When: Sunday, November 24 from 1 to 4 pm

Where: SAHC Community Farm in Alexander, NC

This year we have an exciting opportunity to expand our Farm Planning and Design workshop with more hands-on experience. Last year, SAHC purchased a 35-acre property adjoining our Community Farm, and we will be using this land to expand conservation and agriculture projects, including Farmer Incubator Program operations. In this hands-on iteration of our popular farm planning workshop, attendees will join Community Farm Manager Chris Link in walking and assessing the property.

The workshop will include an introduction on how to approach planning and layout of land for small-scale farming production.

We will physically orient participants with the land and then walk through a site analysis of the property’s conditions using a number of land planning tools. We will inventory conditions such as soils, water, wind, aspect and more to create a multi-layered map of the site as a base for decision making. Using this information, we will shape a conceptual design for the site, which addresses some of the needs and challenges identified in the analysis.

This farm planning workshop will be particularly appropriate for participants who already own or lease land, as well as those who plan to do so in the future. Our focus will be on growers and beginning farmers, although landowners interested in potentially leasing to farmers may also benefit.

** This workshop is “Part 1” of a planned 2-part series, offering a unique opportunity for community members to engage in real-time planning for expansion of Community Farm projects **

All are welcome. Workshop cost: $50

For more info contact Chris Link at chris@appalachian.org. Pre-registration is required.

This workshop is part of Southern Appalachian Highlands Conservancy’s Farmer Education Workshop Series, funded in part by a grant from The Community Foundation of Western North Carolina. This work is supported by the Beginning Farmer and Rancher Development Program grant number 2016-70017-25341  (Farm Pathways: Integrating Farmer Training with Land Access) from the USDA National Institute of Food and Agriculture. 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.