In light of the continuing COVID-19 pandemic, Fabric of Life has made the difficult decision to cancel all in-person events for the remainder of 2020. We appreciate your understanding and look forward to being together with you all again very soon, virtually for now, hopefully in person in the near future.

Instructor: Elizabeth Garofalo

Elizabeth Garofalo grew up in Shelburne MA, after spending the first ten years of her life in Buckland, MA. After much travel, and a stint in the Air Force as a Security Forces fire team member, she returned home and received her Associates, Bachelor’s and Masters degrees in Plant Soil and Insect Sciences at the University of Massachusetts. She has been working with the University of Massachusetts Extension fruit team for six years where she spends her days performing applied research studies and relating timely pest management information to commercial fruit growers. Her work focuses primarily on Integrated Pest Management (IPM) of fruit crops with an emphasis on Decision Support Systems and pest forecast modeling.

Program Description

Home orchards have long been an integral part of New England life and are currently enjoying a return to the limelight of home agriculture. Tree fruit production can be one of the most rewarding endeavours for a home owner- and one of the most challenging! In this workshop we will cover the basics of successful orcharding from the ground up. We will discuss apple orchard establishment, training, pruning and grafting as well as introductory integrated pest management (IPM) for tree fruit crops. In the afternoon we will have an opportunity for hands on application of concepts covered in the morning- pruning and pest management go hand in hand!

Attendees: please bring your own tools and some to share if possible – hand snips, loppers, and a hand saw. It is also important to dress for the weather as we will go outside unless its pouring.

If you have any questions, please contact us at office@fabric-of-life.org.

Preparing Your Orchard Flyer