Young Farmer Network and Southside Community Land Trust are excited to offer a Winter Short Course: Moving Onto Your Own Land.

This course will be in three sessions: Land (3/15), Composting (3/26), and Infrastructure (4/2).

The sessions are independent from each other - you don’t need to be able to attend all three to participate. Events are free but registration through Eventbrite is required!

The course is geared towards farmers who have experience working on farms but are either considering, in the process of, or recently started a new farming operation. We’ll tackle many of the questions that come up when making decisions about a new piece of land, but the issues addressed are also relevant to any farmers who are active learners!

March 15th, 5:30-830 pm Assessing and Preparing Land for Farming

At The Met's Center for Innovation and Entrepreneurship. 325 Public Street, Providence, RI

• Tess Brown-Lavoie from Land for Good will cover assessing land for it's potential farm-ability, snags and issues to anticipate when selecting land for lease or purchase, negotiating a farm lease, a tutorial for using the Web Soil Survey, & more.

• John Kenny from Big Train Farm will present two different strategies for preparing raw land for vegetable crops, including mechanized and no-till processes.

March 26th, 10am - 2pm Composting to Build Soil and Fertility on Your Scale

At Urban Edge Farm, 35 Pippin Orchard Rd, Cranston RI

• Rich Pederson from City Farm will discuss the intensive food scrap composting system he has perfected over his 15 years as an urban farmer in Providence. City Farm is the #1 food waste composter in the Providence, #2 in the state of RI!

• Bryan O’Hara of Tobacco Road Farm will present his best practices for building compost in a quantity that serves a handful of acres of intensive vegetable production. His no-till year-round vegetable farm has grown famous in our region for its success for more than two decades.

**this event is OUTSIDE - please dress for the weather! **

April 2nd, 10am - 2pm Infrastructure Development

At Urban Edge Farm, 35 Pippin Orchard Rd, Cranston RI

• Chuck Currie from Freedom Food Farm will discuss how to determine what machinery is appropriate to your operation and your scale.

• Other topics of the day include NRCS EQIP program, composting toilets and urine diversion, and more!
• Lunch will be provided.

**this event is OUTSIDE - please dress for the weather! **