653 Healthy Soil, Healthy Plants, Healthy People
Class | FULL (Membership Required)
The six-week course will focus on the elements of the three parts of the course title. Enrollees will be introduced to the best practices and research of healthy soil, healthy plants, and healthy people. The enrollees will leave the course with knowledge to use in their own gardening and we will dispel the idea of “I don’t have a green thumb.”
The soil health section will deal with how to create and manage healthy soil, soil chemistry, and soil biodiversity. The section on healthy plants will include planting practices, plant health management, and crop sustainable practices. Lastly, the course will introduce current thinking on the nutritional value of plants and plants as medicine.
The course will involve lectures, discussion, reading, and internet videos. Enrollees will be given reading assignments. Books will be recommended and copies of articles distributed. If feasible, we may schedule some visits to the Lewisburg area community gardens.
Carl Milofsky
CARL MILOFSKY is professor emeritus of sociology at Bucknell. His research has focused on human service organizations, the sociology of medicine and the sociology of communities. He taught Inside/Out classes with Bucknell students for five years and works as a volunteer with two inmate groups. He is co-author, editor, or co-editor of a number of journal articles and academic handbooks and authored Smallville: Institutionalizing Community in Twenty-first Century America, a book about community nonprofit organizations in Central Pennsylvania.
Sid Furst
SID FURST is the manager of the Salvation Army’s Williamsport Red Shield Community Garden.
Sid graduated from Hanover College with a bachelor of arts in biology with concentration in plant biology, biodiversity, and sustainable practices. After retiring from a business and consulting career, he completed the Penn State University Master Gardener program and engaged with the Salvation Army to establish a community garden program. This volunteer-run urban farm has been operating since 2014 and covers 40,000 sq ft. It is located in Williamsport on ground in the 700-800 block area of Park Avenue.
For the 10 years of the Garden’s operation, Sid developed and introduced best practices based on horticultural data and research to optimize sustainable growing practices that are utilized to guide, teach and produce organic produce along with the social and wellness benefits to the community.
Sid is also a member of the Arbor Foundation and the Pennsylvania Native Plant Society.