Education Programs

Our Fourth Annual Growing Power Training Weekend is taking shape.  REGISTER NOW.

On Saturday and Sunday, October 5 and 6, 2013, Will Allen with Growing Power and WEI staff will convene at the WEI Farm Campus at North Branch, MN for an intensive, hands-on training weekend. This weekend offers urban and rural-based participants the opportunity to learn, plan, develop, operate, and sustain community food and farming projects. Project participants will acquire improved skills and knowledge they can take back to their communities and pass on to others.

REGISTRATION, SPONSORSHIPS AND SCHOLARSHIP DONATIONS FOR  WEI/GROWING POWER 2013, Oct. 5-6, Now Available.

Call 651-583-0705. COST:  $250 per participant.

What is Growing Power? Click here to learn more.

Thank you to EVERYONE who particpated and supported in the Good Food Revolution at the Growing Power Training Weekend. You are all appreciated! Report from 2012 WEI Growing Power Weekend Training.Here's a short blog from Ben Russell, an employee of Mississippi Market, about his experience at the Growing Power Training Weekend in September 2012.

WEI's 2013 ORGANIC FARM SCHOOL:  MOVING THE GOOD FOOD REVOLUTION 

Where: Midtown Global Market Greenway Conference Room, 920 E. Lake St, Minneapolis
When:  Monday evenings from 6-8pm, starting June 10, 2013 - August 12th. 
What else:  Meet and network.  Learn more at on-site workshops, field days, and urban farming projects. Join the new farm-for-food synergy. 
Cost:  $120 for all ten weeks, or $20 per class

REGISTER HERE

Our ten week program will cover the following topics:

• JUNE 10: “WHAT IS ‘ORGANIC’?” Meg Moynihan (Minnesota Department of Agriculture)
• JUNE 17: "Weeds" with Atina Diffley (Organic Farming Works)
• JUNE 24: “THE EDIBLE CITY” Film screening and discussion with Maggie McKenna (Permaculture Research Institute Cold Climate)
• JULY 1: "MEET THE FARMERS PANEL" Discussion with local farmers
• JULY 8: “SEED SAVING WITH THE SEED TECHNICIAN MAGICIAN” Heidi Cook (Seed Savers Exchange, Iowa)
  *Followed by Saturday, July 13, car caravan and farm tour at Seed Savers Exchange in Decorah, Iowa
• JULY 15: “FISH and GREENS: INTRODUCTION TO AQUAPONICS” Annelie Lindberg-Livingston (Women’s Environmental Institute) and Chad Herbert (Urban Farm Project)
  *Class meets at the Urban Farm Project
• JULY 22 “IT ALL COMES DOWN TO ‘HUMUS’” Professor Pat Farrell (UMD – Department of Geography)
• JULY 29 “HERBS, HERBAL HEALING, and WILD MEDICINE” Cynthia Thomas (practicing herbalist, massage therapist, doula, and educator- Sacred Journey Healing Arts)
• AUGUST 5 “BASICS OF URBAN BEEKEEPING WITH BEEZ KNEEZ” Erin Rupp and Kristy Allen (Beez Kneez)
• AUGUST 12 “THE FUTURE OF THE GOOD FOOD REVOLUTION” Will Allen (CEO and Founder of Growing Power Milwaukee)

Parking validation for students enrolled in full lecture series.

Register: Online Click Here, call 651.583.0705, email wei@w-e-i.org, or snail mail: PO Box 128, North Branch, MN 55056

The Eco(A)Ware Project ia designed to create a grass-roots initiative organized by  local an activist consumer-right-to-know network, especially in neighborhoods located near Superfund Sites and areas of known contamination. The campaign focuses on the toxicities in our common household and personal care products in our local communities and provides not only practical information but also "big picture" understandings of what is happening on our planet and why some groups are more disproportionately affected by global toxification.  The project was initially funded by the Unity Avenue Foundation.

In 2009, WEI’s Eco-Aware staff person Connie Minowa worked with the Early Childhood and Family Education (ECFE) program last spring to give EcoAware presentations to a total of sixty parents in Linström and North Branch, explaining the impact of toxic chemicals on their children’s health and giving the parents information to help them choose non-toxic cleaning and personal care products for their homes.  

Connie and Emily Moore also worked with a Women’s Group at Little Earth of United Tribes over a series of months to offer information about non-toxic products and information on how make changes in their homes and the administrative offices at Little Earth. The Women’s Group is taking a leadership role  in WEI’s Growing Power/Little Earth initiative in teaching the community about preparing healthy foods and working on the  composting project already underway and on the urban farming  project planned to begin in the summer of 2010.

The Eco-Aware project has also joined in collaborative efforts with the Healthy Legacy Coalition,, a coalition of over 30 health and environmental groups committed to chemical policy reform in the state and federal governments. Healthy Legacy (www.healthylegacy.org) gives consumers the information they need to purchase non-toxic products for their homes, engages businesses to offer non-toxic products, and works with local, state, and federal governments to effect policy change so that green chemistry will be implemented throughout industry and non-toxic products will be the norm. Last legislative session Healthy Legacy helped support legislation to ban the sale in Minnesota of baby bottles and sippy cups containing the chemical bisphenolA (BPA) – and Minnesota became the first state in the union to ban BPA. The other bill Healthy Legacy supported was the Toxic-Free Kids Act. It's designed to get ahead of the federal government on chemicals used in consumer products. It requires the Minnesota Department of Health to assess chemicals used in consumer products and publish a list of those with known human health risks. This year Healthy Legacy will help draft a bill that supports the economic development of green chemistry projects. Healthy Legacy is supporting federal legislation to reform the Toxic Substances Control Act (TSCA) and is working with the federal advocacy group Safer Chemicals. See their website (www.saferchemicals.org) or the database Healthy Stuff (www.healthystuff.org) for more information.

“Dedicated to the ideals of good water quality in the Sunrise and St. Croix Rivers, the preservation of habitat for native plants and wildlife, and a vibrant rural/farm economy that embraces sustainable agricultural practices.”


The Amador-Sunrise Registry was launched in 2008 to support the conservation efforts of private landowners with property in Amador and Sunrise Townships of Chisago County. An informal membership-based program, the Registry brings together people who share an appreciation for the rural and natural heritage of the area, and are interested in caring for their land in ways that project these values.

Anchored by WEI’s own Amador Hill Retreat Center, the program has grown to include a total of eight properties and over 216 acres. Our 2009 member gatherings were held in community settings: in February at Wild River State Park, and in September at Landscape Alternatives. Participants enjoyed presentations on local ecology and landscaping with native plants (as well as coffee and blueberry pie!). To date, two members have participated in free “Ecologist Walk-abouts” of their land with program ecologist Tara Kelly— a great chance to find out about their properties’ unique natural features, ask questions, and get ideas for how to achieve their goals. Also this year, buckthorn wrestlers were happy to learn that the Registry has now acquired a “weed wrench” for loan to members. (Go get ‘em).


Heartfelt thanks to those who participated in the year’s events, in particular guest speakers Dave Crawford and Roy Robison. We look forward to the Registry year ahead; a chance to learn, to meet more conservation-minded friends and neighbors, a chance to work together to protect the beautiful landscapes of this region.

This program operates with funding assistance from Embrace Open Space, which is supported by the McKnight Foundation. For more information, contact program coordinator Laurie Allmann at laurie@w-e-i.org.