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.
Featured Chef: Spade & Spoon CSA Frittata
Spring is coming, which means it's time for farmers to open their CSA subscriptions for the 2025 season. A CSA is a chance for customers to invest in a local farm at the beginning of the season to help the farm with its upfront costs, in exchange for the promise of...
Farm Profile: Holly Knoll Farm Rebuilding for Resiliency
Ashlan Holland caught up with me to talk about Holly Knoll Farms in between fixing frozen pipes on the farm and her “day” job as the Soil Conservationist for NRCS in Newport. No matter the weather, farming is a 24/7 and 365 days a year labor of love. “My parents used...
Farm Profile: Grand Oak Farm: Planting seeds for the future
Grand Oak Farm - Dana Ensor and Family Grand Oak Farm was established on over 1,000 acres by the Hale Family on a Revolutionary War grant. Owner, Dana Ensor (married to Bob Ensor), is the 8th generation to farm the remaining 100 acres. "My grandson will be the 10th...