Upcoming Small Farm Course, Local Food Project at Airlie

Hello from the Local Food Project at Airlie!

We are excited to announce important updates for the 2009 edition of Exploring the Small Farm Dream, which commences next Wednesday, November 4th:

Exploring the Small Farm Dream- Is Starting an Agricultural Business Right for You?
November 4th- December 2nd, 2009
6:30pm-9:00pm
Airlie Center, Warrenton, Virginia
Read full course details on our website

Confirmed speakers participating in Exploring the Small Farm Dream now include: Chip & Susan Planck, featured this past weekend in the Washington Post. Please see the full list of confirmed speakers below.

About the Course: Taking place over four Wednesday evening sessions commencing November 4th (and skipping Thanksgiving week), Exploring the Small Farm Dream will help potential new farmers and agricultural business owners evaluate their farm business dreams and clarify next steps. A combination of creative exercises, class discussions, interviews with farm business innovators, and independent research, Exploring the Small Farm Dream will connect you with a classroom of motivated individuals seeking to transform farm dreams into action.

Exploring the Small Farm Dream will be co-facilitated by Pablo Elliott of The Local Food Project at Airlie, together with Stacey Carlberg and Don Loock of the Piedmont Environmental Council. Several local farm business owners will provide valuable insight and expertise as guest speakers in three of the course sessions (speaker bios below).

This course is ideal for career changers and farm ‘newbies’ breaking into agricultural pursuits, farm apprentices interested in launching a farm business, and current farmers looking to expand into a new enterprise. Course participants will receive a freshly revised 2009 edition of the Exploring the Small Farm Dream workbook developed by the New England Small Farm Institute, filled with a range of creative exercises tailored to help small farm ‘explorers’ better assess skills, resources, & next steps. The Local Food Project at Airlie & Piedmont Environmental Council first offered the course in November of 2008, and are excited to return with a new version of the course, now in November 2009!

For more information on the Exploring the Small Farm Dream, and how to register, please visit our website. We expect the course to fill in the next few days, so don’t hesitate to register!

Looking forward,

Pablo Elliott
The Local Food Project at Airlie

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Confirmed Guest Speakers, Exploring the Small Farm Dream, 2009:

Zach Lester and Georgia O’Neal – Tree and Leaf Farm (Purcellville, VA) – http://www.treeandleaffarm.com

Susan & Chip Planck - Wheatland Vegetable Farms (Purcellville, VA) - http://wheatlandvegetablefarms.com/

Emily Johnson & Niels Asmussen - Root Force Collective (Montpelier, VA) - http://rootforcecollectivefarm.com/

Deb Williamson - Seven Oaks Lavender Farm & Farmer Girls, LLC. (Catlett, VA) http://www.sevenoakslavenderfarm.com/
http://farmersonlinemarket.net/

Nancy & Forrest Pritchard - Smith Meadows Farm (Berryville, VA) - http://www.smithmeadows.com/

More speakers to be confirmed soon!