here is a sample of what we offer

Earth Day Celebration
    Join us for at the ranch for a community potluck and fire ceremony
    Cost: suggested donation of $5, please bring a dish to share

Heritage Fruit Tree Pruning 
    With Michael Thompson
    Cost $40/ person limit 20 people
    BYOBrown bag lunch

In this one day workshop Michael will teach you the art of pruning you fruit trees for best health, longevity,

and production. You will gain the confidence to start pruning your own fruit trees, an essential life skill

Bee Guardian Workshop (Beginning & Intermediate)
    With Corwin Bell
    Cost: $75 per day
Limited to 20 people

Corwin & Backyard Hives crew will be back! Join us again this year with an intermediate and a beginning level. Learn about the incredible world of the bee and how to care for bees and produce the multiple benefits of pollination and honey production in our Valley foodshed, right in your own backyard. Last year's class encouraged over 50 bee hives to be established in the Roaring Fork Valley! Corwin teaches how to use Top Bar bee hives. Our beginning bee course sold out last year. Reserve early!

Home Brewing Beer 101 – Beginner and Advanced Methods

    With Michael Thompson
    Cost $75  (Take both courses $115 and save )
Limited to 15 people
BYOBrown bag lunch - some sampling may go on.
We will brew an all-grain, 10-gallon batch, and simultaneously a malt-extract, 5-gallon batch of beer.  At the end of the class, we will have three 5-gallon vessels of fermenting beer. All-grain and Malt Extract methods... Then on to our bottling workshop June 12th. Brewing beer, what life skill could be more important?

Homebrew Kegging, Bottling, and Labeling
    With Michael Thompson
    Cost $60.  Limited to 15 people
In this half-day workshop Micheal will set you on the road to safely and artfully bottleing and labeling your own home brew. A basic life sill and an essential followup to our Home Brew class. 

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Our Mission

Education and outreach is central to Sustainable Setting's mission to cultivate a more abundant, prosperous and sustainable future, and is recognized as one of the most powerful ways to effect positive change in the world. Essential to Sustainable Settings' education and outreach is the coupling of theory and technique with immersion and hands-on experience.

Sustainable Settings opens its whole systems learning center at the Thompson Creek Ranch to students of all ages - from pre-kindergarten through university and adult level programs - and makes available our research initiatives, design and implementation processes, and demonstration models for ecologically and economically sound development. These educational programs take many forms, and include Adult Internships, University Partnerships, Mentor/Apprenticeships, Workshops, the Sustainable Settings Lecture Series, Volunteer Opportunities, and, of course, Sustainable Settings for Kids.

Our focus on learning by doing, allows participants to experience first hand the practical systems and activities that form the foundation of sustainable living. We consider the buildings, landscape, agriculture and infrastructure of our whole systems learning center to be integral to our pedagogy, and look to the genius of place and nature's intelligence to guide all of our learning and teaching endeavors. Thus at Sustainable Settings students of all ages are exposed to tangible and memorable experiences, that anchor their learning and provide them with tools to help create other sustainable settings.

Through civic influence and consulting, Sustainable Settings opens its research and demonstration capacity to policy and decision makers who operate on a variety of scales. Sustainable Settings also offers education and outreach tools via our on-site library, website, newsletter and media campaigns (press, radio, television programming).

Areas of Study

    Agro-ecology
    Anthropology
    Bio-dynamics
    Biometrics
    Biomimicry
    Botany & Horticulture
    Collaborative Design
    Cradle-to-Cradle Design
    Eco-entrepreneurship
    Ecological Literacy
    Green Building
    Holistic Management
    Indigenous Technique
    Integrated Ecology (5 Living Kingdoms)
    Land Stewardship
    Natural Capitalism
    Permaculture
    Renewable Energy Systems
    Social Ecology
    Sustainable Community Development
    Whole Systems Thinking

Core Competencies Taught

    Animal Husbandry
    Aquaculture
    Biological Waste Treatment Systems
    Constructed Wetland Design & Implementation
    Craftsmanship
    Ecologically Appropriate Building Design & Construction
    Efficient Irrigation Methods
    Energy & Resource Efficiency
    Fractal & Non-linear Natural Pattern Recognition
    Greenhouse Design & Construction
    Habitat Restoration & Bio-diversity Preservation
    Herbal Medicine Cultivation & Wild-crafting
    Landscape Assessment & Land-use Planning
    Medicinal & Culinary Mushroom Cultivation
    Nutrient Cycling
    Organic Food Production
    Physical & Intellectual Rigor
    Renewable Energy System Design & Installation
    Soil Building & Fertility Enhancement
    Surveying, Mapping & Site Design
    Sustainable Agriculture
    Sustainable Forestry
    Sustainable Livestock Management
    Water Quality Enhancement & Vitalization
    Zero Waste Systems Design