Are you ready for Landrace Gardening to transform the way you garden?

  • Use less water, no fertilizer, and no sprays

    Plants have an incredible ability to adapt to conditions in specific locations (over 2-3 generations), but if we keep buying seed from far away, we are never even giving them a chance.

  • Better flavor and more nutrition

    Commercial plant breeders have been selecting for high yields, but not flavor or nutrition. That is the reason for the decline in the nutritional value of our foods (not a decline in soil quality).

  • Plants become resistant to pests and diseases

    This method of gardening uses the power of diversity and natural selection to guide your garden towards being resistant to local pests and diseases.

Instructor(s)

Joseph Lofthouse

Guide

Joseph Lofthouse taught landrace gardening at conferences hosted by the Rocky Mountain Seed Alliance, National Heirloom Expo, Organic Seed Alliance, Northeast Organic Farming Association (NOFA-NY), and Utah Farm & Food Conference. He serves as World Tomato Society ambassador. Joseph is a sustenance market farmer and landrace seed-developer. At his garden in the Cache Valley in Utah, he grows seed for about 95 species, and is working to convert every species that he grows into adaptivar landraces. He is the author of the recent book Landrace Gardening, and is a popular speaker at farming conferences around the world. He has been growing landraces and selling seeds for a decade. He is dedicated to helping gardeners and farmers grow healthy plants with less stress. Farming Philosophy: Joseph's style of landrace gardening can best be summed up as planting many varieties together, then allowing them to promiscuously cross pollinate. Through a combination of survival-of-the-fittest and farmer-directed selection, arriving at a locally-adapted population with valued culinary traits. Joseph lives under a vow of poverty and grows using subsistence level conditions without using 'cides or fertilizers. He prefers to select for genetics that can thrive under existing conditions.

Dr James White

Instructor

Dr James F. White, is Professor of Plant Pathology. Dr. White obtained the M.S. in Mycology and Plant Pathology from Auburn University, Alabama, and the Ph.D. in Mycology from the University of Texas, Austin in 1987. Dr. White specializes in symbiosis research, particularly endophytic microbes. He is the author of more than 180 articles, and author and editor of reference books on the biology, taxonomy, and phylogeny of fungal endophytes. He and students in his lab are exploring diversity of endophytic microbes and the various impacts that they have on host plants. Primary Focus Area: Plant Protection and Biotic and Abiotic Interactions Secondary Focus Area: Sustainable Agricultural Systems

Available courses are taught by plant breeder and gardener, Joseph Lofthouse, and plant scientist, Dr James White. Additional teachers coming in 2023. 

Click on each course below to see the lesson outline

Bonus material included:

Besides many hours of quality course content that has been developed over the past year, you will get access to much more:

  • Community and Seed Swapping.

    Join an active and engaged private landrace gardening community for inspiration, ideas and peer support. Ask questions, share photos, post your ideas for feedback. Gain access to the current platform for swapping seeds, and benefit as it evolves throughout the year.

  • Genetically Diverse Seeds!

    Landrace Gardeners have been sending in their promiscuously pollinated, uncoddled seeds from all over the country. These seeds will be available on a sliding scale starting in the middle of December

  • Group Mentorship

    Join a monthly landrace community zoom call to get questions answered, meet other landrace gardeners, and hear from occasional guest speakers.

What people are saying

5 star rating

Landrace Gardening

Holly T. Hansen

Very solid information. Feed back on comments and questions was quick and helpful. I recommend this course to anyone who wants to be food independent and to help their community thrive with growing locally adapted food close to home.

Very solid information. Feed back on comments and questions was quick and helpful. I recommend this course to anyone who wants to be food independent and to help their community thrive with growing locally adapted food close to home.

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5 star rating

Taking it to another level

Sakina Bush

This is an excellent companion to the previous course. Instead of focusing on the above ground plant diversity and seed, I now also have a perspective on the underground communities that influence plant growth and genetics. I was already familiar...

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This is an excellent companion to the previous course. Instead of focusing on the above ground plant diversity and seed, I now also have a perspective on the underground communities that influence plant growth and genetics. I was already familiar with a lot of the basic biology and did not find the course overly scientific. It definitely encouraged me to keep an experimental mind set and to try new things with microbes.

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5 star rating

new way of gardening

jay holecek

Thanks so much for putting this together. Its reaffirming to see that intuitive farming and selection processes that have been practiced by peoples for millennia are actually the best way to garden...its unfortunate that these traditions have been...

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Thanks so much for putting this together. Its reaffirming to see that intuitive farming and selection processes that have been practiced by peoples for millennia are actually the best way to garden...its unfortunate that these traditions have been breed out of us! The information was well organized and easy to digest in small bites. You've really considered and answered alot of the questions that would come up for people being newly introduced to gardening and even the seasoned professional.

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5 star rating

Exciting new way to think and do.

Geoffrey Reimann

I found this course quite good, and hope that it expands. This is hopefully the very beginning of a new (yet old) way of living. I read Joseph's book just after starting a large garden this year. This course and the book have helped me immensel...

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I found this course quite good, and hope that it expands. This is hopefully the very beginning of a new (yet old) way of living. I read Joseph's book just after starting a large garden this year. This course and the book have helped me immensely to plan for this fall planting and years to follow. The principals of landrace gardening just make so much sense to me. There is a lot more to explore here. Thank you

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Testimonials

“I just want to tell you how impressed I am with the content of the course. When I read the Landrace Gardening book I was a mixture of impressed with the power of the content, and disappointed with a lack of feeling 'connected' with the living voice of the content. Having the videos of you talking to Joseph in your gardens brought the video to life for me in such an engaging way. Personally, I would pay for this course, even after having read the book. And I'm kinda stingy! ;)”

Skot Colacicco

“Taking the lessons and I’m very excited. It’s something that I was looking for but couldn’t even put it into words, as I didn’t know about landracing.”

Yana Samir

“I finished the course last night and the information is really excellent and a great value for the cost. As someone who loves growing and maintaining specific varieties it truly opened my eyes up to the benefits of more genetic diversity in my garden. I can't wait to start experimenting with a spinach landrace this year. ”

Jori Love

“From the bottom of my heart, thank you for putting this course together. It is absolutely mind blowing and inspiring and terrifying and exciting. I know I applied for a scholarship, but this course is genuinely valuable to me as a farmer, as a horticultural enthusiast and as a human. I would like to  therefore pay my tuition and hope that perhaps someone more needy than me can take up a scholarship.”

Sibastian Malouf

“This is such an interesting course. I'm really enjoying it! ”

Emma Calvert

“Your changing the way I farm. Brilliant content!”

Cheryl McGaffin

“Loving the course! I had no idea this was a thing and I find myself telling everybody all the time about it! I am so excited and have gotten multiple neighbors on board and a few signing up for the class as well! ”

Eleanor Buell

How the Landrace Gardening course "terrified" Sibastian Malouf, a market farmer from Australia.