In this workshop, farmer Jesse Frost, author of the “Living Soil Handbook” and host of The No-Till Market Garden Podcast, takes attendees through the process of creating living soil in the market garden and bringing the fruits of that labor to market. With soil health as the focus, Frost will discuss productive ways of breaking ground, plus cover cropping, turning over beds, and fertility management. He will also cover some heat and water management strategies as well as the different mulches one can employ for those tasks. There will also be several hands-on demos where attendees can see these practices in action.
Jesse Frost is a writer and vegetable farmer in Southern Kentucky, where he lives with his wife and young son on their farm, Rough Draft Farmstead. He has hosted seminars on fermentation, winemaking, mushroom production, and farming.
BCS Two Wheel Tractor Demonstration
Ready to scale your market garden? Join us to learn how the BCS Two Wheel Tractor and attachments can be used to increase your productivity while improving soil health. Staff from Homestead Equipment and Maintenance will demonstrate the equipment and share safety and maintenance tips and tricks.
Session Descriptions:
Day 1 (Morning): “What is No-Till” + The Basic Science of Soil Health
In this session, Farmer Jesse will break down what “no-till” really means and how to think intelligently about soil disturbance based on your context. Frost will equip the attendees with the basics science of how plants and soil interact and begin to discuss how to use that understanding of soil health in practical ways on the farm.
This session will cover the beginning steps in starting a garden from soil testing, compaction testing, drainage evaluation, sunlight, etc… Then we will spend much of the afternoon discussing how to start a garden off on the right foot. We will also start my favorite JADAM preparations for transplanting the next day.
This day will be all about turning beds over and replanting. We will do a soil block demonstration, talk a bit about greenhouse and transplant management, and get to see some different planting strategies including how to use compost teas and extracts at planting time.
We will discuss the four different types of compost + the different mulches you can use. On this day, we will also cover amending the soil, foliar feeding, some irrigation basics, and briefly discuss organic certification.
Day 3 (Morning) Cover Crops and Tools
This will be cover crop day. We will get to see some cover crop planting options including over-sowing, as well as discussing seeding vs broadcasting. This morning we will also get a full BCS demo plus see some other market garden tools in action.
When: October 6 – 8, 2022 8:00 AM – 5:00 PM
Where: Dr. Charles H. Garrett Community Center, 182 Industrial Drive, Jonesboro, LA 71251
Registration Fee: $125
