Farmer & Gardener Training Hub

 

Your resource for all the farming and gardening workshops, programs, and training opportunities ARCD offers.

 

Farmer Focused

ARCD is committed to providing high quality, actionable, and relevant education and training for beginning farmers and gardeners in Northeast Tennessee so they can start or expand their farming businesses effectively. 

We offer a number of intensive-style workshops as well as longer, more broad programs. Specialty crop workshops focus on one specific subject, while our Field School and Build It Up programs offer a broad foundation for new farmers and gardeners respectively.

Build It Up

Backyard Gardening Program

Build It Up provides organic gardening supplies and education from seed to harvest. Learn how to grow, prepare, and preserve food from your own backyard. Build It Up applications open in January of each year, and the program runs from March through September.

The Field School

Beginning Farmer Training Program

The Field School is a beginning farmer training program that provides students with an overview of small-scale farming in East Tennessee. Field School is comprised of two sessions: Winter Business Intensive and Summer Field School.

Workshops

Specialty Crops & Conservation

ARCD is proud to offer a series of intensive workshops and other one-time events for farmers and gardeners wishing to learn about a specific topic. Workshops are added frequently; subscribe to our newsletter to stay up-to-date.

Production Plans

Customized Consultations

Our Beginning Farmer Training staff provide customized production plans for beginning farmers to help them maximize the space and resources their farm has in a way that meets their production goals. For more information, click the link below to email us.

Women Farmer Circles

Focused Workshops in a Friendly Atmosphere

Women Farmer Circles are women-led workshops focusing on a particular area of interest for other women farmers. Past topics have included everything from rotational grazing to chicken processing. Workshops are announced via an email list. If you would like to be added to this list, click below to send an email to Rosie to request updates.

TN FarmLink

Lease or Buy Farmland in Tennessee

TN FarmLink is a land search database owned by ARCD to aid farmers who are searching for land to farm, and to help land owners looking to sell or lease their land.

Build It Up Blog

As part of their participation in Build It Up, our gardeners submit periodic blogs throughout the season. These entries help program staff make sure the program is operating effectively, and they help our funder, Grow Appalachia, see the impact of our work.

A Farmland Preservation Bill for Tennessee

*LATEST: On March 12, SB207 passed the TN Senate! The House of Representatives will now be considering the bill over the last weeks of March* Last year Agriculture and Forestry contributed an estimated $103 billion to Tennessee’s $930+ billion economy. Of the10.8...

Featured Chef: Zane of Slowbird gets grainy

Featured Chef: Zane of Slowbird gets grainy

Zane Abplanalp and Amy Wincek are the multi-talented entrepreneurs behind Slowbird Bread Company and Leftfield Urban Farm, which you can find at the Jonesborough Farmers Market this upcoming season. Slowbird Bread was one of the East Tennessee applications to the...

Farm Profile: Rain Crow Farm starts anew

Farm Profile: Rain Crow Farm starts anew

  Home is where the heart is, as the old adage goes. Usually one thinks of a farm as always being tied to one place. For farm operators Dylan Disque and Rachel Slaughter, their heart and home, and their farm, have moved with them in their travels. That's because...

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