FarmStart  is offering two new series of Skills Building Farm Tours:

Ecological Livestock
and
Market Gardening

The FarmStart farm tours are an opportunity to visit ecological farms and learn from experienced farmers! These field days include a morning farm tour and in the afternoon the farmer will teach the group a new skill or lead an in-depth discussion on a particular topic. The last hour of the day includes an optional work-bee! If you are in the early stages of your farming career or just exploring the possibilities this is a great opportunity to visit a farm and learn from experienced farmers, as well as to network with other new farmers!

Farm Tours run from April to October, 10 am to 4pm, on weekends.

Sign up for a series of field days or for a single day.

When: Sunday July 8,  9:30am – 4:30pm
Where: Green Being Farm, Neustadt

Join us for this very popular workshop offered by Tarrah Young from Green Being Farm. Tarrah, who raises chickens and turkeys on pasture, will explain her system from day-old chicks and poults to the finished product. Topics to be covered include brooder design, feed requirements, bird health, marketing, and calculating sale prices based on the cost of production.

When: Sunday Sept 23, 2012, 9:30am – 4:30pm
Where: Green Being Farm, Neustadt.

Join Tarrah Young of Green Being Farm as she shares lessons from her own experiences raising heritage pigs on pasture, as well as innovative and valuable information gleaned from research abroad. Topics to be covered include feeding and grazing options, natural health care, farrowing, breed selection, processing, marketing and economics.

In the spring and fall.

Digging Into Farming is a course designed to follow FarmStart’sExploring Your New Farm Dream course, where aspiring farmers are introduced to the opportunities and realities of farming and are asked to answer the question “Is Starting an Agricultural Business Right for Me?”

Digging Into Farming is a 3 day course for new farmers who have made the decision to farm and are at the stage of business planning. The course introduces participants to the different elements of starting and managing a new farm business: business goals, production, marketing, financial management, human resources, social responsibility, land access, business structure and regulations.

On Day 1, business planning topics will be introduced and key issues discussed, including developing the business vision.

On Day 2, a panel of successful farmers will present their first hand experiences and lessons learned in these different areas and participants will be introduced to critical resources and advisors that can help with farm planning and start-up.

Day 3 will review land access issues and key financial documents (i.e cash flow, income statement, statement of net worth) and guide participants in developing a New Farm Development Action Plan that outlines their next steps to making their farm dream a reality!

12 hours (four three-hour sessions) and one day of farm tours

If you are considering…

• full-time farming,
• farming part-time while continuing other employment,
• changing your career to start farming,
• taking over an existing farm business,
• developing an existing but informal agricultural pastime into a more serious business activity,
• re-strategizing an existing farm business.

…then Exploring Your New Farm Dream is the ideal learning and networking opportunity for you!

Offered in different parts of the Ontario during the fall and winter months.

Exploring Your New Farm Dream is a course for people who are thinking about starting a commercial farm business (farming with the intent to make a profit rather than as a hobby or a pastime). The course helps aspiring farmers learn what it would take to start and manage their own “farm dream” and decide whether this the right path for them.

The course will enable you to…

• set personal and farm goals,
• assess available resources,
• determine if farming as a business is a good fit for you,
• develop an action plan to guide your next steps.

Beginner and Intermediate level

Knowing how to control weeds is one of the most important skills needed for successful organic vegetable production. Organic vegetable farming requires a diverse and very proactive approach to weed control. You can avoid the constant scramble to save crops from weeds by understanding important concepts and techniques in weed control and by having a plan in place before you put the crop in the ground. Topics to be covered include weed identification, timing and mulching, tools and equipment, soil management and cover cropping for weed control, and much more!