Seed Starting Class

Experience the joy of starting your favorite vegetable plants from seed! Join Convivium's Farm Manager AJ for an introduction to seed starting. You'll learn about general information of seeds, selecting seeds, and the actual process of planting and caring for seedlings. He will also discuss soil mixes, setting up a calendar, dormancy and germination, up-potting and hardening off.

You will tour Convivium's basement to see where AJ starts the seeds for our community gardens and he will even show you a simple, at-home kit for setting up your own lighting system at your house.

Tickets are available on a sliding scale pricing structure.

Instructor Bio: AJ Shultz, Farm Manager AJ tends our 13,000 plus square feet of gardens. From building healthy soil through harvesting delicious produce, AJ keeps his hands dirty demonstrating the process of growing food to anyone willing to listen. When not in the field, AJ also teaches gardening and composting classes and serves as our garden tour guide. Trust us – you don’t want to miss an opportunity to experience our gardens with him. AJ has been involved in edible and sustainable landscaping and urban gardening most of his adult life. His training and professional background includes working with organic farms and edible landscape organizations in Santa Cruz, California; Huelo, Hawaii; and Margaret River, Australia. An Iowa native, AJ returned to the area in 2011 to raise a family with his wife Kerri, also an Iowa native. They now have two growing daughters, Josey and Marny.

Convivium is a nonprofit committed to helping increase accessibility to the tools and knowledge of how to grow and prepare your own food. As part of this commitment, and in pursuit of a more wholesome and secure food experience for all, Convivium is now offering most of our classes on a sliding scale.

The sliding scale system allows for classes to be obtained at multiple price points, based on the circumstances of the participant. It allows folks who may otherwise be priced out of something to have the chance to take part in it.

When completing your registration, please self-select from the following three payment levels:

Contributor: The contributor level is a pay-what-you-can option that allows you to do just that – pay what you are able to for the class, at this time. Please note there is a $5 minimum per the Eventbrite platform. If this minimum, or paying with a credit card, is a barrier, please call us at 563.557.2900.

Supporter: The supporter level is the normal ticket price of this class. It covers all the supplies and materials needed, as well as the instructor fee.

Sustainer: The sustainer level is a buy-one, give-one model that covers the complete cost of your class plus a small donation that helps supplement the cost of a Contributor level participant. By choosing this level, you are ensuring we can continue to offer this class in a way that is accessible and affordable to all – thank you for your generosity.

A note on refunds: Convivium Urban Farmstead has a no refund policy for all classes and workshops. If you are unable to participant in the class after you registered, your fee will be donated to our pay-what-you-can sliding scale level, which helps to ensure our classes are accessible and affordable to all.

However, if Convivium cancels or reschedules a class for any reason (weather, instructor illness, etc.), participants will be notified as early as possible by email and their registration will automatically be transferred to the date of the rescheduled class. In the case that the participant cannot make the rescheduled class date, Convivium will issue a gift card in the full amount of the class that can be used toward any future class. This gift card can be mailed to the participant or picked up at Convivium (2811 Jackson St. Dubuque, IA 52001). We appreciate your understanding and thank you for your cooperation.

Inclement Weather Cancellation Policy: We will refer to the State Police website and road condition designations. https://lb.511ia.org/ialb/winterdriving/routeselect.jsf

If the majority of the roads in Dubuque are designated “Travel not advised” (purple) or worse, then we will cancel class.

The cut off time for cancellation will be 8:00 a.m. the day of each class.

We will email and post cancellation notices on Facebook.

Host or Publisher Convivium Urban Farmstead