Pilot Programs
Free Hands-On Workshops to Build Nature Skills and Stewardship
Sometimes just 30 minutes outside is enough to feel more grounded. Whether you’re new to outdoor learning or seeking a reset, these sessions offer simple, meaningful ways to reconnect with the world around you. Even better, your feedback helps grow future programs that invite more folks to learn, play, and feel at home in nature.
Join In. Give Back.
Come try something new. We’ll ask for your thoughts after, and your input helps shape what’s next. Here’s what to expect:
Hands-on Learning
You won’t just hear about nature, you’ll touch, taste, smell, and engage with it. From dyeing fabric with Oregon grape bark to building a worm bin, each session offers memorable sensory experiences and tangible skills you can use at home.
Community Feedback
Share your voice and help shape what’s next. Your insights helps shape future programming, ensuring it reflects what our community values.
Welcoming Environment
Whether you’re a seasoned nature lover or a total beginner, these sessions are welcoming, low-commitment, and completely free.
Topic Variety
Explore what sparks your curiosity. Choose from several unique sessions covering everything from dried flower bouquets and quick pickles to seasonal flavors and nature journaling. There’s something for every interest, and you’re welcome to try one or dig into them all.
Sign Up and Start Planning
Be the first to know when Pilot Program topics, tickets, and schedules are released.
Bonus! When you sign up, you’ll receive a free lesson plan for making your own newspaper planting pots. These DIY containers are a fun, earth-friendly way to cut waste while getting seeds started indoors.
2026 Schedule
Save the dates: April 10 & 11, June 12 & 13, August 7 & 8
Each day will feature a full lineup of 30–45 minute sessions you can mix and match. It’s a chance to try something new, build nature-based skills, and share your feedback to help shape future offerings.
Details and tickets coming soon! Sign up above to be the first to know when registration opens.
Sample Topics:
Food Preservation: Jams, quick pickling, drying herbs
Nature Crafts: Weaving, sun printing, natural dyes
Gardening: Seed saving, pest management, harvest prep, bed building
Education Tools: Nature play, scientific inquiry, sound mapping
Past Program Details
Location: Kids’ Farm Pergolas
Times: Thursday, 1PM + 6PM
Kid-friendly
Length: 30 minutes
Get creative with veggies in this playful, hands-on workshop for kids and families! In just 30 minutes, participants will carve shapes into potatoes and other plant materials to make colorful nature-inspired prints. It’s a fun way to explore patterns, textures, and plant forms while making your own artwork to take home. All materials provided—just bring your imagination!
Location: Kids’ Farm Pergolas
Times: Friday, 2PM + Saturday, 12PM
Kid-friendly
Length: 30 minutes
Create stunning dried flower arrangements using a wide variety of native and cultivated plants at Oxbow. Learn how to identify which flowers and characteristics are best suited to your project and make your own dried flower bouquet or garland to take home. Workshop participants will also get to harvest fresh flowers to dry at home for future projects.
Location: Outdoor Kitchen
Times: Thursday, 3PM
Kid-friendly
Length: 30 minutes
Discover the vibrant colors hidden in native flowers, bark, and berries as you learn the basics of plant dyeing. This beginner-friendly session covers how to harvest, prepare, and use natural materials to create sustainable colors, and you’ll takeaway your own hand-dyed piece
Location: Welcome Pergola
Times: Thursday, 3PM + Friday, 11AM + 2PM + Saturday, 1PM
Length: 30 minutes
Bring biodiversity to your balcony or porch with container-grown native plants. In this quick session, you’ll learn how to choose the right plants, set up your containers, and discover how growing natives can benefit both you and the local ecosystem.
Location: Outdoor Kitchen
Times: Thursday, 4PM + Friday, 3PM + Saturday, 4PM
Kid-friendly
Length: 45 minutes
Are you hungry for a fresh experience? Put your chef hats on and get creative with seasonal ingredients in our outdoor kitchen! Use your imagination to make brand new bite-size dishes. Describe each flavor with color, drawing, and story. Team up for interesting flavor combinations, and write your recipes down for inspiration at home.
Meetup Location: Welcome Pergola
Times: Thursday, 4:30PM + Friday, 1PM
Kid-friendly
Length: 30 minutes
Slow down and connect with the awe and wonder of the natural world through journaling. Explore Oxbow’s trails while learning how to observe, sketch, and reflect in your journal. You’ll tap into your creativity and curiosity, and discover that nature journaling requires no prior experience. Anyone can do it!
