Organic Growers School Hosts the 6th Annual Harvest Conference with Four Regional Experts

PRESS RELEASE
August 2019

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For Immediate Release:

Organic Growers School Hosts the 6th Annual Harvest Conference with Four Regional Experts

Asheville, NC—The 6th Annual Harvest Conference is an educational event hosted by Organic Growers School (OGS), a 501c3 nonprofit offering affordable classes on organic growing and sustainable living. The conference takes place Friday and Saturday, September 6 and 7, 2019 from 9:30AM to 4:30PM (both days) at Warren Wilson College in Swannanoa, NC and features four 2-day workshops with outstanding guest speakers. 

The four workshops being offered, each in a double 1-day stand-alone format, are as follows: 

• Wild Edibles & Mushroom Families with Luke Cannon
  • Friday 9/6: Wonderful Wild Foods of the Southern Appalachians
  • Saturday 9/7: Marvelous Mushroom Families of the Southeast
• Do-it-Yourself Herbal Medicine Making with Noelle Fuller
  • Friday 9/6: Tinctures, Teas, and Oil for your Home Medicine Cabinet
  • Saturday 9/7: Cooking with Herbs
• Hemp Farming with Green Heffa Farms
  • Friday 9/6: Growing Hemp at Any Scale!
  • Saturday 9/7: Understanding the Hemp Industry
• Forest Farming with James Geoffrey Steen
  • Friday 9/6: Agroforestry & Silvopasture
  • Saturday 9/7: Forest Gardening

The day-long workshops are all independent. Participants can sign up for a workshop with any instructor on Friday and/or Saturday and they receive a discount for registering for both days. The cost for one day only is $70 (either Friday or Saturday) and $125 for both days. Details follow:

Wild Edibles & Mushroom Families with Luke Cannon

The Southern Appalachian region is one of the most biodiverse regions of the country with edible and medicinal plants and fungi right out our back door! Not only do many wild plants and mushrooms provide incredible vital nutrients, they are also super exciting to find, eat, and process into delicious meals. Learn to identify, engage with, and use wild allies in an accessible, interactive, and fun class! These two one-day workshops are comprised of lectures, forays into the forest, and hands-on exercises that will build your confidence in finding, identifying, and using wild foods of the Southern Appalachians.

Do-it-Yourself Herbal Medicine Making with Noelle Fuller

Medicinal herbs are a powerful way to promote health and prevent disease. The best way to benefit from their healing properties is to use them consistently and regularly. In these accessible and hands-on one-day workshops, Noelle Fuller, herbalist and farmer, will teach about simple everyday ways to match herbs with the best medicine making methods for the desired health outcome. These interactive workshops are comprised of lecture, hands-on herbal processing, taste testing, and handouts that will give participants confidence in working with herbal preparations. Plants include: Holy basil, hibiscus, lemongrass, lemon balm, lemon verbena, ginger, parsley, basil, thyme, oregano, sage, rosemary, roses, lambsquarters, purslane, calendula, peppermint, dandelion, chickweed, violet, and more.

Hemp Farming with Green Heffa Farms

Hemp is a promising crop ecologically, financially, and politically for North Carolina growers. Participants will get an inside look at this budding (pun intended) industry with these experienced NC hemp farmers. Discuss potential pitfalls and how to avoid them, understand the industry trends, and discover specific actions you can take to get involved with legislation and regulation of this important crop. The state’s hemp production has skyrocketed in the last few years; come learn how to be a part of it in these two one-day workshops.

Forest Farming with James Geoffrey Steen

Instead of fighting a landscape that quickly returns back to its natural forested state, learn to use tree crops and land practices that enhance productivity, beauty, and usefulness. Forest farming or ‘agroforestry’ is the art and science of putting plants together in ways that forge mutually beneficial relationships and create vibrant and resilient ecosystems. Discover the extraordinary ecological and social implications such as: renewal and regeneration of soil, reduction of erosion, enhanced beauty and usefulness, sequestration of carbon, and mitigation of water issues. Each effect leads to climate resilience and further integration with natural designs. In these two full-day workshops, participants will learn everything they need to know about working with trees on the land, no matter the scale.

All four instructors live, work, and teach regionally. Luke Cannon and James Geoffrey Steen live in Western NC. While Noelle Fuller is in North Georgia and Green Heffa Farms is in Liberty, NC. Sera Deva, Program Coordinator for the Harvest Conference says “All four instructors teaching at the OGS Harvest Conference this year not only know their topics intimately but they carry an authentic passion for education and inspiration. We are lucky to have such wisdom in our regional growing community and instructors who are eager to share that wisdom.”

For more information and to register, visit https://organicgrowersschool.org/conferences/harvest/ or email outreach@organicgrowersschool.org, or call 828.214.7833.

About Organic Growers School

The Harvest Conference is organized annually by Organic Growers School, a 501(c)3 non-profit. OGS is the premiere provider of practical and affordable organic education in the Southern Appalachians, building a vibrant food and farming community by boosting the success of organic home growers and farmers in the Western North Carolina (WNC) region. Since 1993, OGS’ hands-on training, workshops, conferences, and partnerships have strengthened each grower’s move towards sustainability and have reinforced WNC’s role as a regional leader in organic growing.

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