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.

Dr. Dan Pierce shares the history of the men who worked, and died, to bring the first trains across the Swannanoa Gap and the project recognizing one of the greatest feats of 19th Century construction in our area.

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.

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.

Poetry Open Mic Hendo is the all-new sister event of Poetry Open Mic Asheville, the
longest-running open mic in Western North Carolina, this weekly event welcomes all people and all forms of creative expression at
Hendersonville’s only Kava lounge.

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.

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