Workshops & Keynotes
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Keynote: Building a Strong Local Food Economy
Thursday, 6:30 P.M.
at Leavitt Wings Hangar
She will be talking about the importance of the availability of local foods in building a strong food supply chain in Utah, and what the state government can and will do to support the efforts of people in agriculture and food businesses.
Keynote: Choosing Between Local and Organic
Theater, Friday, 9:00 A.M. - 10:10 A.M.
What do we do when we are asked to choose between locally raised food and organic food? What is organic anyway and why is it important – or is it import? Why should we care if our food is locally produced? Is the cost of your food your most important consideration? What else matters to you about your food? Why should we pay more for our food? How much food can we grow for ourselves? These are just some of the questions that Bob Quinn will be discussing in his opening keynote address. The answers he would like to share have come from his experience in the organic movement for 38 years and as an organic farmer for 36 years. Hopefully it will open many topics than will be discussed in more depth throughout the conference.
Keynote: Making It Happen in Utah
Theater, Friday, 1:35 P.M. - 2:40 P.M.
Heritage Family Gardens
Jensen, Utah
A 22-acre farm located in Northeastern Utah operating a CSA, selling at the local farmer's market, and providing veggies to local businesses. They raise a wide variety of vegetables, grass-fed beef, an assortment of entertaining farm animals, and, most importantly, their children.
Keynote: Making It Happen in Utah
Theater, Friday, 1:35 P.M. - 2:40 P.M.
2011 Abigail age 10 started with a red wagon, walking door to door selling homemade bread that was made in their home kitchen with mom. 2015 it became a family business even with the toddlers helping. They learned to bake sourdough bread in dutch ovens and began delivering bread to local health food stores and at the farmer's markets. Nobody was making this kind of bread at the time and they soon learned about the nutritional benefits of sourdough. Callin it “The Bread Revolution” Abigail and her Mom have taught hundreds of families locally (and thanks to Zoom, across the world), how to bake sourdough, spinning off several competing local sourdough bakeries along the way.
Now in 39 stores in Utah and Nevada. Baking over 200,000 loaves per year and 28 employees. The success of the bakery has allowed them to develop the John & Abigail Center For Social Change.
Keynote: Rooted in Resilience
with Sara Patterson
Saturday, 11:20 A.M.
Theater
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Biodynamic Astronomy and the BD Planting Calendar
with Lloyd Nelson
Friday, 10:20 A.M. - 11:20 A.M.
Room 4 & 5
Planting with the moon for optimizing agricultural activities
Biodynamic Preparations for Building Soil Health
with Lloyd Nelson
Saturday, 9:00 A.M. - 10:00 A.M. Theater
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Biodynamics and Building Community
with Krisi Albright
Friday, 2:50 P.M. - 3:50 P.M.
Room 4 & 5
The practice of biodynamics encourages community participation and brings a unity to the land that helps in building soul and soil relationships. From making preparations together, building compost piles, helping in the design of gardens for newcomers, sharing seeds and fermentations of plants, and celebrating the cycles of the year, connections are made to people and the land, increasing the life forces flowing out into the community. Come and experience how a biodynamic community can grow through supporting healing practices for the land and its stewards.
Small-Scale Vegetable Production Tools & Techniques
with T.K. Kern
Friday, 2:50 P.M. - 3:50 P.M.
Room 1
T.K. will share practical tips and tricks he has learned from over four years of biodynamic tractor-free vegetable production on 3/4 of an acre at Red Acre Farm in Cedar City.
T.K. will have some of his favorite tools for no-till tractor-free growing in tow, including: a wheel hoe, colinear hoe, grub hoe, flame weeder, gridder, seeders, and more for you to see. He will discuss how he uses some and share how they have transformed the farm.
Not all tools are physical. T.K. has employed his experience as a software developer to develop practical spreadsheets for the small-scale vegetable operation. Some digital spreadsheets, including converting gridder crop spacings into plants per bed feet, converting seed weight to count based on type of seed, and more will be shared.
Techniques discussed will be based on attendee interest and could include no-till bed prep, intercropping, crop planning, seedling production, suppliers, spreadsheet magic, etc
I Love Local, But Where Do You Start?
Saturday, 10:10 A.M. - 11:10 A.M.
Powell Room
As a Chef, partner in 3 restaurants, with the most recent one in Moab, Utah sourcing up to 90% from local farms and ranches and a cater who works on some of the most remote locations in the world, what and how do you fill this desire and market demand? What is your role as a consumer? Farmer? Small artisan producer? Chef? Caterer?
