Simple Living Institute, Inc.

We regularly hold hands-on, back-to-basics organic farming workshops out on the Econ Farm, located between UCF and Bithlo in east Orlando. The Econ Farm gives Simple Livers the opportunity to get their hands dirty and apply the methods discussed in our Organic Growers Collective sessions.

Simple Living Institute, Inc. is pleased to offer a Garden Start-Up as one of our core programs focused on education and sustainability.

Provide hands-on mentoring, materials, on-going gardening & nutritional information. This program has been very successful in other regions across the country.  This program is in its infancy.  We hope to connect farmers and school garden start ups increasing the quality & availability of fresh produce, decreasing the cost of dense nutrients, and creating seamless interaction between school children and local farmers. 
Student will tour the local farm to learn about the science and look of agriculture, business practices, sustainable agriculture, effect of season and weather.  Additionally students will develop and maintain their own garden areas with the help of volunteers, parents, and the local farmer acquiring skills they will be able to use throughout their lives enriching themselves and their future families.  Finally, a farm to table dinner can be used to raise funds for the school gardens and scholarships for students interested in pursuing farm careers.

This key project focuses on identifying and promoting local farmers and farmer markets in a printed local food guide.  Grow your own resources plus community gardens are also included for each of the six counties: Brevard, Lake, Orange, Osceola, Seminole, and Volusia. 

The project was made possible by a matching grant from Jack Johnson's Kokua Foundation, donations from businesses and farm partners.  We hope to include Polk county in the 2013 issue, and eventually more counties in central Florida. Included in the guide is planting and harvesting calendars, information of farms offering tours, u-pick, and classes.  The guide represents hundreds of hours research, graphic design, surveying farmers, farmers markets, and community gardens, and finally establishing distribution locations.

Based on the enthusiasm the community has demonstrated for the project we expect it will be an annual printed guide, and hopefully an online version that could be updated quarterly.