Calendar of Events

The Journeyperson Program is designed for farmers who have been independently farming for three or more years and are serious about operating farm businesses in the Southern Appalachian region. This program will give you the space and time to work on your business’s scale, viability, and long-term direction while making connections that deepen peer-to-peer support.

Limited spots are available for the full program, and those who want to be eligible for our Savings Incentive Program and the professional development funds must commit to participating in all aspects of the program.

Participants can use this program as a tangible step toward achieving their farm goals, and make significant contributions to the agricultural community and economy.

This program is designed to give tailored guidance and support for your farm business to answer questions of:

• Scale

• Market access

• Land access

• Risk management

• Understanding cash flow

• Enterprise innovation

Farm Beginnings® is training the next generation of farmers in the many skills required to start and expand a successful farm business: passion, clear goals, production experience, financial and marketing know-how, and more.

Farm Beginnings® will help you build these skills through one year of farmer-led training, mentoring, and networking. We support individuals in clarifying their goals and strengths, developing agricultural skills, and growing profitable, equitable, and ecologically sound farm businesses.

Guided by our commitment to social justice, our programming is led by farmers and mentors active in food, farming, or social justice. By empowering people with skills, knowledge, and access to resources, together we can build a more diverse, equitable food system that enriches the environment and creates a thriving food and farming community.

We use a holistic management frame, farmer-led classroom sessions, on-farm tours, mentoring, and an extensive farmer network. The topics of equity and justice in the food systems are woven into the curriculum, including examples of realistic approaches within the scope of your business models.

The 200+ hr, year-long program consists of:

• Training on holistic management, farm business, marketing & financial planning

• Sessions taught by regional, experienced Farmers

• One-year WNC CRAFT Farmer Network Membership

• Completing and presenting an individualized farm plan

• Access to Field Days with regional partners

• Entry to ASAP’s Business of Farming Conference

• Entry to OGS’s Spring Conference

• 15 hr mentorship with an experienced Farmer Mentor

View a sample of the full course schedule here.

Grady Rozzell at age 19 was a B-17 pilot in the 401st Bomb Group operating out of Deenethorpe Army Air Base. On Friday, May 30, 1944, Grady and his crew made their first combat mission. Their target was an airplane factory in Oschersleben, Germany. Highlights from his diary tell this story. This is his first diary entry: “10:26 . . . Over to the left front, a patch of sky is literally filled with black crust; that’s flack, my first sight of the dreaded flack I’ve heard so much about. 11:30 . . . We’ve just been attacked by enemy fighters. Those babies came within a few hundred feet of our plane and not one of my gunners shot at the fighters. Too excited to do anything but gape—and gape they did. The fighters got the ship directly behind me. I looked back in time to see the big bird go into a vertical climb and spin-off on one wing. I saw two chutes pop and stretch out their lazy canopies. There’s eight more men in that plane. Off to the left and lower is a crippled B-17 trying to fight its way home. . . . There’s about five fighters making swift passes at the ship, trying to knock it down. They look like vultures gathering around, ready for the kill.”

This book is available to purchase for $20 at the Swannanoa Valley Museum. SVM members get a 10% discount. Stop by during our open hours (Wed-Saturday, 10am-5pm) to make your purchase.

Students will receive a solid foundation in beginner Ukulele skills for vocalists. Chords, Rhythm patterns, and basic theory will be introduced through songs with an uplifting message. Students will also learn to play the song that the Songwriting Class will be writing and get to record it in the One Mic Studio.

Queer Music Exploration – Students will explore guitar, bass, drums, singing and piano with a focus on learning music by artists from the LGBTQ+ community. Students will have the chance to interact with their peers and share their experiences through music.

Join the Blue Ridge Audubon, a chapter of the National Audubon Society for their monthly bird walk at Jackson Park, a renowned
birding location. On the 2nd Saturday of each month, meet at the Administration Building parking lot, located on Glover Street,
and join the group to see the many wonderful birds found at Jackson Park, Hendersonville’s largest park.8-10:00am.
828-684-0812. Free.

