What's Happening on the Farm?

You can find current information about our summer workshops, events, current and future happenings on this page, so check back frequently or visit us on our Greentree Naturals Facebook page for updates. If you want to visit the farm, please read the section About Visiting the Farm on the home page.

Click here to jump to the Organic Gardening Workshop Series information

Farm Gift Certificates Available

Having trouble finding a gift for a family member, friend, or business associate? Greentree Naturals Gift Certificates are the perfect gift for gardeners and non-gardeners alike. It's a gift that's perfect every time! Our gift certificates fit your budget. Just pick your gift amount from $20 to $500 and can be used towards any products or services that we offer to include:

• Certified organic garden plants, farm fresh vegetables, garlic
• Value added farm goods such as jams, fresh and dried flower bouquets, Meowie Wowie catnip, Herbal Air Freshener, All Purpose Herb Seasoning, Garlic Granules, Garlic Celtic Sea Salt, Italian Seasoning, tinctures (Elderberry, Aronia Berry, Goji Berry, dried herbs, garlic braids and more! *Contact Diane for a list of gift items available!
•  Educational events/On-Farm Workshops

Thursdays On the Farm / On-Farm Stand

Visit our Farm Stand and choose from a wide variety of fresh, certified organic produce grown right here on the farm! Greentree Naturals Farm Stand is open during the peak of the harvest season, opening the first Thursday in July and weekly through August, and September). We are open on Thursdays from 3pm to 5:30pm. If you would like to be informed of what we will have available every week for sale and to be notified of when we open for the season. Sign up for our "Fresh from the Farm" email list so we can keep you up to date on what will be fresh from the field! Know that we never ever share our email list with anyone else.

The Farm Stand provides an opportunity for our local community and former farmers market customers to come to the farm and see where the food you buy from us is grown. During Farm Stand hours (Thursday 3-5:30), our gardens are open to the public for self-guided garden walks. Please review the information about visiting the farm before you come out and please leave your dogs at home.

We are a working, active, productive farm dedicated to bringing wholesome organic food to your table. We’re proud to tell you that over 30+ years after its founding, Greentree Naturals is still rooted in to the organic values we’ve always believed in. Greentree Naturals brings fresh, certified organic produce from our fields to your table during the peak of the harvest season. We always strive to offer the best in new selections of certified organic vegetables, garlic, fresh flower bouquets, herbs and garden plants. We also have Thom's famous certified organic jams, Garlic Granules, Herb Seasoning, Elderberry, Goji Berry and Aronia Berry Tinctures, honey from hives here on the farm, our famous Meowie Wowie Catnip, Sweet Grass Braids, White Sage Smudge Sticks and much more!

Custom Grown Garden Variety Seedlings and Plants

Greentree Naturals offers a Custom Growing Service for quality, certified organic garden-ready vegetable and herb starts. We grow a diverse selection of plant varieties, many sourced from open pollenated heirloom seed that we've saved for decades that has been field tested for generations from plants that are well adapted to our North Idaho growing conditions (USDA Hardiness Zones 4b, 5a, 5b, 6a and 6b).

Reasons to buy transplants from Greentree Naturals for your gardens:

• When you buy seedlings from us, you're buying plants that are typically 6 to 8 weeks old, that have been nurtured through the most delicate early stages of growth right here in our greenhouse.
•  You can buy the seedlings that you need. Our plants are grown from 100% certified organic seed, organic potting soil, and fed organic worm tea throughout their seedling growing time, produced right here on the farm.
• We offer over 80 varieties of vegetables, herbs, and flowers. Many of the vegetable varieties that we grow are grown from seed that we have saved that is well adapted to this northern micro-climate.
• Your garden starts out stronger! Seedlings are started in our greenhouse (think ideal temperature, moisture, and regular feeding) and have been grown in conditions that encourage well-developed root systems and vigorous growth. Starting out with healthy transplants means earlier harvest!
• All of our plants come "hardened off" and are ready to be transplanted!

Greentree Naturals Organic Gardening Workshops

If you are already gardening, or thinking about starting a garden, it makes sense to do it organically, without the use of synthetic fertilizers, toxic pesticides and herbicides. Organic Gardening is all about growing food in a sustainable, environmentally sound, and nutritionally dense manner. Growing food organically will maximize the health benefits of raising and eating your own home-grown food, while at the same time enriching your garden soil.

It's easy to get overwhelmed by the vast quantities of gardening information that are available to you. We offer a comprehensive set of organic gardening workshops for both beginners and for experienced gardeners to cultivate your skills throughout the growing season.

