for climbing beans, beans fix atmospheric nitrogen for corn and squash, squash spreads its broad leaves to shade the soil, suppress weeds, and conserve moisture. Honouring this tradition is at the heart of the Lunar Garden at CRAY@Downsview: 13 raised mounds arranged in a circle, each one corresponding to a moon in the lunar calendar.
In this Spring Field School session, we will work together in the Lunar Garden, tending the mounds and preparing for planting. We will walk the full learning space at CRAY@Downsview, exploring permaculture design, landrace seed saving, and the principle of minimum necessary intervention. This “Sunday Breakfast Club” hands-on workshop will be followed by coffee and light refreshments.
This workshop will be of particular interest to growers, gardeners, and curious learners at any stage of their journey with living soil.
Biopriming for Plant Resilience
Tuesday, May 19, 2026
11:00am–1:00pm
$10/pwyc
The earliest days of a seedling’s life are its most formative. Post-germination, a young plant is primed to form its first microbial associations — the soil food web relationships that will shape its root architecture, immune resilience, and nutrient uptake capacity for the entire growing season. Getting the right microorganisms into close contact with seed or root zone at this window is not supplementary to good growing; it is foundational to it.
In this Spring Field School session, we will prepare compost-based seed coatings using finished Crooked Farmz compost, examining what the soil food web contributes to early root inoculation and plant immunity. We will also make a batch of Fermented Plant Juice using the Korean Natural Farming method, exploring how plant growth regulators extracted from young plant tissues interact with the seedling’s own hormonal signalling systems.
This workshop will be of particular interest to market gardeners, ecological farmers, and home growers who want to build plant resilience from the moment of germination.
JADAM Liquid Fertilizer
Sunday, May 24, 2026
9:00–11:00am
$10/pwyc
Fermentation is one of nature’s oldest nutrient pathways. When plant material is submerged in water and left to undergo anaerobic microbial breakdown, the complex organic molecules within — proteins, carbohydrates, minerals — are transformed into simpler, plant-available forms. JADAM Liquid Fertilizer works from an elegant premise developed by Korean farmer and agricultural biologist Youngsang Cho: things similar to your crops are good for your crops.
In this Spring Field School session, we will harvest plants from the CRAY@Downsview growing spaces to begin a fresh batch of JLF together, learning the specific contributions each plant family brings — nitrogen accumulators, mineral extractors, growth-hormone-rich young tissues. We will smell ferments at different stages of maturity, discuss dilution ratios and application timing, and work through the plant family logic that guides feedstock selection. This “Sunday Breakfast Club” hands-on workshop will be followed by coffee and light refreshments.
This workshop will be of particular interest to market gardeners and growers transitioning toward regenerative practices who want low-cost, farm-made fertility inputs.
Elderberry Harvesting
Tuesday, September 1, 2026
11:00am–1:00pm
$20/pwyc
Sambucus canadensis — the native North American elderberry — is one of the most medicinally significant plants in the temperate world. Its berries, flowers, and bark have been used for centuries across Indigenous and folk traditions to support immune function, respiratory health, and seasonal resilience. Knowing when and how to harvest, and how to store what you’ve gathered, is foundational to working with this plant well.
In this Fall Field School session, guest facilitator Maria Solakofski of Wild By Nature Botanicals will lead participants through elderberry care and cultivation, the medicinal properties of the plant, proper harvesting technique, and tips for drying, freezing, and storing the harvest. The workshop takes place in the newly planted orchard teaching space at Crooked Farmz.
This workshop will be of particular interest to home gardeners, herbalists, and growers curious about medicinal plants, native species, and the intersection of food and plant medicine.
AI for Small Farm Business I: Technical
Tuesday, November 24, 2026
10:00am–12:00pm (via Zoom)
$25/pwyc
The solo proprietor model concentrates every business function — production, marketing, administration, customer relations — in a single person. Time is the binding constraint, and outsourcing is rarely affordable. AI tools offer a specific kind of leverage here: the ability to draft, plan, research, and problem-solve at a speed and volume that would otherwise require a team.
In this Winter Field School session via Zoom, we will work through practical applications of AI for small farm operations — farm planning, crop management, marketing content, grant writing, and business documents — drawing from real examples in the Crooked Farmz context. We will also examine the environmental costs of AI usage and discuss how to use these tools with minimum ecological footprint. No prior experience with AI is required.
This workshop will be of particular interest to independent farmers, market gardeners, and small-scale agricultural entrepreneurs looking to expand their operational capacity without expanding their payroll.
AI for Small Farm Business II: Workshop
Tuesday, December 15, 2026
10:00am–12:00pm (via Zoom)
$25/pwyc
The most effective way to learn a tool is to use it on something that matters. AI for Small Farm Business I introduced the landscape of AI applications for farm operations — what the tools are, what they can do, and how to think about integrating them. Part II is where that knowledge becomes practice.
In this Winter Field School session, participants will work on a real project from their own operation — a marketing piece, a crop plan, a grant draft, a business document — using AI tools in real time, with structured guidance from the facilitator and feedback from peers in the room. No prior experience with AI is required, and you do not need to have taken Part I.
This workshop will be of particular interest to independent farmers, market gardeners, and small-scale agricultural entrepreneurs who learn best by doing and want to leave with something tangible from their own farm business.
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