Upcoming Events
Small Farms Events
Buzz Academy: Beekeeping Fundamentals
-Discover the World of Beekeeping!
Join us for an engaging and informative workshop tailored for aspiring beekeepers. Whether you already have a few hives or are just beginning to explore the idea of beekeeping, this class is designed to provide you with the foundational knowledge you need.
Workshop Highlights:
- Selecting the Ideal Hive: Learn how to choose the right hive for your needs.
- Sourcing Bees: Understand the best practices for acquiring your bees.
- Essential Equipment: Get acquainted with the necessary tools for successful beekeeping.
- Honeybee Biology & Lifecycle: Gain insights into the fascinating biology and lifecycle of honeybees.
- Legal Aspects of Selling Honey: Learn the regulations and best practices for selling honey safely and legally.
This workshop offers ...
Read full story.Small Farm Fruit Tree Pruning Workshop
-In this workshop we will cover "Winter" pruning of young trees to help control vigor, reduce winter labor and minimize disease risk and the cleaning up of productive mature trees and reinvigorating old trees. We will use this diverse orchard for hands-on demonstrations with apples, pears, plums, and cherries.
Pruning for commercial production differs in many ways from home garden focused pruning.
Profitable yields of high-quality fruit, simplifying maintenance, and disease removal and prevention all take precedence. To meet local demands, diversify their offerings and broaden the harvest season, many small farmers also have a wide diversity of deciduous fruit trees with different pruning and care requirements that often would not be interplanted in larger scale production.
Read full story.Livestock Webinar: Managing Mud and Manure on Your Farm
-If you are frustrated with the mud and muck in your barnyard and want to learn about strategies for reducing mud and storing livestock manure, this webinar is for you.
Well discuss management practices including:
- Establishing a sacrifice area
- Options for all-weather paddocks
- Footing materials in high-traffic areas
- Methods for keeping clean water clean
- Storing and composting livestock manure
This is the perfect time of year to evaluate your current situation and begin planning for less mud next winter.
Read full story.Living With Your Domestic Well and Septic System
-Did you know there are possible contaminants in your well water that you cannot see, taste, or smell? Municipal water is regulated by the EPA so consumers can be quite confident that the quality of the water coming from their tap is sufficient. However, well water does not face such stringent regulations and contamination testing often only occurs when the well is first installed or in some locations when property ownership changes.
It is so important that well water users understand when and how to monitor their water quality and the associated benefits of doing so. Proper maintenance and monitoring of your septic systems ensures proper treatment of the effluent and a longer life of the system.
Learning steps to ...
Read full story.Exploring the Small Farm Dream 2025
-Are you considering launching a small farm enterprise, but are not sure where to start?
Whether you are dreaming of raising sheep, growing berries, or selling heirloom vegetables, this class series will give you the tools to start making choices to determine if farming is right for you. In this course you will learn about current opportunities in small-scale agriculture, explore objectives, assess personal and financial resources, conduct preliminary market research, and learn about farm business finances which will all feed into an action plan and guide your next steps.
Who should attend?
If you are exploring the idea of starting a farm business, this course is designed for you. This includes people thinking about full-time farming, farming part-time while ...