Tropical perennials can be stunning plants offering a diverse diet for a changing climate. Join The Utopian Seed Project’s Chris Smith in a workshop that will cover the complete growing cycle, including storage and re-sprouting for a range of crops including: taro, arrowroot, yacon, turmeric, ginger, water chestnut, chayote, sweet potato, ube, and cassava.
#ClimateAction begins at home – or in your home garden! Join us on Thursday April 18 (1-3 pm) for a special Farm Education Workshop, as Southern Appalachian Highlands Conservancy teams up with award-winning growers from The Utopian Seed Project at the SAHC Community Farm in Alexander, NC. Learn about tropical perennials that thrive in the Appalachian mountains. You can grow tropical perennials as temperate zone annuals – reducing the impact of importing goods from far away AND creating a more diverse, resilient food system in your local community. This workshop will be appropriate for multiple scales of production – for everyone from the home gardener to commercial operations.
“Adapting growing techniques to the region creates a high level of climate resilience; it’s one of the best ways to respond to climate change,” says SAHC Community Farm Manager Chris Link. “These varieties are selected for their ability to grow in our local environment, and to withstand the fluctuations of weather extremes. Come to the workshop and learn how to adapt new food crops to our region for more resilient food systems that can handle the stress of a varying climate.”
The Utopian Seed Project is experimenting with open-field cultivation, not greenhouse production, so growing these crops is accessible to everyone. It’s planting time, so we’ll have plenty of show and tell to explore these crops!
Pre-registration is requested. Suggested donation $20; no one turned away for inability to pay.
Register for workshop below:
Funded in part by a grant from The Community Foundation of Western North Carolina. This material is based upon work that is supported by the National Institute of Food and Agriculture, U.S. Department of Agriculture, under award number 2016-70017-25341 for Farm Pathways: Integrating Farmer Training with Land Access. Any opinions, findings, conclusions, or recommendations expressed in this publication are those of the author(s) and do not necessarily reflect the view of the U.S. Department of Agriculture.
