Seed Archive & Crop Planning Table

Before anything appears in the field, the growing season begins with seeds and a map.

Join us as we sort and label seeds, review the varieties Silverbrook is cultivating and plan the year’s vegetable, medicinal and aromatic crops. Members will see how planting decisions are shaped by flavor, fragrance, growing conditions, harvest potential and future farm products.

From Tree to Tap: Maple Season Preparation

Learn how Silverbrook identifies and prepares its maple trees for the coming sap season.

We’ll walk through a managed woodland production area, examine winter buds and bark, review tapping equipment and discuss the weather patterns that cause sap to flow. The session may include preparing or inspecting taps, collection vessels and other maple-production materials.

Planting the Forest Farm

It’s time to establish Silverbrook Manor’s cultivated medicinal and aromatic crops beneath the woodland canopy.

We’ll introduce the plants selected for our forest-farming plots and examine how shade, moisture, soil and tree cover influence their placement. Participants may help seed, transplant, mark or document a designated growing area.

This is the beginning of a crop story that members can follow throughout the seasons.

Mushroom Log Inoculation

Discover how mushrooms become a cultivated woodland crop.

Participants will learn how Silverbrook selects and prepares logs, introduces mushroom spawn and labels each log for future observation. We’ll discuss moisture, shade, incubation and the patient work required before the first harvest appears.

The finished logs remain at Silverbrook as part of the farm’s mushroom-production system.

Planting the Aromatic Fields

Help Silverbrook establish the herbs and flowers that will shape the farm’s summer harvests.

We’ll transplant and label selected aromatic crops while exploring their growing requirements, sensory qualities and potential uses in Silverbrook’s botanical products. Featured plants will depend on the season’s crop plan.

No perfume cloud required. At this stage, the plants still smell mostly like soil and possibility.

First Cut: Harvesting and Drying Herbs

The timing of an herb harvest can change its aroma, flavor, color and quality.

During this field session, members will learn how Silverbrook evaluates harvest readiness and makes the season’s first cuts. We’ll demonstrate gathering, inspecting, bundling and preparing herbs for drying.

Fresh and preserved Silverbrook herbs will be available according to the harvest.

The Flower Harvest

Join us for the careful work of harvesting Silverbrook’s cultivated flowers.

We’ll identify which blooms are ready, demonstrate where and how to cut them and prepare the harvest for drying, botanical studies or product development. Depending on the field, featured crops may include yarrow, lavender, marigolds and other seasonal flowers.

Participants may prepare a small Silverbrook Manor-grown flower bundle to take home.

Harvest to fork: Tomatoes

With an expert chef as our guide, we’ll harvest and grade ripe tomatoes, observing how variety, condition and maturity affect their use. A tested preservation demonstration will cover washing, preparation, acidification, filling, processing and safe storage.

Participants will leave with Silverbrook Manor tomatoes and reliable instructions for preserving the harvest at home. The exact format will follow applicable food-safety requirements.

Goldenrod Harvest: From Field to Jar

Goldenrod is one of Silverbrook Manor’s defining autumn botanical crops—and an important late-season resource for pollinators.

Members will learn how we manage and selectively harvest designated stands while leaving ample flowers for wildlife and seed. We’ll compare stages of bloom, gather suitable stems and prepare fresh bundles for drying.

Participants may also fill and label a small botanical jar using goldenrod dried from an earlier Silverbrook harvest.

Marigold Seed Keeping

Inside every faded marigold is the beginning of another field.

Join us as we collect mature seed heads from Silverbrook’s African marigolds, separate the seeds and evaluate them for next year’s crop. Participants will help clean, count, label and store seed while learning how crop selection influences color, vigor and continuity from one season to the next.

A portion of the seed will return to Silverbrook’s fields. Members may take home a small labeled packet to grow.

Seed Saving & Garlic Planting

One growing season closes as another quietly begins.

We’ll clean and label seeds collected from selected Silverbrook crops, review what performed well and prepare viable seed for storage. Then we’ll plant garlic for the following summer’s harvest, learning how cloves are selected, spaced, covered and protected through winter.

The Botanical Harvest Review

Gather around the farm table to examine what Silverbrook’s fields and forest-farming plots produced during the year.

We’ll compare fresh records with dried botanical samples, evaluate aroma, color and condition, and label selected materials for the Silverbrook Scent Archive. Members will learn how harvest documentation helps guide crop planning, quality control and agricultural product development.

It is part sensory study, part reckoning with the season, and the first whisper of what we might grow next.