Look for homesteading, homemaking and backyard conservation courses to come to your local community soon. The Pennsylvania Association for Sustainable Agriculture (PASA) has launched a new effort aimed at providing courses for consumers interested in living more sustainably. Through its Good Food Neighborhood program, PASA is partnering with organizations, groups and individuals to provide “sustainability schools” throughout the commonwealth and bordering states.

PASA is partnering with Dickinson College Farm, in Carlisle; Greener Partners, in Collegeville; the Spring Creek Homesteading Fund, in State College; and The Homegrown Institute, in Philadelphia, and is negotiating with other potential partners to bring sustainability schools to every region of the commonwealth and surrounding states.

Sustainability school subject matter will be discussed during the Good Food Neighborhood workshops at the 21st annual PASA Farming for the Future Conference, held from February 1 to 4, in State College.

Katherine Watt, an organizer with Spring Creek Homesteading, states, “These courses are about learning how to do more things for ourselves. In this time when families are feeling so stretched from a contracting economy, rising energy prices and the impacts of extreme weather conditions, building a safety net using local resources of time, skill and land can make all the difference.”

For more information and registration visit GoodFoodNeighborhood.org/sustainabilityschools.