So, you’ve re-examined your consumption of meat and cheese, cut down on what you toss in the trash, and are looking for a way to further reduce the environmental impact of your food choices. Now is the perfect time to try your hand at the final frontier: growing your own.

Raising fruits and vegetables in a backyard, rooftop, or community garden is a fun and meaningful way to reduce the carbon footprint of your produce. Besides limiting your food’s exposure to earth-damaging pesticides and fertilizers, cultivating your own crops also decreases emissions associated with both the transport of your food and your own back-and-forth to the grocery store.

Of course, the idea of starting a garden can be pretty intimidating. That’s one of the reasons we’ve organized the Urban Growth Bounty series of classes: to remove some of that mystery and make urban homesteading more accessible to Portlanders. Check out all the course offerings, and take the plunge into a healthier, more sustainable lifestyle for you and your family.

• Find out just how easy it is to grow fruit in your own backyard.

• Get the basics on how to plan, sow, plant, and grow an organic vegetable garden, or dive deeper into vegetable gardening with an intensive two-part workshop.

• Learn how to maximize the effectiveness of your soil and your tools to harvest delicious backyard produce.

• Explore ways to integrate edible plants with existing ornamentals to create sustainable, beautiful, and delicious landscapes.

• And more!