These workshops are designed as a hands-on basic introduction to the principles of successful organic gardening. We strive to provide you with the information and experience to grow a successful North Idaho garden. Diane Green has been teaching this comprehensive set of Organic Gardening on-farm workshops since 1996 and is a certified Farmer Mentor/Instructor for University of Idaho Cultivating Success Small Farms program. Click to see comments and quotes about past workshops.

Workshops are scheduled on Saturdays from 10:00a.m. to 12:30 p.m. and are designed to coincide with what is happening in the gardens. Sessions will cover all aspects of organic production and management practices that restore, maintain and enhance ecological harmony in a rural farm and garden setting. Class size limited and is kept small to ensure individual attention and to meet covid safe distancing protocols. Fees include materials and supplies needed.

Pre-pay and sign up for the entire 7 workshop series ($280) for a 5% discount or you can pick and choose individual workshops for $40 per session. These workshops take place outside on a covered deck overlooking our gardens with a portion of each session spent in the field, rain or shine. Please be prepared for inclement weather. Participants must register in advance for workshops. Contact Diane to reserve a space!

Workshop Schedule for 2025

APRIL 12 - Seed Starting: This workshop is for gardeners who want to start their own seedlings at home or in a greenhouse to be used as transplants in the spring. You will learn about equipment, containers for indoor seed starting, soil and seed starting mixes, grow lights and more! We will go over which vegetables grow well in our climate, which will do best as transplants or directly seeded into your garden. You will gain an understanding of basic seed biology and planting needs to create the best environment for seedlings to thrive, seed bed preparation, seeding methods, seed depth and seedling care. This workshop will be held inside the greenhouse.

MAY 10 - Planning Your Organic Garden: It is important to think through your garden project before you buy seeds or transplants. What should I plant? How much should I plant? And Where should I plant it? With a little careful planning and the right plant choices, your veggie garden can provide a bountiful harvest of all your favorites! This in-depth workshop will cover planting schedules, plant spacing, succession planting, crop rotation, creating a garden map, companion planting, and planting for beneficial insect habitat which are all a part of planning for a successful harvest.

MAY 24 - Fertilizing Organically: Fertile soil is the first step in increasing yields. When it comes to adding nutrients to your garden soil, there are many organic options. Cultural practices such as cover cropping, and composting will ensure balanced nutrition of your soil in the long run, and organic amendments will help your garden thrive. Learn about foliar feeding, which plants are heavy-feeders, and which ones are not, and how to take a soil sample.

JUNE 14 - Natural Weed Management: On any organic garden or farm, particularly newly cultivated ground, it is likely that weed control commands a major part of the gardeners' time over the course of the season. There are many ways for growers to implement non-toxic weed control methods in the garden. The primary weed control strategies for organic systems are cultural and mechanical, focusing on prevention crop rotation, crop competition, and cultivation. We will look at using different types of organic mulches and weed prevention strategies used to control unwanted plants.

JUNE 28 - Natural Pest Management: Join us to find out what's "bugging" your garden and what you can do about pests using informed decisions and sustainable approaches for pest control. This workshop will provide an overview of conservation biological control and integrated pest management (IPM). Participants will learn to assess pro-active control practices, insect identification, natural pest formulas, and plant-pest relationships for successful natural pest control. Learn how to make your own insect traps and natural insect sprays.

JULY 12 - Harvesting the Bounty: After putting a lot of time and effort into successfully growing your crops, you want to make sure you are harvesting at the correct time for peak flavor and good storage. We will cover how to harvest all of the veggies in your garden and techniques for getting optimal yields for vegetables, herbs, cut flowers along with best practices for post-harvest handling to assure food safety guidelines are met.

JULY 26 - Seed Saving: Discover the security and abundance seed saving can bring to your gardens! Start saving your own vegetable, herb and flower seeds this year and save money, adapt plants to your garden's conditions and have seed to share with friends and family. Seed saving involves selecting suitable plants from which to save seed, harvesting seeds at the right time, and storing them properly over the winter. You will also learn about hand pollination, seed cleaning, and seed storage.

To find out more and reserve your spot, email diane@greentreenaturals.com or call (208) 263-8957. All workshops are at Greentree Naturals Certified Organic Farm outside of Sandpoint, Idaho. Visit the Greentree Naturals Facebook page to keep up to date with farm activities.

