General Forum sessions (Fri 12/7 and Sat 12/8):
Below is a list of CONFIRMED sessions for the Food & Farm Forum.
- Pests and Weeds – How Are You Managing Them? A Farmers’ Roundtable Discussion – Caylor Roling, EAT South
- Farm Hacks: Building our Way to Sustainability – Billy Mitchell, National Farmers Union
- Sustainable Woodland Management for Small Farms and Landowners – Levi Brown
- Hydroponic Farming in Shipping Containers – Dale and Angela Speetjens, ShipShape Urban Farm
- Growing a New Market with Microgreens – Danica Abejon, Sweet City Micros
- Make Compost Not Waste – Matt Nesbitt
- On-Farm Processing of Poultry and Rabbits (panel) – Jesie and Matthew Lawrence, Marble Creek Farmstead / Marble City Meats (moderators)
- Off-farm Livestock Processing: Using a Processing Plant (panel) – Jesie and Matthew Lawrence, Marble Creek Farmstead / Marble City Meats (moderators)
- When Do You Know if You’re Ready for Wholesale? (panel) – Carey Martin and Natalie Bishnoi, Food Bank of North Alabama / Farm Food Collaborative (moderators)
- Cooperative Farm Marketing – Laurie Moore, Moore Farms and Friends
- Traditional Ecological Knowledge Applied to Alabama Foodways – Sehoy Thrower
- Making Space for Youth: Youth Leadership Development in Food and Ag Work – Mark Bowen, Forsyth Farmers Market (GA) and Farm Truck 912
- Carpentry Life Skills – Wade Austin, W. H. Austin Design Build
- Putting Solar to Work on the Farm Using Passive Solar Structures and Off-Grid Solar PV – Daryl Bergquist, Earth Steward Solar Consulting
- Vegan Made Easy – Adyre Mason, The Veggie
- Fermentation 101 – Pete Halupka, Harvest Roots Ferments
- Growing Weeds as Food Crops: Turn Weeding Into Profits – Cameron Strouss, Deep Roots Apotheke and Clinic
- Introduction to Herbal Tincturing – Joanna Mann, Walden Farmacy
- Rural Organizing for Sustainable Communities – Kathleen Kirkpatrick, Hometown Action
- Global Growers: Incubating Multicultural Sustainable Agriculture and a Thriving Local Food System – Susan Pavlin, Global Growers (GA)
- Farm Truck 912: Expanding Food Justice in Your Community – Mark Bowen, Forsyth Farmers Market (GA) and Farm Truck 912
- The Permaculture Approach to Perennial Crops – Alan Booker, Eldenbridge Institute
- Regenerative Earthworks: Working with Water in the Landscape – Alan Booker, Eldenbridge Institute
- Women Farmers Roundtable – Facilitated by Lindsey Mullen
- TOUR: McDowell Farm/Programs/Property at a glance
Please continue to check back as more sessions are being confirmed all the time! The final confirmed program (including which sessions will be happening when) will be available here by mid-October.
Pre-Forum sessions (Thurs 12/6):
This year we will also be offering several optional pre-Forum sessions for several hours on Thursday afternoon, December 6. These sessions will run concurrently, though for different lengths of time. Registration is an additional $10. We also recommend participants in these sessions purchase a box dinner as an organized group meal will not be offered Thursday evening.
- 3:00-5:30pm – Getting Along: The Basics of Group Decision-Making – Lindsey Mullen, Wild Ground, wildgroundalabama.org
- Making choices with other people can be an unexpected challenge, whether you’re trying to manage a nonprofit board, run a staff meeting, or create a democratically run cooperative. At this session we’ll learn and share tools for making group decisions deliberatively, structuring effective meetings, and paying attention to power dynamics.
Please continue to check back as additional sessions are added! The final confirmed program will be available here by mid-October.
Youth Forum sessions:
Please click here for up-to-date details about the inaugural Youth Food & Farm Forum!