Pre-Conference Workshops and Schedule

Lick Run Farm Tour

Join farmer Cam Terry, Chloe Johnson and GVH farm staff for a tour of Lick Run Farm, two miles from Hotel Roanoke in NW Roanoke CIty. Lick Run Farm is a 3.5 acre property cultivating a diverse array of vegetables and flowers for direct sales in local farmers markets and restaurants. They run farm education programs for nearby youth and run a sliding-scale “veggie club” for neighbors of the farm. Sprouted over seven years ago on a network of backyards and community garden property, Garden Variety Harvests has been headquartered at Lick Run for three years, expanding vegetable gardens over time and working in community to plant perennials that neighbors will be able to enjoy for decades to come. Lick Run is a true community farm, owned by a community land trust and forever committed to food production on this land to feed local eaters.

Tour will include exploration of wash/pack facility, greenhouses, outdoor gardens and the farmhouse community center; ending with a presentation about Lick Run Farm history, community engagement and land access.

Challenges and Opportunities in Community Scale Food Waste Composting

Davey Stewards of Star City Compost and Mark Davis of Real Roots Food Systems both operate composting operations tied to community agriculture in Roanoke and Richmond, respectively. Their work reflects a deep connection with ecosystems and a desire to reconnect people directly to their food systems with their conscious participation. They are teaming up to provide a workshop that explains how they got into this work, the role of governments in composting, how this work relates to community, and going into detail on their operations – including a tour of Star City Compost and sample worm bins/compost teas from Real Roots Food Systems. They also will lead a discussion on the types of regulatory changes that would need to happen to make small scale food waste composting an economically viable part of a farm operation.

Charter Bus ride and lunch included

$65

8:30 AM – 5:30 PM

Meet at North Entry Foyer. Bus departs at 8:30 AM and arrives back at 5:30 PM. Group 1 will tour Lick Run Farm first and Group 2 will tour Star City Compost first. Groups will switch after lunch.

Sponsored by Small Farm Outreach Program

Finding Profit on your Farm

Learn how to make sure your farm is profitable as labor and operating costs continue to rise. We will examine the “levers” you can pull to get a profit rabbit out of the hat of your farm business. Topics will include learning what profit is (and what it should cover). Is owner pay included? What about debt service and capital improvements? We will examine the income levers of price and yield and the cost levers of labor, overhead and operating. We will compare market channel cost structures, and understand how good bookkeeping systems can help you to make better decisions. Additionally, Janet Aardema from Broadfork Farm will join us to demonstrate a real-life crop costing exercise that you can apply on your own farm.

$75

9:00 AM – 12:30 PM

Lunch Break

1:30 – 4:30 PM

Sponsored by Certified Naturally Grown

Wedding Flower Administration: Everything you Need to Know Behind the Bouquet

Chelsea and Gwynn together have planned, designed, and installed over 500 weddings and events all with the flowers that they have grown at their farms. Learn from these seasoned growers how to build your event flowering business with confidence and competence.

In Part One, our presenters will cover the brain work — everything from recruiting clients to writing the proposals and contracts. In class activities will help you consider your plans and ideas and let you tackle a sample consultation. Part Two will cover the pieces of a wedding including a tiny bit of hands-on practice. And Part Three will help you pack, deliver, and install all the elements with elaborate demonstrations.

$75

9:00 AM – 12:00 PM

Lunch Break

1:00 – 4:00 PM

Planning and Managing a Food Forest at Any Scale

From small spaces like urban front yards to large-scale rural farms, Ben will explain how to plant, grow, and harvest spaces that not only densify food quantity and quality but also improve ecological outcomes. You’ll learn how to use thriving native ecosystems to guide land management practices in rural to urban environments for agriculture and landscaping; about the pressures that shape modern agriculture; and how we can shift towards a sustainable future. Ben will discuss ways to improve water quality, wildlife habitat, and community cohesion through innovative land use practices. After attending this presentation, you can reimagine any space, and therefore our future.

$65

9:00 AM – 12:00 PM

Lunch Break

1:00 – 4:00 PM

Low Cost, No Cost Sustainable Farm-made Mineral Amendments

Imagine feeding plants and the soil biology sustainably, without the use of chemically made, purchased fertilizers. Farm-made mineral amendments can be made using simple tools with ingredients often available for free. Analysis of these amendments reveals all eighteen of the minerals that plants and the soil biology need in the appropriate proportions. Some extractions reveal high concentrations of specific elements that can be used to facilitate phases of plant development. Foliar feeding your plants not only feeds the plant, but also feeds the soil biology through the phloem plant sap pathway. These ideas provide an alternative delivery of plant nutrition that facilitates the transition towards regenerative growing as well as closing waste gaps. In this workshop we will review the phloem pathway, laboratory analysis of farm-made mineral amendments, their use during different phases of plant development and their life cycle cost. We will also be preparing mineral amendments from plants in this workshop.

$65

8:30 AM – 12:30 PM

Tomato Grafting: Nuts and Bolts plus Hands On Practice

Tomato plant grafting is a helpful tool for improving yields and managing soil diseases for both high tunnel and field production of tomatoes. However, successful grafting requires a high degree of skill and attention to detail to have consistent results. Dan Gagnon of Broadfork Farm has combed the information available in academic and online settings and identified the need for a system to increase the success rate of growers grafting tomato plants on their farms. Dan has refined the protocol and tools to allow grower success with grafting tomato plants so that growers can enjoy the benefits of better plant health and yield while consumers enjoy the benefits of great tomatoes to purchase. This presentation provides tangible techniques to replicate, utilizing slides and video from grafting done at Broadfork Farm, followed by hands-on practice using real plants and tools.

$65

8:30 AM – 12:30 PM

Providing for the Full Eating Season: Succession Planting for Summer Vegetables and Producing Cold-Hardy Winter Vegetables

People eat year-round and growers need to expect this! Learn how to produce a consistent supply of produce throughout the year. The first half of this workshop explains how to plan sowing dates for continuous supplies of popular summer crops, such as beans, squash, cucumbers and sweet corn, as well as year round lettuce. Using these planning strategies can help avoid gluts and shortages. The second half of the workshop tackles growing at the “back end” of the year, with details on crops, timing, protection and storage. Why farm in winter? Here’s the information to succeed – tables of cold-hardiness, details of four ranges of cold-hardy crops (fall crops to harvest before serious cold, crops to keep growing into winter, crops for all-winter harvests, overwintering crops for spring harvests); scheduling; weather prediction and protection; hoophouse growing; and vegetable storage

$65

1:00 – 5:00 PM

Seed Saving Shorts

Join Amyrose Foll (Virginia Free Farm), Bonnetta Adeeb (Ujamaa Cooperative Farming Alliance), Chris Keeve (Heirloom Collard Project), Chris Smith (Utopian Seed Project), Ira Wallace (Southern Exposure Seed Exchange) and Jon Jackson (Comfort Farms) for a series of seed-focused micro-sessions. Presentations from an experienced group of seed growers and seed savers that will cover everything from tips, tools and techniques for seed saving success through to community and collaborative projects that celebrate, preserve and promote seeds. Opportunities to engage with the instructors through breakout sessions and discussions.  If you want to step into the world of seed saving or seed growing, or expand on your current knowledge, then we promise a fun and informative seedy afternoon.

$65

1:00 – 5:00 PM