Women’s Environmental Institute
Established in 2003, the Women’s Environmental Institute (WEI) is a Minnesota nonprofit organization working for environmental justice through agricultural, food, gender, and racial justice strategies in both urban and rural places.
WEI operates Amador Hill Farm and Orchard, a 40-acre certified organic education and demonstration farm located just outside North Branch, one hour north of the Twin Cities. At the farm, WEI cultivates delicious vegetables, fruit, and herbs for its Community Supported Agriculture (CSA) program, and produces 100 boxes of produce per week for local health clinics to be delivered to families in need. The farm is also home to an incubator farm program for emerging BIPOC farmers.
Education and activism
Amador Hill Farm is also a campus and eco-retreat center. WEI’s Down to Earth education program offers 25 classes per year on topics designed to help people meet their gardening, farming, and sustainable self-reliance goals! Topics include permaculture design, fruit tree pruning and grafting, foraging and herbal medicine, beekeeping, aquaponics, food preservation, mushroom growing and many more. (A fan favorite is the annual Women and Chainsaws class!).
WEI has long been part of grassroots activism in the Twin Cities aimed at reducing environmental pollutants (PFAS) in historically underserved neighborhoods and increasing urban farming, thus addressing historical environmental injustices that have harmed majority-BIPOC neighborhoods. Examples of WEI’s advocacy includes being part of the East Phillips Neighborhood Institute’s fight to purchase the former Roof Depot site, a partner with the Zero Waste/Zero Burn Coalitions, and participation in the Southside Green Zone Council.
Each year, WEI hosts a festive summer wood-fired pizza night series and the September Will Allen Farmer Training Weekend. You can also find WEI at its weekly Mill City Farmers Market booth.
Upcoming WEI events
Events
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Have you ever wanted to grow fruit trees in your own backyard and harvest home grown fruits or start a small orchard? This class will give you the skills and…
$85
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Growing your own cannabis at home is a rewarding and fascinating hobby. Whether you’re aiming for a high-THC yield or just want to grow one of the most interesting plants…
$75
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Become a beekeeper in this seven-session hands-on class that meets on the third Sunday of the month while following the life of honeybees. The first class is Sunday, April 19 and continues…
$295
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From raised-bed kitchen gardens to gorgeously designed sustainable yards that feed the people, pollinators, and the planet, we will be looking at how to make the most of urban/suburban spaces…
$75
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