Work with a Local Food Hero
Work with a Local Food Hero

Transform Your Gardening Knowledge While Supporting Veteran Farmers

Local Food Heroes Core Workshop Series

Our expert-led workshops follow the biblical pattern of growth: preparing the heart, filling the mind, training the hands, and celebrating the harvest. Learn alongside veterans who are becoming Local Food Heroes in their communities.

Register Now

We Don't Just Teach. We Transform.

Get your hands in the soil and learn by doing with expert guidance every step of the way. Each workshop combines biblical foundations with practical regenerative agricultural skills, creating a learning community where veterans and community members grow together.

Register for Workshops

Register for the full series or select individual workshops. Joining mid-season? No problem — sign up for any upcoming sessions.

Our Approach: Heart → Head → Hands → Harvest

The Well-Watered Garden model addresses the whole person through four elements:

Heart (Soil): Right attitude and character — the "why" behind what we do

Head (Seed): Understanding principles — knowledge that takes root

Hands (Shoot): Learning through doing — skills that grow with practice

Harvest (Fruit): Reaping the results — and multiplying by teaching others

"The LORD will guide you always; he will satisfy your needs in a sun-scorched land and will strengthen your frame. You will be like a well-watered garden, like a spring whose waters never fail." — Isaiah 58:11

HEART: Vision & Foundations

The soil that produces good fruit

  • Before we plant a single seed, we prepare the heart. This is where transformation begins — understanding WHY we grow before learning WHAT to grow.

Season Kickoff: Vision & Foundations

  • 3 hours | March
  • Begin your journey by discovering the heart behind regenerative agriculture. Experience a forest walk to observe healthy, undisturbed soil ecosystems and learn from the story of Brian Oldreive, whose humility to copy nature's design led to agricultural breakthrough.
  • You'll discover:
  • The vision and heart behind the Well-Watered Garden approach
  • Three foundations of the heart: Humility, Faithfulness, Unselfishness
  • The 4 Keys of Faithful Management: On-Time, High Standard, Minimal Waste, with JOY
  • What creation teaches us about growing food
  • Scripture: Isaiah 58:11 — "You will be like a well-watered garden, like a spring whose waters never fail."

HEAD: Planning & Principles

The seed that takes root

  • With the right heart in place, we fill the mind with understanding. Good planning and solid principles are the seeds of a successful growing season.

Plan Your Garden & Start Seeds

  • 4 hours | April
  • Transform your garden dreams into practical reality. Learn the science of healthy soil through hands-on demonstrations, then create your personalized garden plan using time-tested planning questions. Leave with seeds you started yourself, ready to grow.
  • You'll learn:
  • Three components of healthy soil: minerals, organic matter, microorganisms
  • The dramatic difference between tilled and untilled soil (see it for yourself)
  • 8 Planning Questions that guide every successful garden
  • Professional seed starting: soil blocks, heating mats, proper germination
  • Scripture: Proverbs 21:5 — "The plans of the diligent lead surely to abundance."

HANDS: Skills in Action

The shoot that grows through practice

  • This is where knowledge becomes skill. Through the growing season, we learn by doing — building, planting, caring, and persevering through the hard middle when most gardeners give up.

Build Your Beds

  • 4 hours | May
  • Master the art of preparing ground that will produce for years to come. Learn the "Eating the Elephant" approach to managing large tasks with joy, and build actual garden beds ready for planting.
  • You'll practice:
  • The 20x20 plot system and permanent bed design
  • Precise layout using stakes, measuring sticks, and string
  • No-till weed removal techniques
  • Breaking big tasks into joy-sized bites
  • Scripture: Job 12:7-8 — "Ask the animals, and they will teach you, or speak to the earth, and it will teach you."

Plant & Establish

  • 4 hours | June
  • Put your plans into action. Learn professional spacing systems, proper techniques for both direct seeding and transplanting, and how to make nutrient-rich fertilizer teas that supercharge plant growth.
  • You'll practice:
  • WWG spacing system: 1-row, 2-row, 3-row, and 5-row configurations
  • Direct seeding: furrow prep, seed placement, covering, watering
  • Transplanting: hardening off, hole prep, setting depth, watering in
  • Making chicken tea and comfrey tea for plant nutrition
  • Scripture: Luke 16:10 — "Whoever can be trusted with very little can also be trusted with much."

Midsummer Care & Feeding

  • 4 hours | July (Early morning start to beat the heat)
  • This is when most gardeners give up. The excitement of spring has faded, harvest seems far away, and weeds are relentless. But this is exactly when faithfulness matters most. Learn to persevere through the hard middle.
  • You'll master:
  • The three aspects of garden care: Provide, Protect, Pick
  • Proper watering technique and schedule
  • Trellising and pruning for vining crops
  • Zero-tolerance weeding and natural pest management
  • Scripture: Galatians 6:9 — "Let us not become weary in doing good, for at the proper time we will reap a harvest if we do not give up."

