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.
Now Hiring
See https://arcd.org/jobs/ for three new openings at the ARCD. Executive Director - ARCD seeks a dynamic and experienced executive director to continue our legacy. Communications & Marketing Director - If you’re passionate about harnessing the power of marketing...
Gardener Story: Crystal Stahl
Another summer has come to an end, it is always sad to see it go but there really is something inviting about the crisp fall air and the change of the seasons. This has completed my second year in the BIU Garden Program and I am so thankful to have been a part of it!...
Gardener Story: Dezta Family
This is our second year gardening as a family. The kids planted the flowers we grew this year - sunflowers, four o clocks, marigolds, nasturtiums, cosmos and amaranth - that we have gifted to friends and neighbors. It also made for a great pollinator garden and we...