Food Forestry Training Program

Applications Open January 2, 2025

Overview

Denver Urban Gardens’ Food Forestry Training is a 15-session, hands-on and classroom-based, training course in designing, planting, and maintaining edible forest gardens in the urban setting.

The training coursework involves extensive education on species selection, soil amendment, planting, pruning, disease and pest management, and many more strategies for establishing thriving perennial edible crops in a dry climate. With a focus on practical skill-building, most sessions will be at existing DUG Food Forest locations, participating directly in the training.

Participants will get the training and experience necessary to embark on a variety of post-training pathways, including potential paid opportunities through DUG and starting small businesses in tree and land care.

The integration with existing food forest sites will allow graduates to take a leadership role within the training, or even be hired as paid site stewards for DUG community partners. There is a growing need for skilled care of trees and perennials around the Denver Metro area, and this course aims to fill that gap and to build a corps of people to address a wide range of needs in the area of green livelihoods.

On-site work will vary across locations within the DUG food forest network, with other classes being held at Denver Urban Gardens’ headquarters at The Horse Barn, located at 1031 33rd Street in the Posner Center for International Development in Denver.

The cost for participation in the Food Forestry Training is $150.00. If cost is a barrier for you, please let us know what you can afford to pay.

Required 2024 Training Dates

SESSION	DAY	DATE	TIME	LOCATION
1	Wednesday	2/26/2025	4:30-7:30 pm	Posner Center
2	Wednesday	3/5/2025	4:30-7:30 pm	Barnum Food Forest
3	Wednesday	3/12/2025	4:30-7:30 pm	DUG Food Forest Site
4	Wednesday	3/19/2025	4:30-7:30 pm	Jovial Concepts Orchard
5	Wednesday	4/2/2025	4:30-7:30 pm	TBD (Greenhouse)
6	Wednesday	4/16/2025	4:30-7:30 pm	Posner Center
7	Wednesday	5/7/2025	4:30-7:30 pm	Posner Center
8	Wednesday	5/14/2025	4:30-7:30 pm	GES Food Forest
9	Wednesday	6/4/2025	4:30-7:30 pm	Barnum Food Forest
10	Wednesday	7/9/2025	4:30-7:30 pm	TBD
11	Wednesday	8/6/2025	4:30-7:30 pm	Future DUG Food Forest Site
Optional	Saturday & Sunday	9/6/2025 – 9/7/2025	TBD	Benevolence Orchard and Harlequin’s Gardens (Boulder, CO)
12	Wednesday	9/10/2025	4:30-7:30 pm	DUG Food Forest Site
13	Wednesday	9/24/2025	4:30-7:30 pm	Posner Center
14	Wednesday	10/8/2025	4:30-7:30 pm	GES Food Forest and Posner Center
15	Wednesday	10/15/2025	4:30-7:30 pm	Posner Center

Curriculum

The objective of the training is to empower individuals with the knowledge, skills, and practical experience needed to design, implement, and sustain thriving food forests in Colorado. Through a comprehensive curriculum and hands-on experience, participants will gain expertise in fruit tree and fruiting perennial care, ecological site assessment, plant selection, and dryland planting techniques. Our aim is to foster a new generation of urban land stewards capable of creating resilient and sustainable food ecosystems, contributing to local food security, and enhancing the overall well-being of our communities.

Core Educational Outcomes

Basic operational knowledge for pruning young and mature fruit trees
Be able to identify major fruit and nut trees, as well as a variety of edible bushes and shrubs
Best practices for planting trees, shrubs, and herbaceous perennials
Understand how to select planting sites and how to shape landform to direct and hold water
Become familiar with a variety of techniques for soil stabilization and improvement
Know how to pot up bare root trees and run a simple perennial nursery
Become familiar with the full set of necessary tools and how to care for them