No experience necessary! Come wearing comfortable, weather-appropriate clothing and close-toed shoes. Don't forget work gloves and a water bottle! |
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Previous Farm WorkdaysLively Up Farm
Saturday, October 25th from 1 to 5 pm
Meet at the BRWIA office parking lot behind the brick building at 171 Grand Boulevard and carpool to Valle Crucis. RSVP to Darcy Vanderhoof at [email protected] Matt Cooper started Lively Up Farm three years ago in Valle Crucis on one acre of land. He is dedicated to growing organic vegetables - including greens, heirloom winter squash varieties, and garlic - to meet his family's needs through self-sufficient living. On this workday, we'll be planting garlic and helping out with a variety of projects around the farm like weeding, mulching, and preparing beds for the winter. Elise McLaughlin's Permaculture Orchard
Saturday, September 27th from 1 to 5 pm
Meet at the courthouse on Water Street and carpool to Blowing Rock. RSVP to Darcy Vanderhoof at [email protected] Elise McLaughlin's small-scale permaculture orchard and garden is a wonderful example of a highly productive local sustainable agriculture model. Elise is a recipient of the BRWIA Mary Boyer grant and has been producing a variety of food crops, medicines, and useful materials as well as raising heritage breed chickens and honeybees on her small patch of land since 2011. On this workday, we will be aiding Elise in preparing beds for winter by planting cover crops and mulching, as well as picking apples from her orchard! High Country Farm Tour Pre-Tour Prep TeamAlthough BRWIA will not have scheduled group workdays over the summer, don't miss out on an opportunity to lend a hand to a farmer on the High Country Farm Tour.
The week of June 22 for 4 Hours
At one of the 20 outstanding Farms on the Farm Tour This is a unique chance to get to know some of the most unique farms in our area! Sign up to volunteer at a local farm to help them prepare for the High Country Farm Tour during the last week in June. As a farmer, it is a lot of work to harvest for Saturday's market AND prepare your farm to host guests. Extra hands are welcomed and YOU can be that saving grace (while learning about sustainable agriculture at the same time)! Octopus Garden
Saturday, April 19th from 1 to 5 pm
Meet at the courthouse on Water St. and carpool to Valle Crucis RSVP to Suzanne Fleishman at [email protected] Caroline Hampton has been farming for four years, but 2014 will be the first year she’s had her own piece of land. Leasing from the F.I.G Project (Farm Incubator and Grower Project) in Valle Crucis, North Carolina, Caroline is looking forward to serving the progressive mountain community with good organic and sustainable food. On this workday, we will be helping this new farm with bed preparation and transplanting. Nelson Family Farm
Friday, April 11th from 2:00 to 6:30 pm
Meet at the courthouse on Water St. and carpool to Zionville RSVP to Suzanne Fleishman at [email protected] Nelson Family Farm is a family-run organic farm in Zionville, NC dedicated to sustainable crop and animal production. On this workday, we will have a choice of participating in a variety of things, including but not limited to preparing new garden beds, moving a portable chicken fence, weeding, and repairing an existing fence for a new conservation plan! Come join us in helping out a local farm in the North Carolina! Springhouse FarmSunday, March 30 (10-5 pm. 433 Silverstone Rd, Vilas 28692)
Carpool leaves at 9:30 and returns by 5:30 To Carpool, Meet at the courthouse lot on Water St. Bring gloves, water, & appropriate clothing! 
Join us on Springhouse Farm as they prepare their pasture for the arrival of Large Black/Tamworth piglets. We will start the day with an informative, sure to be lively discussion about raising pigs on pasture with Jim Fiedler, then we will get our hands dirty and build a fence and wallow, and introduce the piglets to their new home! Lunch will be provided to all who attend, including bratwurst raised on Fiedler Family Farm.
RSVP to Amy Fiedler, [email protected] Please consider bringing a $5+ donation to support the non-profit New River Growers 
Speaker: Jim Fiedler
Jim Fiedler, moved back from his first career in NYC in 2002 to the family farm where he grew up. He built Fiedler Family Farms to over 1100 acres with grassfed beef and pastured pork along with a few chickens, guineas, sheep, dogs and even a few goats. At the peak he had over 300 cattle and over 200 pigs all on pasture living naturally and never confined. The meat was marketed in Louisville, KY & Bloomington, IN at farmer's markets and directly to restaurants and customers. He has now retired from his second career as a farmer and is sharing the knowledge learned. His daughter Amy spent a year on Fiedler Family Farms teaching Jim most of what he knows. Shady Grove GardensSaturday, March 1
12-5 PM Meet at the courthouse lot on Water St., where we will carpool to the farm in Vilas RSVP to Rebecca Pope at [email protected] 
Shady Grove Gardens is a local flower producer that provides fresh, organic and locally grown flowers for the entire High Country Region. On this workday, we will be helping clear out tires that have been littered on their land and assisting with other small conservation projects. Be prepared for outdoor work, and bring friends!
Waterfall FarmSaturday January 18th (Snow Date TBD)
12 - 5 pm Meet at the courthouse lot on Water St. 
Come help remove and burn brush at Waterfall Farm - a Maple Syrup Farm in Ashe County! Don't miss this chance to see one of the most unique farms in our area.
RSVP to [email protected] Doug Munroe began back yard sugaring in 2006, tapping a few maple trees close to the house, and boiling the sap down on his wood stove. The project has grown and evolved into one of only a few commercial maple syrup operations in the state. Wheeler partnered with her father in the maple enterprise in the fall of 2012. For the Farm Workday, volunteers will help move and burn brush. The Wheeler's have been doing some selective logging this fall in an effort to "release" sugar trees in the woods that are in competition with the other trees, giving the maples the advantage of more sun and space. There is an enormous amount of wood and work left behind after the sellable timber has been hauled away. A large portion of the logged remainders will become next years firewood for the wood-fired evaporator in the sugar house, and whats too small for that will be dragged into piles and either burned, if adjacent to a field, or left to quietly decay if immersed in forest. |
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