Come To The Table
Friday, 2:50 P.M. - 3:50 P.M.
Theater
Uniting Utah Agriculture and Food Under One Brand
The New Economy: The Foundation of the Future American Homesteader
Friday, 4:00 P.M. - 5:00 P.M.
Theater
It is now common knowledge that many Americans, especially the Millennials and Gen Z, are rejecting the current consumer society they were born into. Van life, tiny homes, and homesteading are all on the rise. But if all of these alternatives are still engaged with the same old economy, little will change.
Just go back 100 years, and you will find a different America, one of more prosperity, less debt and stress, and more liberty and happiness for the average American family. What can we learn from our ancestors about the economy that would be of value to us today?
Dr. Shanon Brooks is a founder and president of Monticello College, a unique institution that combines the liberal arts with the manual arts, teaching students to take matters into their own hands to build a better life, liberty, and happy--debt-free future.
Success and Burnout: A Market Garden Story
Saturday 9:00 A.M. - 10:00 A.M.
Dominguez Room
We read all the books, watched all the Youtube, summoned all our passion, work ethic and romantic ideals of farming, and Top Crops Farm was born. Each season came with new lessons learned, mistakes made, and exciting achievements. There is nothing that feels as good as sowing seeds and having a successful harvest. But when the inevitable struggles of farming jeopardize your livelihood, they can quickly dash those romantic ideas and good feelings. We will talk about the decisions and circumstances that led to our burnout so hopefully others can avoid it.
Building Community, Creating Optimal Health, Connecting Unused Resources with Unmet Needs
Friday, 10:20 A.M. - 11:20 A.M.
Theater
Organizing your community around growing your own food has multiple benefits from self-sufficiency, food security, healing the earth, enhanced physical and mental health to a way to connect with young people and seniors. The overall trend of society is towards deteriorating physical, emotional and social health. Our national disease care bill is 4 trillion a year. Right now, 1 in 54 children is autistic and by 2035 will be 1 in 3. There is an epidemic of suicide among young people. Come explore how farm and food can have a positive impact on these problems and increase the quality of life in your community.
Sharing Seed Wisdom
Panel moderated by Aldine Strychnine
with Laura Bledsoe, Dale K. Thurber, Ph.D., and Joseph Lofthouse
Friday, 11:30 A.M. - 12:30 P.M.
Room 1
Learn from and find out what's happening in the world of seed saving from 3 of the best seed savers in our region.
Laura Bledsoe, Quail Hollow farm in Overton, Nevada. Featured at Baker Creek Heirloom Expos. Saving rare seeds from the Moapa Valley, Red Cave Watermelon, Indian June Corn, and Moapa Valley Squash.
Dale Thurber, East Carbon, Utah. Owner of Delectation of Tomatoes. Has one of the largest private collections of heirloom tomato seeds in North America, with a particular emphasis on large-fruited varieties.
Joseph Lofthouse, Cache Valley, Utah. Landrace Seeds.
Popular speaker featured writer in Mother Earth News and author.
Joseph is preserving the genes of thousands of varieties and plants but does not keep individual varieties intact or pure. Plant purity doesn't exist in Joseph's world.
Sheep, Goats & Wool
Saturday, 10:10 A.M. - 11:10 A.M.
Dominguez Room
Eating local, using, and wearing local fiber is not as easy as it seems.
Committed to supporting new and innovative ranchers the Sheep & Goat Innovation Fund loan board funds items solely related to sheep and goat projects such as processing equipment, construction, commercialization of new sheep or goat products, and more. Hear Jamie's insights as a current board member.
Pellets made of wool are revolutionizing the fertilizer industry by taking a worthless byproduct and turning it into something that has real value. Almost anything can be pelletized, and Albert discovered that pelletizing sheep’s wool for use as an organic fertilizer has many advantages over compost, mulches, even manure. It is not as easy as it seems. Albert will share his insight on the challenges of the “ideal” to use and process local wool.
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A Cow Calf Operation turned Retail Meat Shop, the story of Dry Lakes Ranch Beef
Friday, 4:00 P.M. - 5:00 P.M.
Room 4 & 5
Still located in the Mother Town since its inception during the pioneer era, our farm and ranch is managed with the understanding of our symbiotic relationship with the land and natural resources, particularly concerning our rangelands. In fact, our cattle are used as tools to help us manage our precious natural resources, and maintain the health of native plant species as well as soil health. The other superpower our cattle have is the ability to create nutritious and delicious protein, and in the last two years we've been able to produce some of the highest quality beef in the western United States. Join us to learn more!
