CLASSES, Tours events

Questions? Call Gil Schieber 206-679-6576
Donations gracefully accepted.
VENMO to above or this link

Classes, Tours, Events:

Farm Tours

One hour or more. Organized and audience-specific for an unforgettable experience. Measured, engaging, inspirational. With motivational leaders-Gil Schieber, Horticulturist extraordinaire, aspires to see more food gardening and through this he’s become a maestro in gathering plants that influence and shape our village. Justin, a seasoned young farmer brings the “farm to the table” with enthusiasm and love for the next of kin, those up and coming young farmers. You may pay online with paypal, venmo, zelle or at the farm with cash, check

Rates:(Applied as ‘hourly’)

“Youth”  means 3 to 18 year old

Groups <12 persons: $75 minimum; $25 group fee+$7 per youth, $10 adults

Groups 13-24 persons:

$35 group fee   +$6 per youth, $9 adults

Groups >25 persons:

$45 group fee  +$5 per youth, $8 adults

Please call/text Gil first to confirm/ inquire 206-679-6576

Paypal after confirmation

or Venmo

Skipley farm venmo
  Skipley Farm Venmo

Cash or check at the farm or postage.

Horticulture Classes

2023 Schedule:

Earlier classes removed

Upcoming classes:

On-site:

Garden Design- 4TH Saturdays 10-12PM  $65 pp

Edible Landscape Design– bring your (to-scale, or rough) plot plan, soil sample; learn about fruit – best varieties for NW climates, soils, drought tolerance and adaption to your site. This class is for the Food/garden enthusiast where growing your own, providing for yourself wants to come naturally.

Topics covered:

Developing your plan, drawing, layout, tools, techniques, soils, organics (fertility, pests), pruning, training, water systems, varieties.

Gil is a practicing subsistence gardener experimenting with hundreds of varieties of edibles for resilience. He has grown over 5000 ornamentals and edibles over 40 years. Our Western Washington region grows the most diverse species of plants more easily than anywhere in the country! Come learn what you cab grow in your garden without failure.

CLASSES OUTSIDE!  

Softwood Plant Propagation:

1st and 3rd Saturdays beginning May 6th, June 3rd, July 1st, August 5th 10AM-Noon

$25pp. Learn to make cuttings and take home a “cutting box” with propagules included. Setting up your nursery like a “kitchen garden” is a keystone for launching a new planting site without spending your ‘nest egg’. I collect plant starts, cuttings/propagules and ‘nurse’ these in a close sheltered location outside or in a lighted, damp-proof room. East oriented walls or shaded west/south, a corner of the garden for ease of management and controlling environmental conditions like soil, light, moisture, pests. 

Planning and Planting Workshop

4th Saturdays:

February, March 25th, April 22, May 27, June 24th

10:00 am – 12 pm

Thinking about starting your own home orchard? Or even just thought about planting a tree or two? The Planning and Planting Workshop is a great way to begin. Learn about site selection, soil preparation and get the tools you need to start the planning process successfully. Gil Schieber, Maestro of Horticulture at Skipley Farm will present a comprehensive workshop on planning, managing and cultivating the home orchard. A tour of Skipley Farm Orchards will demonstrate environments and plants. call or text Gil @ 206-679-6576

Apple Grafting

Call Gil to schedule: 206-679-6576

2nd Saturdays February-May

April 10, May 8

Add-on: Collecting ‘scionwood’-only Noon-1PM

Add-on Collecting ‘scionwood’. JAN-March I will be out in the field collecting scionwood from 80 different varieties. You may join me and make your own collections and learn to look for quality and disease. $10 +$3/scion.

$105=class+10 trees, $185/couple=class+20 trees

4 hours. 10-2PM: Here we make 10+ trees; learn about NW fruits, also talking points on how to grow, train, espalier, basic organic methods, care and management; make more grafted trees for your home or farm @ $5 each. All supplies provided and available for purchase.

Dwarf apple trees can be planted 1-3 feet apart, in a row, or a circle, on a fence, along a wall or around your garden… think “fence”…around a fire pit, a semi-circle-edge of a patio or garden-surround.

Top 22 scab-free Apples: Williams Pride, Wynoochee Early, Sansa, Alkmene, Pixie Crunch, Holstein, Honeycrisp, Fortune, Fiesta, Liberty, Pristine, Zabergau Reinette, Crimson Crisp, Claygate Pearmain, Enterprise, Macoun, Crimson Topaz, Belle de Boskoop, Dayton, Hawaii, Ashmead’s Kernal, BS1″Loki”

#2 list >more flavor/more trouble(but still worth-it!)>>>Jonagold, Melrose, Akane, Elstar, Sweet 16, Macoun, Karmijn de Sonneville, September Wonder, Zestar, Mutsu, Arkansas Black, Blue Pearmain, Suncrisp, Spitzenburg, Tsugaru, Hatsuaki. Ohh, but so many more!

On-your-site Horticulture Classes

Personal classes! At your site are $125 first hour and $95 there-after. Add up to 3 participants.

Fruit tree Grafting, Espalier, Summer Pruning, Organic Soil Nutrition, Bugs & Blights, Irrigation-Drip&Conventional, Plant Propagation, Planning and Planting your backyard orchard, Planning your Edible Landscape, Starting a Farm, Landscape Design Principles, Orchard Layout, Food Preservation

 Apple Harvest, Ripening and Storage Oct.23rd 4PM

You may contact us through email too:

A short biography:
Gil Schieber grew (up) in SE Pennsylvania.  Grandfather-inspired to propagate plants, he  attended the National Farm School (now Delaware Valley University) where Gil studied his blossoming passion-growing food and perennials integrated with nature. At 13 the reality of “natural balance” innature transformed the young visionary. Family adventuring on rivers and trails lead Gil to pursue environments abroad. Naturalists, those who study nature, became Gil’s mentors.

Navigating west by bicycle, Gil leaned into the wind, setting his sights on farms and farming. Dining with Masanobu Fukuoka, father of “natural farming”, Robert Rodale, promoter/publisher of Organic Gardening magazine, Gil discovered the Tilth Association as he rolled into Seattle. Volunteering after 10 years of employed-experience in horticulture, the Tilth Association recovered with a renewed core and a thriving garden. Gil was spurred-on by our local farm advocate and Tilth founder, Mark Musik. There, at Seattle Tilth, home of the Good Shepherd Center, Gil created the building’s gardens over 25 years as a half-time Lead. Now it is nationally recognized and used as a training ground for horticulture, where the Historic Seattle grounds once displayed over 2500 species. Gil taught here and a natural diversion was building a landscape business that today is the backbone of Skipley Farm, continuing the mission of “paradise building”.

Horticulture Teaching experience:

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