Free Oakhurst Workshops Put Healthy Food Within Reach

Eating healthier, spending less at the grocery store and even growing some of your own food can sound great in theory.

Figuring out how to actually do it can be another matter.

Madera County Community Resilience workers are offering a new free workshop series in Oakhurst aimed at making those goals a little more practical, with four weeks of information covering nutrition, food budgets, gardening in small spaces and even how growing food can play a role in emergency preparedness.

The Grow, Learn & Thrive workshop series begins Thursday, Sept. 3, at Sierra Vista Presbyterian Church in Oakhurst and continues each Thursday through Sept. 24.

No gardening experience is required, and organizers say everyone is welcome.

The workshops are being offered through the Madera County Department of Public Health’s Community Resilience Program, an initiative designed to help residents become better prepared for emergencies while also addressing everyday issues including health, nutrition and sustainable living. The county describes sustainable community gardening and disaster preparedness and recovery among the areas addressed by the program.

The Oakhurst series follows a similar four-week Grow, Learn & Thrive program offered in Madera earlier this summer. By bringing the workshops to the mountain area, Community Resilience workers are extending lessons that connect healthy eating and affordable food with gardening and emergency preparedness.

More Than Learning to Garden

While gardening is part of the series, the four workshops are designed around a broader question: How can families make healthy food more accessible in their everyday lives?

The first session, Food, Nutrition & Community, looks at how healthy food and helping others can contribute to a stronger community.

On Sept. 10, Healthy Food on a Budget will focus on ways to save money on food and where people can find assistance purchasing healthy meals.

The Sept. 17 session tackles a common obstacle for would-be gardeners: not having much room to grow.

Small Space Gardening will explore ways to grow plants on patios, balconies and other limited spaces — meaning participants don’t necessarily need a traditional backyard garden to get started.

The final workshop on Sept. 24, Emergency Gardening & Community Help, will look at how a garden can be useful during emergencies and where residents can find additional local assistance.

Taken together, the four sessions connect several issues that often overlap for families: nutrition, the cost of food, access to fresh ingredients and being better prepared when an emergency disrupts everyday routines.

Four Free Thursday Workshops

The Grow, Learn & Thrive workshops will be held from 5 to 6:30 p.m. each Thursday, Sept. 3 through Sept. 24, at:

Sierra Vista Presbyterian Church
39696 Highway 41
Oakhurst

The workshops are free, and participants do not need previous gardening experience.

Workshop information has also been provided in both English and Spanish.

Those interested in attending can register through the program’s online registration page.

Register for Grow, Learn & Thrive

For someone who’s wanted to grow a few vegetables but doesn’t know where to begin — or a family simply looking for practical ways to put healthier food on the table without adding significantly to the grocery bill — the series offers four opportunities to pick up skills that can be used long after the workshops are over.

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Feature Photo: Raised garden beds demonstrate how vegetables and other plants can be grown in manageable spaces. The free Grow, Learn & Thrive workshop series in Oakhurst will cover nutrition, healthy food on a budget, small-space gardening and emergency preparedness.
Photo credit: Karen F/Pexels