Dan Oostenbrink of the Local Harvest Market in Chilliwack is on a mission to help everyone grow more food.

Oostenbrink will unlock some of his secrets in a free online workshop on Jan. 20 on how to plan a garden for a year-round harvest.

With more than 1,200 people already signed up for the 1.5 hour-session, he's said in a post he's already "overwhelmed" by the response, in a good way.

He's been teaching some of these gardening and permaculture principles to people 20 at a time. Now he'll be reaching hundreds or thousands at one time.

Oostenberg said it was a friend who strongly urged him to create and teach an online course on gardening in 2025, with the idea it will have a greater influence on food security not just in "little Chilliwack" but across Canada, and the world.

"We've been extraordinarily blessed at The Local Harvest Market," Oostenbrink explained in his blog about the workshop.

"Together with our dedicated team we've discovered how to grow an abundance of food without synthetic inputs. Every year we have fewer pests and less weeds all while the vigour and size of our vegetables has been increasing."

"Our purpose in life extends beyond ourselves," a friend is quoted by Oostenbrink on his blog Harvester's Heart.

"Her language and expression told me in very clear terms that possessing organic gardening and farming knowledge, skills, and talents and not sharing them was doing a disservice to humanity," the farmer said.

Food security is a shared responsibility, he said, especially today food quality in the supermarkets continues to diminish while the prices continue to rise.

People's yards and acreages "lie vacant" and many families are at a loss of how to food garden.

"Over the winter break, I decided that I must, I will, be a catalyst for change using my strengths to help others grow more food for themselves and their families."

Oostenbrink said it's possible he'll be eventually launching a course and an educational platform where growers will have access to everything he knows about gardening.

"Either way, I'm on a mission to help home gardeners, homesteaders, and market gardeners experience higher yields with fewer inputs so that they can achieve greater food self-sufficiency.

"When gardeners find success, it will bring them greater joy and confidence in the garden. And this I know is contagious. A food-secure community is achievable and I'll do everything to make it happen. Please join me on this journey."

The workshop will teach participants how to:

    plant and seed successively

    grow in the shoulder seasons

    create low-cost microclimates

    learn ancient storing methods

    make a plan for a year-round harvest

    understand the impact of day length and temperature on vegetable growth

The Jan. 20 gardening workshop, Planning Your Garden for a Year-Round Harvest, 6 p.m. to 7:30 p.m. requires r through signup.