Events

Step up your plan for farm success by joining us for an exciting evening engaging with agricultural professionals from our local First Bank & Trust and Felty Insurance Agency. Dinner will be provided. Registration is required by Sept. 10th.

This farm tour will include high tunnels, a large blueberry field, cattle, goats, and a large variety of pastured poultry. Seeds of Faith Farm manager Debbie Gagon raises several batches of chickens for the local markets each year. Debbie will give us a tour of her farm and provide step-by-step guidance for raising quality pasture-reared meat birds successfully. You will learn how to navigate the chick selection and ordering process, feed type, feeding methods, setting up a brooder, pasture management, and processing setup. This is an outdoor on-farm event, so please dress appropriately for the weather with proper footwear.

Space is limited to 15 participants.

Human activities have impacted weather-related disasters. Are farms and ranches helpless in the face of nature’s fury? The answer is a resounding no! Implementing a permaculture-based plan of resilient farms and ranches makes it possible to bounce back quickly from nature’s setbacks and minimize or eliminate them in the first place.

For more information, contact James Gibson at 804-720-6826 or jegibson@vsu.edu.

Garlic is a wonderful crop. It’s easy to grow with almost no pest problems. It can be grown either in the ground or in a raised bed. October is the most popular month to plant garlic, but depending on where you live, you could plant sooner or later. Late September and October are the best times to plant garlic in the northern Piedmont. It should be done at least two weeks before the first frost, and must be done before the ground freezes. This workshop will teach you the proper way to plant garlic, how to prepare the ground, and properly care for it during the growing season.

Fish has been used as a plant fertilizer for hundreds of years. This farming technique was developed by indigenous people and is a great way to add many different macro and micronutrients into your soil. This workshop will demonstrate how to make fish hydrosylate and fish amino acids, which are quick and slow ways of making fish fertilizer. We will also discuss how and when to apply the fertilizers.

Space is limited to 30 participants.

Join MVFP and American Farmland Trust for a Poultry processing workshop on Saturday, October 5, 2024, at George Washington Carver Agriculture Research Center. Poultry processing is the term used by the industry to describe the conversion of live poultry into raw poultry products fit for human consumption. Attendees of this workshop will learn about equipment necessary for poultry processing and about AFT's low cost portable processing equipment rental program. Through this "learn by doing" workshop, attendees will learn how to safely slaughter, scald, pluck, cut, and package poultry.