Organic growers celebrate spring conference

The Organic Growers School in Asheville will hold its 30th spring conference at Mars Hill University, February 24-26.

The anniversary conference and associated special events will continue the organization's mission to support, inspire and educate people to farm, garden, and live organically by providing affordable, practical, and hands-on education. The event offers the opportunity to celebrate the non-profit’s legacy in the region over three decades. 

The conference happens over three days, with the preceding Friday dedicated to workshops at off-campus sites around Western North Carolina.

Over the weekend, organizers will offer about 60 90-minute workshops organized into 15 themed tracks, such as mushrooms, herbs, gardening, farming, and sustainable living.

There will also be more than 10 half-day workshops with opportunities to get hands-on experience with topics such as cob oven construction, backyard chickens, and spirulina cultivation. The conference will also feature local vendors, an annual seed and plant exchange, networking opportunities, local food trucks, and more.

“Several years before I joined the staff of Organic Growers School, I attended the spring conference at Blue Ridge Community College and fell in love with the warmth, wisdom, and community I experienced at the event,” said Executive Director Cameron Farlow. “The spring conference was born from the collective efforts of local, organic-minded farmers and growers committed to the affordable, place-based, grower-to-grower transfer of organic growing knowledge. After 30 years, that event has not lost its homegrown community feel. Our whole team is excited to welcome and celebrate our history, and look to our future with new and returning growers.”

The first Organic Growers School spring conference was held in 1993 with just over 100 participants. The event has grown to serve more than 2,000 farmers, gardeners, educators, students, consumers, and chefs. They gather from over 18 states and Canada, making this conference the largest event of its kind in the Southeast.

There will be a sliding-scale ticket price. The sliding scale includes a half-price option, a true-cost option, and a higher-cost option. It will enable those unable to afford the full-ticket price to pay what they can, and invites those with the means to support the organization by providing this equity price.

OGS will also offer a small pool of scholarships to those for whom the sliding scale price is not affordable. 

Registration will open on December 1.

For more information, please visit https://organicgrowersschool.org/conferences/spring/.