Location: Kids’ Farm Pergolas
Times: Thursday, 4:30PM + Friday, 12PM + Saturday, 10AM
Length: 45 minutes
Learn how to make a basic two-strand twisted cord with natural fibers from blackberry plants. Participants will go through the entire process, from harvesting, to processing, to creating a small natural fiber bracelet. This is a fun, hands-on way to learn a survival skill!
Location: Kids’ Farm Pergolas
Times: Thursday, 2PM + Friday, 3PM + Saturday, 3PM
Length: 30 minutes
Discover how to turn food scraps into nutrient-rich compost with the help of worms! This hands-on session covers the benefits of worm composting, how it works, and how to build and care for your own worm bin so you can get started at home.
Location: Outdoor Kitchen
Times: Friday, 10AM + Saturday, 1PM
Kid-friendly
Length: 30 minutes
Curious about pickling but not sure where to start? Join us for a tasty intro to quick pickling (no fancy equipment or long-term fermentation needed)! You’ll learn how the process works, what you can pickle beyond cucumbers, and get creative mixing herbs, spices, fruits, and veggies. Best of all? You’ll take home your own custom jar of homemade pickles!
Location: Kids’ Farm Pergolas
Times: Friday, 11AM + Saturday, 11AM
Length: 30 minutes
Got a garden or small farm at home? A thriving harvest starts with a solid plan! In this workshop, you’ll learn the basics of crop planning—from mapping your space and rotating crops to prepping your soil for each season. Explore real planning tools used at Oxbow and test your timing with a fun planting calendar activity. You’ll leave feeling confident and ready to grow your best season yet.
Location: Kids’ Farm Pergolas
Times: Thursday, 1PM + Friday, 1PM + Saturday, 2PM
Length: 30 minutes
Do you want to grow fruit, veggies, or native plants at home? The health of your garden starts in the soil. King Conservation District offers free soil nutrient lab tests for all King County residents, but it can be hard to interpret the results. Join this workshop to learn the basics of soil sampling and lab reports, get your hands dirty with a soil texture flowchart, and leave with the resources you need to make informed garden decisions.
Meetup Location: Plant Stand
Times: Thursday, 5PM
Length: 30 minutes
Join us for a 30-minute guided tour of Oxbow’s native meadow and take a deep dive into the history, design, and ecology behind this thriving landscape. We’ll explore the native plant species that make up the meadow, discuss seasonal maintenance practices, and share future plans for its growth and stewardship. This tour is ideal for adults and anyone curious about native habitat restoration, sustainable landscaping, or the story behind Oxbow’s evolving meadow.
Meetup Location: Oxboat
Times: Thursday, 7PM
Length: 30 minutes
Join us for a tour of Oxbow’s Kid’s Farm and discover how we grow food, care for the land, and make farming fun for young learners! On this 30-minute family-friendly tour, we’ll explore different farming practices, the seasonality of crops, and how we’re growing culturally responsive foods. Come meet the plants, explore the farm, and learn how kids can connect with where their food comes from.
Location: Native Plant Nursery
Times: Thursday, 6:30PM + Friday, 4PM + Saturday, 10AM & 4PM
Length: 30 minutes
Join us for a behind-the-scenes tour of Oxbow’s Native Plant Nursery! In this 30-minute tour, you will learn how our nursery is able to grow 160 species of plants native to the Puget Sound region to support the conservation of our region’s native plants, wildlife, and ecosystem. Dive deeper into processes such as seed saving, seed germination, and pest management, and take a closer look at how our nursery grows plants with a focus on biodiversity and resilience.
Meetup Location: TBD
Times: Thursday, 4PM + Friday, 12PM + Saturday, 2PM
Length: 30 minutes
Join us for a guided tour of Oxbow’s working farm and wild spaces to learn how we steward the land through habitat restoration, native plant propagation, and sustainable farming practices. Discover how conservation and cultivation go hand in hand, and how you can help sustain healthy ecosystems in your local landscapes.
Meetup Location: Oxboat
Times: Thursday, 5:30PM + Friday, 10AM + Saturday, 3PM
Length: 30 minutes
Take a tour of our agricultural fields to discover the crops we grow and how they align with our mission. Explore the impact of Oxbow’s sustainable management practices and see how they shape the land and soil over time.
Meetup Location: Oxboat
Times: Saturday, 11AM & 12PM
Length: 30 minutes
Join Oxbow’s education team for a hands-on conservation session focused on removing invasive blackberries. You’ll learn proper techniques to keep this prickly plant in check while supporting the health of local ecosystems. You might even snack on a few ripe berries along the way—sweet rewards for your hard work and a skill you can bring back to your own backyard!