Legacy of Hope International seeks justice for the vulnerable and oppressed. Using education as our main internention we empower and elevate those most at risk to prevent child abuse and explotation. Join us in Asheville, NC as our community continues to grow!
The vulnerable and opressed take on many forms, especially with technological advances and the increased use of social media among teens and young adults. This training is ideal for parents, guardians, teachers, counselors, pastors, law enforcement, and… you.
Come take a S.T.A.N.D. with us as we Educate to Empower while Elevating those most at risk.
This year we will be joined by:
Dr. MarieAnne Thomas is the Founder of My Name, My Voice and the Subject Matter Expert for Legacy of Hope International. As the keynote speaker, Dr. Thomas and her sons provide a unique perspective on what human trafficking is and what is looks like, as they are survivors of human trafficking themselves.
John Van Arman the Founder of Third Talk will be discussing the reality of what happens when kids and families have experience pornography.
Brendon Journey is the CEO of Legacy of Hope International and the Founder of Safety Parties. She will provide training on the importance of Safety Parties and how to keep our families (kids) safe.

Share the love of reading with your child! Visit any Buncombe County Public Library to start participating in our 1,000 Books Before Kindergarten Program launching Aug. 12.

1,000 Books Before Kindergarten is a nationwide initiative that encourages grown-ups to read 1,000 books with their young child (ages birth-five) before they enter kindergarten.

Studies show, a child’s brain develops rapidly in the first three years of their life. Reading with a child early on can help them develop pre-reading skills that will make it easier for them to read independently in school. Families who read to their children from a young age can help their child build early literacy skills such as letter recognition and building vocabulary.

Beginning Aug. 12, families with a child between the ages of birth to five can pick up a 1,000 Books Before Kindergarten booklet at any Library location. Caregivers record the titles of the books read to their child in the booklet. Early literacy tips are found at the top of each page for caregivers to model to their child. When you reach the “500 books read” milestone, return to any BCPL location with your booklet to receive a free canvas tote bag and continue your reading journey. When you reach the “1,000 books read” milestone, you’ve completed the program. Return to the Library for your completion certificate. Children have until they enter kindergarten to complete the program.

Launch party

On Saturday, Aug. 12, join the Library for a 1,000 Books Before Kindergarten launch party. Children’s music band Big, Bang, Boom! will headline. Enjoy games, crafts, puppets and so much more! Refreshments will be served. Families with children under five can pick up a reading log booklet to get started. This free event.

Join the Asheville Museum of History Saturday, August 12 at 10am for this special hybrid event. We will come to you live and in-person from the Osher Lifelong Learning Institute at UNCA and via Zoom livestream. The program will be recorded as well. Coffee and refreshments will be provided.

In 1832 the North Carolina General Assembly elected David Lowry Swain of Buncombe County as the state’s twenty-sixth governor. He was the first from western North Carolina and remains the youngest. In the context of his time he was an activist executive, prodding the state to develop its infrastructure, thereby promoting economic development, which in turn would sustain universal public education (although then for white males only). As Swain’s time as governor was expiring, The University of North Carolina trustees elected him its president. He would occupy the position until shortly before his death almost thirty-three years later.

Under Swain’s leadership the University would grow to be second only to Yale in student enrollment. He was largely responsible for student admissions and conduct, faculty hiring and supervision, and promoting the University to a broader public, both state and national. Join us to learn more about his life, the subject of a new biography, A Consequential Life: David Lowry Swain, Nineteenth-Century North Carolina, and Their University.

About the Speaker:

Willis P. Whichard of Chapel Hill is a lawyer who, like his subject David Swain, has spent most of his career in public office and the academy. He is the only person in North Carolina history who has served in both the North Carolina House of Representatives and the North Carolina Senate and on both the North Carolina Court of Appeals and the North Carolina Supreme Court. Dean and Professor of Law at Campbell University from 1999-2006, he holds the A.B. and J.D. degrees from the University of North Carolina and the LL.M and S.J.D. degrees from the University of Virginia.

Tickets: $5 for AMoH and OLLI members/ $10 for General Admission. We also have no-cost, community-funded tickets available. We want our events to be accessible to as many people as possible. If you are able please consider making a donation along with your ticket purchase. These donations are placed in our Community Fund, which allows us to offer tickets at no cost to those who would not be able to attend otherwise.

Viewing: Registrants will receive a confirmation email with a Zoom link with which to view the program. It will also be recorded and later available on our website. In-person attendees do not need to take any further actions.

The Journeyperson Program is designed for farmers who have been independently farming for three or more years and are serious about operating farm businesses in the Southern Appalachian region. This program will give you the space and time to work on your business’s scale, viability, and long-term direction while making connections that deepen peer-to-peer support.

