Join Pat Battle from Living Web Farm and Thomas Leonard from Contour Lines for a comprehensive workshop on water management strategies. Participants will learn about stream restoration, contour farming, and agroforestry practices with demonstrations, a site tour, and a panel discussion featuring experienced farmers addressing water management challenges.  This class will include hands on activities including the opportunity to get behind the controls of an excavator, tour, and tree planting.

On March 15-16, Organic Growers School (OGS) will host its 2025 Spring Conference at Mars Hill University. Pre-conference classes are being held at Warren Wilson College and the SAHC Community Farm. This year’s theme, Resilience, Recovery, and Renewal, focuses on rebuilding stronger, more sustainable communities following Hurricane Helene while equipping attendees with tools and knowledge for long-term resilience.

Since its inception in 1993, the Spring Conference has grown into the Southeast’s largest gathering of farmers, gardeners, educators, and sustainability advocates. The 2025 event combines OGS’s hallmark practical education with new offerings tailored to meet today’s challenges, including:

• New Workshop Tracks: Explore three tailored tracks focusing on urgent topics related to rebuilding. These include solar and other off-grid systems, mutual aid, resilience practices such as cooking and food preservation, and understanding water and soil contamination, among others.
• Core Curriculum: OGS will continue to offer a familiar core curriculum for gardeners, farmers, and those interested in sustainable living. It will feature over 32 workshops across eight tracks, including Gardening, Soils, and Mushrooms.
• Expert Speakers: Learn from leading voices like Ben Hartman (The Lean Farm), Dan Brisebois (The Seed Farmer), Pam Dawling (Year-Round Market Farming), Ira Wallace (Southern Exposure Seed Exchange), Kamal Bell (Sankofa Farm) and Chris Smith & Chris Keeve (The Collard Atlas). 
  

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Southern Appalachian Highlands Conservancy is proud to be a “Farm Pathways” partner with Organic Growers School and NC Farmlink. 

SAHC’s Community Farm is funded in part by grants from The Community Foundation of Western North Carolina, the USDA National Institute of Food and Agriculture Beginning Farmer and Rancher Development Program (for Beginning Farmer Success – Farm Pathways to Long-Term Land Tenure), and a cost-share grant from USDA Natural Resources Conservation Service.

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