Upcoming Winter Small Farm Webinars

I'm in the process of updating the Events Calendar (see link on the right) and wanted to give everyone a heads up on one of the best resources I've found over the past couple of years.  The University of Illinois Extension presents a weekly educational series for the small farm community on emerging topics which advance local food production. And guess what....even if you're just growing for your family (like us), many of these webinars will have useful information for you as well.

Webinars will be held from noon -1:00 pm on Thursdays and are free.  Note that you must pre-register but, if you miss the webinar, they will send you a link to the archived, recorded version.

Topics include:

• Jan. 19 - ABCs of Strawberry Plasticulture Production, Bronwyn Aly, University of Illinois Extension Local Food Systems and Small Farms Educator
• Jan. 26 - Buying Hay: Quality vs. Cost, Jamie Washburn, University of Illinois Extension Local Food Systems and Small Farms Educator
• Feb. 2 - Slow Flowers: Small-Scale Cut Flower Production, Candice Hart, University of Illinois Extension Horticulture Educator
• Feb. 9 - Out with the Old: Pruning Old and Neglected Fruit Trees, Grant McCarty, University of Illinois Extension Local Food Systems and Small Farms Educator
• Feb. 16 - Small Commercial Microgreen Production, Zack Grant, University of Illinois Extension Local Food Systems and Small Farms Educator
• Feb. 23 - Food Safety Needs for Midwest Produce Growers, Dr. Angela Shaw, Iowa State University Extension and Outreach Food Safety Specialist
• Mar. 2 - Growing Your Hobby Farm into a Business, Andy Larson, University of Illinois Extension Local Food Systems and Small Farms Educator
• Mar. 9 - Do Your Bees Have PMS (Parasitic Mite Syndrome), Doug Gucker, University of Illinois Extension Local Food Systems and Small Farms Educator
• Mar. 16 - Maximizing Windbreaks on Your Farm, David Shiley, University of Illinois Extension Local Food Systems and Small Farms Educator
• Mar. 23 - Benefits of Mulching Vegetables, James Theuri, University of Illinois Extension Local Food Systems and Small Farms Educator
• Mar. 30 - Soil Management for High Tunnels, Nathan Johanning, University of Illinois Extension Local Food Systems and Small Farms Educator

I've added the complete list of topics and speakers to the Events Calendar so it's easy to copy to your own Google calendar if you like.

Please keep an eye on the calendar, as I'll be updating it over the next week or so with more local and online events that might be of interest. And, if you know of any events that you'd like to share, please send them my way at crankypuppy at gmail.com.

Have a great New Year's Eve, everyone!