Limited spots are available for the full program, and those who want to be eligible for our Savings Incentive Program and the professional development funds must commit to participating in all aspects of the program.

Participants can use this program as a tangible step toward achieving their farm goals, and make significant contributions to the agricultural community and economy.

This program is designed to give tailored guidance and support for your farm business to answer questions of:

• Scale

• Market access

• Land access

• Risk management

• Understanding cash flow

• Enterprise innovation

Farm Beginnings® is training the next generation of farmers in the many skills required to start and expand a successful farm business: passion, clear goals, production experience, financial and marketing know-how, and more.

Farm Beginnings® will help you build these skills through one year of farmer-led training, mentoring, and networking. We support individuals in clarifying their goals and strengths, developing agricultural skills, and growing profitable, equitable, and ecologically sound farm businesses.

Guided by our commitment to social justice, our programming is led by farmers and mentors active in food, farming, or social justice. By empowering people with skills, knowledge, and access to resources, together we can build a more diverse, equitable food system that enriches the environment and creates a thriving food and farming community.

We use a holistic management frame, farmer-led classroom sessions, on-farm tours, mentoring, and an extensive farmer network. The topics of equity and justice in the food systems are woven into the curriculum, including examples of realistic approaches within the scope of your business models.

The 200+ hr, year-long program consists of:

• Training on holistic management, farm business, marketing & financial planning

• Sessions taught by regional, experienced Farmers

• One-year WNC CRAFT Farmer Network Membership

• Completing and presenting an individualized farm plan

• Access to Field Days with regional partners

• Entry to ASAP’s Business of Farming Conference

• Entry to OGS’s Spring Conference

• 15 hr mentorship with an experienced Farmer Mentor

View a sample of the full course schedule here.

• Debra Campbell, City Manager, City of Asheville
• Jessica Hendrix or Beth Lane, Board Members, Asheville Downtown Association

All breakfasts will take place at the Crowne Plaza Expo Center. Doors open at 7:45. Breakfast and networking from 8:00 – 8:30. Program begins at 8:30 and ends at 9:45. Individual event tickets are $25, or you may purchase series tickets (all three events) for $70.

Table sponsorships are available! Individual event table sponsorships are $350, or you may purchase a series table sponsorship for $1000. Each table seats eight people. Table sponsors are recognized on all event materials and from the podium during the event.

For more information or to talk about any of these events, please email [email protected] or call 828-255-7102

The Journeyperson Program is designed for farmers who have been independently farming for three or more years and are serious about operating farm businesses in the Southern Appalachian region. This program will give you the space and time to work on your business’s scale, viability, and long-term direction while making connections that deepen peer-to-peer support.

Limited spots are available for the full program, and those who want to be eligible for our Savings Incentive Program and the professional development funds must commit to participating in all aspects of the program.

Participants can use this program as a tangible step toward achieving their farm goals, and make significant contributions to the agricultural community and economy.

This program is designed to give tailored guidance and support for your farm business to answer questions of:

• Scale

• Market access

• Land access

• Risk management

• Understanding cash flow

• Enterprise innovation

Farm Beginnings® is training the next generation of farmers in the many skills required to start and expand a successful farm business: passion, clear goals, production experience, financial and marketing know-how, and more.

Farm Beginnings® will help you build these skills through one year of farmer-led training, mentoring, and networking. We support individuals in clarifying their goals and strengths, developing agricultural skills, and growing profitable, equitable, and ecologically sound farm businesses.

Guided by our commitment to social justice, our programming is led by farmers and mentors active in food, farming, or social justice. By empowering people with skills, knowledge, and access to resources, together we can build a more diverse, equitable food system that enriches the environment and creates a thriving food and farming community.

We use a holistic management frame, farmer-led classroom sessions, on-farm tours, mentoring, and an extensive farmer network. The topics of equity and justice in the food systems are woven into the curriculum, including examples of realistic approaches within the scope of your business models.

The 200+ hr, year-long program consists of:

• Training on holistic management, farm business, marketing & financial planning

• Sessions taught by regional, experienced Farmers

• One-year WNC CRAFT Farmer Network Membership

• Completing and presenting an individualized farm plan

• Access to Field Days with regional partners

• Entry to ASAP’s Business of Farming Conference

• Entry to OGS’s Spring Conference

• 15 hr mentorship with an experienced Farmer Mentor

View a sample of the full course schedule here.