From ECO, the Environmental and Conservation Organization of Hendersonville:

ECO's Green Energy and Sustainability Committee has just announced its sustainability workshops for the first half of 2012. The workshops will focus on helping local residents use environmentally sound methods to live better lives and develop closer connections to their world. Each workshop will be taught by a trained specialist.

The sustainability programs will begin this month with a forum featuring owners of green homes who took part in ECO’s Green Home Tour over the last few years. They will talk about their successes and challenges, expectations and changes as they set out to build an environmentally-friendly home. This forum will be held on Thursday, January 26 at 6:30 PM at the ECO conference room.

Upcoming workshops include:

February 21, 6:30: Raising Rabbits for the Home or Business

Rock Harty of Harty Farms in Madison County will teach a unique workshop on raising rabbits, from breeding stock to housing, feeding, breeding, processing, packaging and sales. Raising rabbits is easier than raising chickens and they produced excellent fertilizer for the garden.

March 6 - 6:30 pm: Creating a Backyard or Neighborhood Orchard

Chuck Marsh, a premier permaculture landscape expert will discuss how to turn your backyard or a neighborhood spot into a thriving fruit and nut tree orchard. Issues covered will include siting of the trees, cultural strategies, companion plants and animals, optimizing nutrition and much more. Advance registrants will also be able to order fruit trees that will be delivered at the time of the workshop.

April 21- 10 am: Wild Plant Walk

Many native plants often thought to be “weeds” are healthier than the vegetables many gardeners plant in their gardens. Local naturalist Michele Skeele leads a walk in the woods identifying local plants that are suitable for eating. Learn about our native plants on this interesting (and tasty) walk in our neighborhood.

May: Composting Workshop date/time TBA

Rather than dumping food waste, put it to work in your garden to grow your own food creating a closed loop. Composting is a free and easy way to build healthy, nutritious soil for your garden. Join a panel of experts to learn the latest ways to create garden independence without reliance on harmful and damaging chemicals in your yard.

Pre-registration for all workshops is required as class size is extremely limited. All workshops except for the green home forum in January have a $15 registration fee to support ECO. Each workshop and the forum will be held at the ECO Office, 121 Third Avenue West, Hendersonville. Registrants will be given the meeting place for the Wild Plant Walk when they register. To register for any of the workshops, get directions or for more information, please contact ECO at (828) 692-0385 or email ECO at eco@eco-wnc.org.