Quotes from workshop participants:

I want to thank you for the educational and practical trainings that you do for fellow organic gardeners that are trying to learn the ropes. You really have a wide breadth of knowledge and giving of your time and skills to others. Just a wonderful outreach. I'm so glad that I found your website and had the opportunity to have you come out and evaluate the property and learn gardening skills. Thank you!
  - Chrystie Henderson

We were able to immensely benefit from her 30 years of in-depth knowledge and certified organic gardening experience in every class. Also, she generously shared her successful product knowledge of what worked for her farm. We recommend Diane Green and Greentree Naturals as a significant learning experience about the importance of organic gardening and how you can plan and grow your own successful, organic garden for health and for the planet. We are the beneficiaries of all their caring, planting, learning, sharing, and hard work!
  Gratefully,
  Denise and Cary, Dover, Idaho

“I have been gardening for over 30 years with some success and knowledge. For some reason, after this workshop, I got what was needed for some real success. My garden has never done this well and it is due to the great information that Diane gave us. It was so pleasant looking over gardens and her depth of knowledge is a real gift to Bonner County.” 
  - Eli Sevenich

“I had been gardening for years and had read lots of gardening books and websites.  And my garden had always produced well for me.  Or so I thought . . . After taking Diane’s course, my plants grew 3-4 times as large and my yields were off the charts.  I was doing so many things wrong, but because my garden was growing and producing, I had no idea.  I never would have known it, had I not taken Diane’s classes.  Who would have known that just a few simple changes could produce such dramatic results? 

The great thing about Diane’s classes is that you get to see the information in action each week in her beautiful garden.  You listen to Diane, read the information on her handouts and then you get to walk around her greenhouse and garden to see the information first hand.  And the best part is that you get to go home, try it yourself and see the results in your own garden!  Then the next week you come back and can ask all the questions you encountered during the week.  It’s like having a personal gardening mentor for a season.”
  - Tina Sparks

We wish you a bountiful gardening season!

Season Extension Workshop – Date to be announced (likely in April or early May)

Spring and fall season extension techniques work primarily by providing frost protection. In addition, most early and late-season vegetables benefit from the increased soil warmth and protection from wind and pests that many protectors offer. A wide range of techniques are available, from simply planting heat-loving crops in a particularly warm and sheltered spot, to complex greenhouse culture. There are numerous non-greenhouse options suitable for home and market gardeners — primarily cultural practices, plastic mulches, and row covers.

We will review ways of extending the growing season using an assortment of different kinds of materials for extending the growing season and include review of cloches, cold frames, floating row covers, slitted row covers, and hoop houses. Greentree Naturals has been reviewing a wide variety of season extension methods over the years and will share their well tested methods with you.

Date to be announced! We like to have this workshop as early in the spring as weather allows, but always have to wait for the snow to melt away and the earth to be ready for us to be in the fields to begin the season. My goal is to host this workshop on a weekend in Late April or early May. Come prepared for any kind of weather as due to the busy spring planting schedule on the farm, we only have one day that we can have this workshop, so it will happen rain or shine! Class size is limited! We will only host this workshop if we have enough people signed up for it. Please plan and call ahead to reserve a space! Cost is $35. Call 263-8957 or email info@greentreenaturals.com

Autumn GROWING GREAT GARLIC WORKSHOP (date to be announced)

Fall is the ideal time to start your garlic for a summer harvest next year. Join Diane & Thom in exploring the best ways to maximize your harvest, and grow excellent garlic. We will only host this workshop if we have enough people signed up for it. Please plan and call ahead to reserve a space! Cost is $35. Call 263-8957 or email info@greentreenaturals.com

Greentree Naturals Pumpkin Project

The Pumpkin Project is a wonderful opportunity to connect school children with farming and get them to think about where their food comes from. What better way to plan for the future than to share a farming project with the local school children? We need to cultivate our future farmers and one way to encourage this is to start with the kindergartners and first graders, although this project would be a success with other grades as well.

We typically start planning the Pumpkin Project with a local kindergartner or first grade teacher in March or April so they can work us into the lesson plan to include a biology lesson that includes how a pumpkin grows. We are willing to work with two or three classrooms each year to grow pumpkins for the students. We will provide the pots, soil, labels and pumpkin seeds, plus come and visit the classroom to assist with the planting of the pumpkin seeds. Each class will grow their pumpkins for 3-4 weeks, and then have a field trip to Greentree Naturals to transplant their pumpkins onto the farm. Each pumpkin plant will have a tag or stake with the child’s name on it.

We will grow the pumpkins through the summer; in the fall, after the frost, the children will return to harvest their pumpkin. Cost is $5 per child. To schedule a pumpkin project with us, contact us at your earliest convenience.