Cycles, Seasons, & Story
Friday, 11:30 A.M. - 12:30 P.M. 4-5 Room
Often those working with the earth forget to slow down enough to actually connect with the earth. Discover how to find moments of meaning in the every day and learn to expand your own story by observing the story interwoven in the cycles and seasons you rely on.
Kamut Brand Wheat & Hi-Oleic Safflower Oil
Friday, 4:00 P.M. - 5:00 P.M.
Room 2 & 3
These two seemingly unrelated topics will be combined by a man who gave rise to both of them
on his farm. After some trials in 1977, he was the first to start growing an ancient relative of
durum in America. He started with 20 acres on Quinn Farm and Ranch in 1986 which has grown
to nearly 100,000 acres. Most of this grain is grown under contracted with organic farmer in
Montana, Alberta and Saskatchewan. You will hear the story of discovery and research that led
to popularization of this amazing grain all over the world. You will also hear the story of the
Oil Barn which was started on the same farm in 2011. This is a shorted story which focuses
primarily on efforts to penetrate local markets in Montana rather than national or worldwide
markets. It will also address many questions people have about industrial oils in general and
safflower oil in particular.
Dry Land Farming and Gardening
Saturday, 10:10 A.M. - 11:10 A.M.
Theater
Do you ever wonder what would happen to the US food production if the Central Valley of
California ran out of water or most of it was diverted to the cities? Bob Quinn has been farming
without irrigation all his life as his father and grandfather did before him. For over 100 years
they have raised crops of small grains on an average of 12 inches of annual rain fall and
contented with plagues of grasshoppers, drought and hailstorms. For almost 20 years, Bob has
also been experimenting with growing dry land vegetables. He will be sharing some principles
of dry land agriculture as well the results of his dry land vegetable experiments along with his
thoughts about raising your own food or at least supporting those who are doing so in your
neighborhood.
Using the Internet to Help Grow Your Business
Friday, 11:30 A.M. - 12:30 P.M.
Theater
Description: Social media, blogs, YouTube, email lists and more! We'll explore different ways to show up as your business and farm online to help you tell your story and attract customers. Spoiler alert, you don't have to do them all.
Finding Grace - Building Resilience in an Increasingly Turbulent World
Friday, 10:20 A.M. - 11:20 A.M.
Room 2 & 3
Agriculture is the backbone of all societies. Societies that honor, support and encourage agriculture endure, those that don’t crumble.
Right now the world is at a tipping point. There are 2 options -
Continue down the path of soil degradation, chemical dependency, debt, bailouts and be led to bondage.
Or
Learn from the past, strive to apply true principles and practices of soil regeneration, collaborate with others and heal the Earth and ourselves.
In this class you will learn how to build resilient soil and a resilient soul.
Localizing Our Seed Supply
Friday, 4:00 P.M. - 5:00 P.M.
Room 1
Growing and using local seeds for increasing food security and enjoyment.
Keynote: Seeds
8:00 P.M. at Leavitt Wings Hangar
Whether you are an individual looking for a cheaper source of healthier food, a farmer looking for a more marketable product, or a community looking for longer-term sustainability in this uncertain world, seeds represent maybe our single most powerful tool.
Pivoting in Times of Crisis
Friday, 11:30 A.M. - 12:30 P.M.
Room 2 & 3
Nobody does it better than farmers do. Farm Bureau is killing it in Utah! Come hear what they are up to.
Sheez, All I Want To Do is Sell My Jelly, Canned Beans, Cheese, Raw Milk or Kraut
with Mark Roberts and Symbria Patterson
Saturday, 9:00 A.M.
Dominguez Room
What are the rules and regulations? In just an hour we will simplify selling meat, ready-to-eat food, canned, fermented foods, cheese, and raw milk. We will tell you what you can't find online. What the department of agriculture or health department sometimes won't tell you or don't even know themselves. Marc and Symbria with Red Acre Center have brought forward and written nine bills, influencing four others.
Balancing Your Farm with Flowers
Friday 10:20 A.M. - 11:20 A.M.
Room 1
Flower farming has grown exponentially in Utah over the last three years with more people recognizing the value of flowers in their environment and daily life. Learn how flowers can make an impact on your farm for a diversity of life, income, and well-being.