Let’s experience homesteading in action! A tour of Alternative Roots Farm will feature their perennial fruit plantings, homestead garden and a passive solar greenhouse. We’ll touch on succession planting, preserving the harvest, direct-to-consumer sales, managing an on-farm store & the role of livestock on the farm. Alternative Roots Farm is a Certified Organic farm producing…

Join us for a free, guided pasture walk at Flanagan Farms: a 398-acre multi-unit operation focused on long-term soil health and profitability through strategic grazing and cropping. Attendees will get an in-depth look at how the Flanagans manage their home quarter using an 8-year crop and forage rotation that builds organic matter and improves gross margins…

Join us for the first pasture walk of the season at Ironwood Ranch, just outside of Brainerd! Justin Smude and his family run a 350-acre operation where they raise cow/calf pairs and sheep, grow hay and oats, and integrate annual forages into a diverse grazing system. Justin Smude, Kent Solberg, and Jonathan Kilpatrick will lead this walk. We’ll…

Join us at Dave Evans Farms, a working cattle operation, for an illuminating demonstration of silvopasture by subtraction. Dave will walk attendees through his process for opening up oak savannas overtaken by other trees. We’ll also have a seeding demonstration showcasing various application methods. Bryan Simon, a silvopasture specialist with SFA, and DNR forester Brett…

The workshop will include the basics of small scale maple syrup production and processing (25-30 gallons syrup from 80 taps). There will be tours of the maple bush, including tips on tapping equipment and sap collection.  Also, information on the use of a reverse osmosis filtering system to cut your time/labor and fuel for processing…

Join us on Saturday, November 2nd, from 1-4 PM at Luverne and MJ Forbord’s Prairie Horizons Farm located between Benson and Starbuck, Minnesota! Explore how the Forbords prepare their operation for winter with strategies like stockpiling, bale grazing, and wintering their livestock. With over 20 years of experience in grass-fed beef genetic selection and direct marketing, they…

Join Derek Schmitz and Doug Voss at Grassrich Dairy for a pasture walk focused on using diverse cover crops to extend the grazing season and enhance soil health. Owned and operated by Derek and Taylor Schmitz, Grassrich Dairy is a low-input, forage-based organic dairy where cattle are managed to harvest as much of their own…

This fall and winter, join Twin Cities Metro Growers Network and MN SEED Project for a workshop series that will teach you how to collect, clean and sow native seeds to grow your own beautiful and beneficial native landscapes. Growing native plants on your farm and garden attracts beneficial insects that help crops thrive. By…

Registration closes at 4 PM CT on Wednesday, September 25. The 2024 Forage Council Grazing School is scheduled for two full days, Sept. 27 & 28, in Verndale. Greg Judy and Isaac Tappenden with Green Pastures Farm will be our guest speakers. We will be offering a mix of sessions on basic grazing techniques as well…

Dale Schmitz and his son Joey manage approximately 100 cow-calf pairs on a mix of native and improved cool-season pastures. With a couple years of experience out-wintering cattle on pastures, Dale will share valuable tips and tricks that he has learned. This pasture-walk offers a unique opportunity to see a successful rotational grazing system in…