GET DOWN, GET DIRTY
Get Down Get Dirty xl 2024 - English ( with dutch support )
In 2024 we continue with our renowned annual course to guide you through the whole growing season. There is also a possibility to follow an internship to the Get Down, Get Dirty workshop series!
This in-depth, eight-part series of half-day workshops covers the fundamentals of urban permaculture and sustainable organic growing as the seasons unfold. We will cover crop planning, seeds, seedlings, composting, soil health, ergonomic gardening, propagation by cuttings, creating a balanced garden, various vegetables, herbs, fruit, wild and edible flower crops, plant families, seed saving, four-season growing, harvesting, food processing, preservation and fermentation, and much more.
In addition to acquiring solid gardening knowledge, we will be looking into where this fits in the current socio-political spectrum and concentrating on living lightly on the earth. We will give an overview of pioneering urban farming projects in and around Amsterdam, and visit a few of them. A healthy part of the workshop is taught outside in the vegetable garden.
This workshop is suitable for beginners and people with a few years experience.
We combine theory with getting dirty, so please wear appropriate clothing!
If you are interested in an internship to accompany your training we are happy to arrange this for you at one of Cityplot’s exciting and educational locations (Stadsboerderij Osdorp or the Pluk! CSA at either the Boterbloem or Fruittuin location). Internships are possible most days of the week at one of our farms, for as many days or half-days as you like.
These are themes of each session:
Introduction to permaculture and urban farming // Sunday 10 March
Planning an edible city garden // Sunday 24 March
Seeds, seedlings and plants // Sunday 7 April
Building healthy soil and composting // Sunday 21 April
Biodiversity and balance in the garden // Sunday 12 May
Getting to know the plant families // Sunday 9 June
Seed saving and winter growing // Sunday 15 September
Preserving your harvest (and harvest party!) // Sunday 13 October
We will share a vegan potluck lunch midway during the sessions. Coffee and tea are provided.
THE PRACTICALS:
Location: Stadsboerderij Osdorp, Botteskerksingel 30b, Amsterdam (close to tram 17)
Time: Sundays from 11:00h - 15:00h - see above for dates.
Language: English with Dutch support
Teachers: Ann Doherty, Eva Thomassen & Naomi Vermeulen
Cost: 500 euros including optional internship placement
If Sunday is not possible for you, let us know as we may offer a Saturday class as well if the Sunday group fills up.
* Check our Gdgd 2024 policies here
REGISTER HERE
YOUR INSTRUCTORS:
ANN DOHERTY
Ann is an urban farmer, educator, beekeeper and worm composter.
She studied urban agriculture at the University of Guelph (distance learning) and at Warmonderhof in the Netherlands, and has a Permaculture Design Certificate from Linder van den Heerik.
She was the communications coordinator for the global environmental federation Friends of the Earth International for 16 years before she decided to take the leap into urban agriculture in 2011.
In 2017, she co-initiated Pluk!, a self-harvest Community Supported Agriculture farm in Amsterdam that will feed more than 200 families in 2023.
In 2023, she took over the coordination of the Stadsboerderij Osdorp garden.
Originally from New England, she has lived and gardened in Amsterdam for three decades.
She brings a love of coordination and bringing people together to the Cityplot team.
Eva THOMASSEN
Eva is an educator, loves herb gardens and designs and builds edible gardens. She is also an artist and works as a pen & ink illustrator.
Born in Amsterdam she lived in Barcelona and London for 12 years, enjoying big city life, working in fashion and film. She returned to Amsterdam to study art and started surfing. Through her love for surfing, she rediscovered a long forgotten love for the outdoors and as her practices in art & yoga developed she started taking more of an interest in the provenance of food as well as sustainability.
After meeting the Cityplot collective on a children's refugee project she was drawn in, and formally joined the collective in 2018. She ran the biketour team, got a Permaculture Design Certificate and was part of the initial Kids team, greening schoolyards with edible gardens and weekly lessons.
Since then she has stayed active in the Kids team, teaching the next generation about growing food in more schools, worked on several community projects at the Stadsboerderij Osdorp, and now coordinates the herb garden there. She also enjoys giving workshops and organising events for adults and gets into garden design & maintenance. You might still catch her giving a few urban farming bike tours each year.
Naomi vermeulen
Stadsboerderij Osdorp, Kids, Tours & Outings
Although Naomi was born and raised in Amsterdam, as a child she always felt most at home in the polder where she played in the mud with horses and other animals. After high school, she tried to figure out what she found most important by exploring the world. She encountered themes including sustainability and the current conventional agricultural system and decided to dive deeper into these topics by getting a degree in Future Planet Studies at the University of Amsterdam.
During this period she really wanted to put her knowledge into practice and get her hands dirty, so she started working in the community vegetable garden at Stadsboerderij Osdorp. It was here that she came in contact with Cityplot.
Naomi’s path has taken her from an interest for urban green spaces to a particular fascination for sustainable agriculture. She loves to mesmerize others with the natural wonders that a city such as Amsterdam has to offer.
