Workshops

Conference Schedule

8:00 am - Registration and Breakfast



8:30 am - Welcome and Introduction with Cindy Delvin - TOGA President



9:10 am - Workshop Session 1


Joel Salatin - Relationship Marketing
For nearly half a century, Polyface Farm's patron base has morphed and expanded with the culture and new food awareness. As a 10-year-old with a backyard flock of laying hens, Salatin pedaled eggs around his rural neighborhood in the basket of his bicycle. Mixing humorous stories with passionate "aha's", this presentation draws from a host of marketing venues to educate and entertain. Currently, Polyface supplies some 400 families from an on-farm store, 1,600 families in Metropolitan Buying Clubs, 30 restaurants, and 10 retail venues. Each has assets and liabilities, and Salatin freely discusses all the nuances. Heavy on hilarious stories, this talk empowers otherwise reluctant marketers to go for it.

Richard Moyer -Small Fruits, Natives and Exotics: Successful Fruit Production in the South

The South has soils and climates suited for fruit production, the health benefits of fruits are numerous, and fruits consistently sell at market. Learn successful strategies to start fruit production, how to identify disease resistant and locally adapted fruits, how to market fresh fruits profitably and even get value-added ideas for those bumper crops. Sustainable growing methods will be covered, including water conservation strategies and building guilds for healthier systems and risk management.

Sam Justice - Getting Started with Grains

10:20 am - Workshop 2



John Seaborn - Bees
There have been beekeepers as long as man has been on the earth, and honey as old as 4000 years has been found and is still edible. Seaborn will discuss the history and importance of bees in our culture and food production, as well as the challenges to beekeeping, organic management and how to mimic nature to raise bees successfully.

Phillip Thorton-Irrigation
Thorton will give an overview of drip irrigation and an installation guide for irrigating a variety of gardens. He will also cover installation of automatic control systems for drip irrigation and discuss rain barrel gardening.

Tradd Cotter - Mushrooms and Planetary Healing Fungi
This lecture is a great introduction to the cultivation and ecology of our native fungi, combining historical use with the latest research in mycopesticides, medicine and bioremediation. Only 10% of the fungi on the planet have been discovered... What does the future hold for man and fungi? You will witness the amazing, conveniently hidden world that lies just beneath your feet. Highly recommended if attending session 2 as a new cultivator.

11:30 am - Lunch and Keynote Address with Joel Salatin - Local Food to the Rescue


Biosecurity, food borne pathogens, energy, integrity, humane husbandry: local food can correct it all. But to really be a credible percentage of the global food system, it must develop six integrated components: production, processing, marketing, accounting, distribution, and patrons. Building a local food system that works requires aromatic and aesthetic production models that reimbed the butcher, baker, and candlestick maker into the community. Economies of scale in collaborative foodshed distribution compete with corporate volume. And patrons must rediscover their kitchens, eating seasonally and relearning domestic culinary arts.

1:30 pm - Workshop Session 3



Jeff Poppen - Compost
Jeff Poppen, "The Barefoot Farmer," has managed his 300 acre farm biodynamically for the past 20 years. A cow/calf operation on 100 acres of pasture builds soil fertility and provides materials for a large compost operation, while 7 acres of vegetable production serves his 170 family CSA operation. Join Jeff as he gives an in depth talk on composting. His open discussion will include the benefits of compost, his methods for making compost, and how it integrates with successful organic farming.

Hank Delvin - Vegetable Production
With 40 years of experience, Hank Delvin of Delvin Farms will share his knowledge as a successful Certified Organic grower. Whether you are a home gardener or a farmer, this workshop will cover all the basics from the soil to the market.

Tradd Cotter -Cultivating Mushrooms on Agricultural Byproducts
Hang on...this one-hour class will take you from beginner to advanced in no time! Learn new and exciting ways to cultivate mushrooms using low-tech and no-tech methods that anyone can use to grow an endless supply of fresh, protein-rich mushrooms naturally. Tradd will also discuss circular and perpetual systems that can be applied to current plant and mushroom/vegetable hybrid systems to increase yields and promote healthier soil creation.

2:40 pm - Workshop Session 4



Cassie Johnson & Shavaun Evans - Building Local Food Systems
This workshop will focus on how Middle Tennesseans can work together
to 'grow' healthy kids, so that schools have healthier school food
environments in the classroom, in the schoolyard, and in the
cafeteria. Presenters will discuss how the Growing Healthy Kids
Initiative of MANNA-Food Security Partners has worked with parents and
teachers to help them effectively implement healthy school food
projects, build community-wide support for healthy school food, and
advocate for healthier school food options and farm-to-school programs.

Joel Salatin - Salad Bar Beef
This is the term Salatin coined to describe his pasture-finished cattle: fresh daily paddocks and lots of forage species variety. A hard core how-to talk, this one walks the audience though electric fencing, water systems, breeding, movement logistics, forage growth and rest cycles, stockpiling for dormant seasons, and processing. A permutation on the theme is mob stocking herbivorous solar conversion lignified carbon sequestration fertilization. Whew! And it's all here to see.

Edwin Marty - Urban Farming
This lecture gives an overview of urban farming in America, providing a brief history of food production in cities and focusing on stages of urban farming over the last 100 years, why a sustainable urban farming movement hasn’t developed in America and some examples of successful current urban farms today. We’ll also look at some techniques used by these urban farms to produce healthy local food.

Dr. Dharma Pitchay - Visual Diagnosis of Nutrient Deficiency Symptoms in Crop Production
This presentation on macro and micronutrient deficiencies will show that nutritional disorder is one of the factors that contribute to poor quality plants and loss of yields. Accurate diagnosis of nutritional problems at an early stage is vital.

3:50 pm - Closing Remarks/ Door Prizes



4:30 pm - Conference ends