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Week-long Training

We are making plans for 3 week-long training events in 2023. Here is the information you need to know to plan:

  1. March 19-24, 2023. Introduction to Organic Gardening. This workshop will cover all the basics from choosing a garden site to soil preparation to seeding to harvest. You will then be able to practice all these new skills in our garden. This is where you want to begin! You will leave feeling empowered to start your own garden.
  2. July 16-21, 2023. Introduction to Market Gardening. This workshop will assume you have a general knowledge of growing and now you are exploring the possibility of doing this on a market scale. We will cover all aspects of market gardening, focusing especially on tools and techniques for efficiency. You will also help harvest and market at one of our Farmer’s Markets. Appropriate for those seeking to start a family farm (like ours) or for institutional farmers trying to build up a new (or struggling) program.
  3. October 22-27, 2023. Introduction to Winter Growing. For those who don’t want the fresh veggies to end at the first frost, this training will teach you all the basics of how to grow year round anywhere in the US. We will cover what to grow, when to plant it and how to protect it (with very simple, inexpensive techniques). This all comes while we are gearing up for our winter growing season, so you will get to practice what you are learning in our market garden — as well as help us work on building/renovating hoophouses.

General information applying to all training sessions:

  1. Sessions will begin Sunday evening and (officially) end Friday afternoon. There is the option to stay over the Sabbath where we will have an agriculture-focused time for sharing and study. This option does not cost any additional money.
  2. Housing options vary (depending largely on your age — with any elderly people getting first choice on more “comfy” options). Housing ranges from indoor camping (in our training center) to rooms in one of the farm houses. We also have a couple hook-ups for RV’s. Tenting will be $100/week, RV hookups will be $175/week, and Rooms will be $350/week
  3. Food: We are planning on everyone eating lunch together (as part of the training/educational experience). Breakfasts are optional (you can either eat with us or on your own). Suppers are on your own. Meals will be $8 each for adults and $5 for children (12 and under)
  4. The training will be divided approximately 50/50 between classroom training and hands-on work in the garden (roughly 4 hours of each per day).
  5. All our teaching is done on a donation basis. We ask that you would prayerfully support this "ministry" as you are able. Knowledge is not free (ours’ cost us dearly!), but we know that all do not have the same ability to support. We are often asked for suggested donations which is hard to give but here are some statistics from our first year. Several gave $0 while other’s gave up to $2500 which gave us an individual average of about $300. We are confident that God has called us to offer these week-long trainings and trust Him to supply our need. Thank you for your part!
  6. Families are welcome, but we need to be clear that this is not a day care. We do not have supervision for children, and we don't want children running around unsupervised, so you will need to plan for one parent to be responsible for children at all times. They are welcome to sit in on classes as long as they do not distract from the teaching.
  7. Trainings need a minimum of 10 people to make it worth our time and effort. We reserve the right to cancel the training if the minimum numbers are not met.
  8. Textbooks will cost between $40 and $50 (depending on the session) and you will need at least one set per family.

Call 931-583-2701 or 931-626-3201 or email Pam at [email protected] for more information. Space is limited, so act quickly! A $50 non-refundable deposit will be needed to hold your reservation.