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.
Gardener Story: The Kopp Family
From it's HUMBLE beginnings to its BOUNTIFUL state, our family garden has been a source of joy, learning, and blessing for us all. Our family has always had something growing in a pot or two wherever we've lived...an we've lived in many states. When we relocated here...
Gardener Story: George and Cathy Carey
My wife Cathy and I are in the middle of our second year with the Build it Up garden program. The program was highly recommended to us by some friends who had participated in the past. We were not disappointed. We had been wanting to have a productive...
Gardener Story: Jaime Jones
This is our second year in the build it up program, and we are grateful for the experience. This program has given me a reason to get into the garden every day, even on the days I don't feel like it. Some days I don’t do much but water and watch. The birds and...