Programs
Through classes, workshops, and storytelling projects, we are interested in creating opportunities for people of different ages and backgrounds to learn, grow, and create together. This might mean establishing a school or community garden with our plants and seeds, land stewardship at a specific site, observing plants and pollinators through the seasons, and/or documenting what we discover through storytelling projects involving multimedia, writing, map-making, and field guides.
We shape each project around the interests, knowledge, and goals of the people involved, creating space to learn from one another & nature, and explore what’s possible together.
Understory + La Querencia Greenhouse @ NNMC’s El Rito Campus
In 2026 we partnered with Northern New Mexico College’s La Querencia Greenhouse to offer low-cost, hands-on continuing education classes growing resilient gardens as well as learning about native seed stratification, sowing, and stewardship. We look forward to continuing this collaboration in 2027. Stay tuned for future class offerings.
Tending & Harvesting Resilient Gardens
2-Part Series | La Querencia Greenhouse, NNMC El Rito Campus Instructor: Ashley Haywood
Part 1: Transplanting & Early Summer Tending | Saturday, June 27 | 10:00am – 12:30pm | $35
Transplant and tend warm-season herbs, annual flowers, landrace beans and squash, and harvest amaranth greens — learning the stories and uses of these plants as we work alongside them.
Part 2: Late Summer Return & Harvest | Saturday, late August | $35
A return to the garden as the season shifts toward harvest. We'll work with amaranth, papalo, epazote, landrace squash and beans, and other herbs, focusing on harvest and drying methods and saving and storing seed. Participants will take home what we harvest together.
Starting Seeds for Resilient Gardens
Date: Wednesday, May 6 | 5:30-7:30pm | Fee: $30 | Supplies provided Location: NNMC El Rito campus Greenhouse “La Querencia” | Instructor: Ashley Haywood
An introduction to seed starting techniques and germination principles for native, locally adapted, and drought-tolerant species, as well as select traditional garden crops. Learn about seed dormancy and stratification, timing, soil composition, and practical planting methods. Participants will sow seeds directly in greenhouse beds and start them in trays for transplanting into on-campus rain gardens. We will explore how seeds carry the life of a plant and the story of place
Whether your interest is food, medicine, ecological restoration, or personal enrichment, you will leave with a grounded foundation for starting seeds that support resilient gardens and local ecosystems. Feel free to bring seeds from your own garden to swap with fellow participants — a little seed exchange to close out the day.