Organic Growers School to host Annual Harvest Conference Sept. 10 at A-B Tech

Press release from Organic Growers School:

Organic Growers School hosts 3^rd Annual Harvest Conference

Asheville, NC. ORGANIC GROWERS SCHOOL (OGS) is hosting the 3^rd annual Harvest Conference, for backyard gardeners, urban farmers and homesteaders of all skill levels on Saturday, September 10^th, 2016 at AB Tech’s, Main Campus in downtown Asheville, NC. This Fall event, featuring all the popularity of the OGS Spring Conference, offers 28 workshops in 7 tracks with a focus on Fall & Winter Growing, Cooking, Fermentation & Preservation, Homestead Skills, Self-Reliance, Herbal Medicine, and Wild Ideas. All organically! Classes begin at 9am and end at 5:30pm and the cost is $45 for the entire day of classes.

Local and national experts in food, forestry, herbal medicine, and many aspects of sustainable agriculture will be teaching at the event including Western NC professionals: Christina Newhouse, Patryk Battle, Karen Fowler, Abby Artemisia, Diana Schmidt McCall, Zev Friedman, Marissa Percoco, Mike Weeks, Jeff “Puff” Irvin, Cathy Hohenstein, Byron Ballard, Rod Bowling, Chris Smith, Angie Lavezzo, Brandon Greenstein, Shawn Swartz, Meredith Leigh, Robin Allison, Jim Adkins, Melissa Fryar, Joe Hollis, and Will Oseroff.

Regional teachers from around the Southeast include Brian Rosa, of the NC Dept. of the Environment & Natural Resources, and Shane Gebauer, of Brushy Mountain Bee Farm, both from the NC Piedmont; Meredith Alphin, a farmer and permaculture designer from Southeast Virginia; and Sandor Katz, author of Wild Fermentation, from Central Tennessee.

​In addition, very special guest Mary Bove, ND, will be teaching at the event. Dr. Bove is an accomplished herbalist, teacher, and lecturer and is also the author of the Encyclopedia of Natural Healing for Children and Infants and co-author of Herbs for Women’s Health. Dr. Bove practices naturopathic family medicine, including women’s health care, well pregnancy care, and pediatric medicine at the Brattleboro Naturopathic Clinic in Vermont and she works as an educator and Advisory Board member for Gaia Herbs and formulator for GaiaKids, Gaia Herbs’ a line of children’s herbal products. At the Harvest Conference she will be teaching a workshop called “Kid Friendly Herbs.

The list of classes offered at the 3^rd Annual Harvest Conference are as follows:

Fall & Winter Growing Track

High Tunnels for Homesteaders with Christina Newhouse
No Till Gardening with Patryck Battle
Microgreens in Cool Weather with Meredith Alphin
Planting Before First Frost with Randal Pfleger

Home Cooking Track

Whole Animal Cooking with Karen Fowler
Cooking & Storing Wild Foods with Abby Artemisia
Feast from the Garden with Diana Schmidt McCall
Southern Appalachian Milpa Cuisine with Zev Friedman

Fermentation & Preservation Track

Intro to Mead Making with Marissa Percoco
Ferments Q&A with Sandor Katz
The Art of Home-Brew with Jeff “Puff” Irvin
Canning Basics with Cathy Hohenstein

Self-Reliance Track

Easy Soil Amending with Mike Weeks
Four Season Composting with Brian Rosa
Beekeeping: Getting Started with Shane Gebauer
Save Your Seeds! With Angie Lavezzo and Chris Smith

Homestead Skills Track

Root Cellaring with Rod Bowling
Homestead Dreams with Brandon Greenstein
Urban Homesteading for Busy People with Byron Ballard
Sustainable Timber Harvesting with Shawn Shwartz

Wild Ideas Track

Big Food Talk with Meredith Leigh
Fall Wild Plant Walk with Robin Allison
Home Oil Pressing with Chris Smith
Fall & Winter Chicken Care with Jim Adkins

Herbal Medicine Track

Benefits of CBD (Cannabidiol) with Will Oseroff
Kid Friendly Herbs Mary Bove, MD
Fall and Winter Tonics & Syrups with Melissa Fryer
Native Medicinal Woodland Plants with Joe Hollis

The Saturday event will feature a trade show with a wide array of exhibitors and products: local farms, gardening suppliers, and cottage industries that specialize in organic products, books and resources for organic growers and Permaculture practitioners, and several non-profit organizations with information on related topics. Lunch will be available on-site through local food vendors.

The Harvest Conference also features three Pre-Conference Workshops being held on September 9^th at Warren Wilson College in Swannanoa, NC, from 9:30 AM-4:30 PM with a 1 hour lunch break. Costs range from $65 to $80 for the day-long events. They are as follows:

·        Sandor Katz with The Art of Fermentation

·        Chuck Marsh with Home Growing–Simple Approaches to Food Abundance

·        Melissa Fryar with DIY Herbal Apothecary–Making Medicines at Home

The major sponsor of the 3rd Annual Harvest Conference is Fifth Season Gardening. The OGS Growth Partners, offering year-round support, include Carolina Farm Credit, French Broad Food Coop, Mountain Rose Herbs, Red Moon Herbs, Biltmore, Earth Tools, and Living Web Farms. Our media partners include Mountain Xpress, IWANNA, WNC Woman, and the Laurel of Asheville

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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 & farming community by boosting the success of organic home growers and farmers in our region.

Since 1993, the OGS hands-on training, workshops, conferences and partnerships strengthen and celebrate each grower’s move towards self-reliance. OGS pride themselves on offering down-to-earth advice on growing and sustainable living, while remaining affordable and accessible.

Organic Growers School has served to reinforce Western North Carolina’s role as a regional leader in organic farming. The Harvest Conference is the long-awaited and much-requested fall event.