HARVEST: Reaping & Multiplying

The fruit that feeds and multiplies

  • The harvest is the reward for faithfulness — but it's not the end. True harvest includes multiplying what we've learned by planting seeds for next season and teaching others to grow.

Harvest & Handling

  • 4 hours | August
  • Celebrate making it to harvest! Learn optimal timing for picking different crops, proper handling techniques, and basic preservation methods. Then embrace the multiplication mindset: sharing food and teaching others.
  • You'll learn:
  • Harvest timing: how to know when each crop is ready
  • Post-harvest handling: washing, cooling, storage by crop type
  • Preservation basics: refrigeration, freezing, canning overview
  • The multiplication mindset: building relationships through food
  • Scripture: Psalm 126:5-6 — "Those who sow with tears will reap with songs of joy."

Season Extension & Garlic Introduction

  • 4 hours | October
  • The growing season doesn't have to end in September. Learn to extend your harvest through the fall and winter, then discover the world of garlic — a crop that requires faith, planted in October for a harvest you won't see until July.
  • You'll discover:
  • Season extension structures: row covers, low tunnels, cold frames
  • Fall and winter crops that thrive in New Jersey
  • Garlic varieties: hardneck vs. softneck, flavors and uses
  • Garlic curing and storage from summer harvest
  • Scripture: Ecclesiastes 11:6 — "Sow your seed in the morning, and at evening let your hands not be idle, for you do not know which will succeed."

Garlic Planting & Season Celebration

  • 4 hours | November | Ends with Celebration Dinner
  • Close the season by planting for the next one. Plant garlic together (an act of faith for next year's harvest), then commit to multiplication — teaching others what you've learned. The workshop concludes with a celebration dinner honoring the journey we've shared.
  • You'll experience:
  • Garlic planting: depth, spacing, orientation (pointy end up!)
  • Heavy mulching for winter protection
  • The multiplication commitment: who will you teach in 2027?
  • Season celebration with your fellow Local Food Heroes
  • Scripture: 2 Timothy 2:2 — "The things you have heard me say... entrust to reliable people who will also be qualified to teach others."

The Local Food Heroes Difference

Our unique workshop model brings community members and veterans together in a collaborative learning environment. When you participate, you’re not just learning — you’re supporting veteran farmers on their journey to becoming agricultural leaders in their communities.

  • What Sets Us Apart
  • Faith-Rooted: Every workshop connects practical skills to biblical principles of stewardship, faithfulness, and service to others.
  • Hands-On: We don't just lecture — you'll get your hands in the soil at every session and leave with practical skills you can use immediately.
  • Community-Built: Learn alongside veterans and neighbors, building relationships that last beyond the workshop.
  • Season-Long Journey: Our workshops follow the natural rhythm of the growing season, building knowledge progressively from March through November.

2026 Workshop Schedule

MonthDateEventTimeLocation
MarchSunday, Mar 22Season Kickoff: Vision & Foundations10am - 1pmVeterans Haven North
AprilSunday, Apr 19Plan & Start Seeds9am - 1pmThe Farm at Leffler Hill
MaySunday, May 17Build Your Beds9am - 1pmVeterans Haven North
JuneSunday, Jun 14Plant & Establish9am - 1pmThe Farm at Leslie Court
JulySunday, Jul 12Midsummer Care & Feeding8am - 12pmVeterans Haven North
AugustSunday, Aug 23Harvest & Handling9am - 1pmThe Farm at Leslie Court
OctoberSunday, Oct 25Season Extension & Garlic Introduction9am - 1pmThe Farm at Leslie Court
NovemberSunday, Nov 8Garlic Planting & Season Celebration9am - 1pmThe Farm at Leslie Court + Leffler Hill

Workshop Locations

Veterans Haven North
(VHN)

200 Sanatorium Rd,
Glen Gardner, NJ 08826

The Farm
at Leffler Hill

Flemington, NJ 08822

The Farm
at Leslie Court

Flemington, NJ 08822


Register for Workshops

Questions?

This material is based upon work supported by the National Institute of Food and Agriculture, U.S. Department of Agriculture, through the Northeast Sustainable Agriculture Research and Education program under subaward number CNE25-001.

Any opinions, findings, conclusions, or recommendations expressed in this publication are those of the author(s) and do not necessarily reflect the view of the U.S. Department of Agriculture.

Waiting List Form