Sponsored by Downtown SLC Farmers Market

The Amigo Farm tour is always a good time! We meet in Cedar City early in the morning and enjoy hot beverages and pastries before we load the shuttle bus. We will be heading to Kanab, driving through Zion National Park, and touring a mixed vegetable market garden, flower farm, and bison ranch. Lunch this year will be made by board member Chef Shon!

Symbria Patterson, co-founder of Red Acre Center, will be your guide.

All aboard!

Starting Location

Heritage Center

105 N 100 E

Cedar City, UT 84720

Sponsored by Western Ag Credit

The Amigo Farm tour is always a good time. We meet in Cedar City early in the morning and enjoy hot beverages and pastries at our first stop. Symbria Patterson, cofounder of Red Acre Center, will be aboard as your guide. You can anticipate enjoying an organic lunch and snacks along the way.

On the tour we have:

• Red Acre Farm CSA: A 2-acre Biodynamic, Organic and Real Organic Certified CSA going 15 years strong.

• Web Regen Agriculture: A 2-acre generational family farm property settled in the 1800’s that two young farmers are hell bent on reclaiming to its prior glory,

• Staheli Family Farm: A 35-acre Legacy Farm, established in 1889. Meet the woman who has been holding tight to her family's once 350-acres, as the land around her continues to be taken by urban sprawl.

• The Flowering Cottage: A recently established 8.5-acre Flower Farm and venue in Washington Fields.

Symbria Patterson, co-founder of Red Acre Center, will be your guide.

All aboard!

Please note that this is a full-day event, and participants can not attend any other pre-conference sessions at the same time.

Starting in Cedar City

In this hands-on workshop, Alison will spill the saucy secrets of canning to be ready when the urge to call grubhub hits. You'll learn all about canning veggies in season – and no, it's not just a summer fling. Even in the icy grip of winter, local farms are dishing out a root vegetable extravaganza, and we're seizing the best from Red Acre Farm's winter storage crops - beets, carrots, radishes, kohlrabi, and turnips. Hone your culinary skills, foster self-sufficiency, and savor the flavors of preserved produce long after the workshop concludes.

• Location

  • Red Acre Farm

    2322 West 4375 North

    Cedar City, UT 84721

Join our pre-conference workshop to dive deeper into the art and spiritual science of Biodynamics. We will explore the foundational teachings of Rudolf Steiner, the importance of Light and Sound in our work to regenerate our gardens, farms and ranches and how to foster relationships with all of Life.  Participants will learn how and why to use Biodynamic Preparations, instruments to increase vitality and other simple Biosprays. This workshop will include meditation, sections of lecture and hands on group experiences in the Greenhouse as well as outside around the farm and compost piles. Lunch is included.

Abundance by Design - A Primer in Permaculture and Other Success Strategies.

Join instructor Dee Atkin, who completed Geoff Lawton’s online Permaculture Design Course (PDC) in 2014, for a full-day workshop at the developing Duckworth Farm in Cedar City. During the workshop, you'll enjoy an organic, locally sourced lunch while participating in hands-on permaculture design activities. This course has the potential to transform your life!

If you are passionate about the earth, your health, and your community—and want to be the change—then this workshop is for you! You will gain valuable health tips to boost your energy, as well as strategies to ensure your success.

Please note that this is a full-day class, and participants can not attend any other pre-conference sessions at the same time.

Located in Cedar City

Spend a day with Laine and Porter at 5 Fingers Farm in New Harmony doing and learning all things milk goats. This workshop introduces the basics of milk goat husbandry and harvesting.

We will start in the goat shed and cover milking and goat care. We will then move inside and make fresh cheeses and learn the essentials of making dairy for your own kitchen. Following cheesemaking, lunch will be served featuring a sampling of goat meat and dairy.

After lunch we will take a goat from slaughter through hanging and go over the basics of meat production in a home dairy operation. Because when you have milk goats, you'll also have meat goats through kidding.

Please note that this is a full-day class, and participants can not attend any other pre-conference sessions at the same time.

Located in New Harmony

A rare opportunity to learn from cheesemaker Corrine Zinn, owner of Park City Creamery. She pairs her Belgian cheese-making experience with the Utah terroir to teach you in this hands-on class (limited to ten participants). You'll learn the art of crafting your very own goat feta and take a small tub home to enjoy. For lunch, a cheese board will be served with all of the Park City Creamery cheeses. Feel free to bring your own bottle of wine. 

Location

Red Acre Farm

2322 West 4375 North

Cedar City, UT 84721

A short overview of different pruning systems and discussion of pruning wounds. Followed by sensitive observations of the trees of Red Acre Farm in response to their pruning during 2023. Decisions will be made on the future pruning cycle for the trees and pruning will hopefully take place the same day. Lunch break from 12 PM - 1 PM.

• Location

  • Red Acre Farm

    2322 West 4375 North

    Cedar City, UT 84721

Sponsored By Iron County Farm Bureau

Cedar City's roots in livestock date back to the mid-1800s. Come join City Councilman Carter Wilkey and experience Cedar City's historic weekly auction that has been running since the 1940s. The market was started by local livestock men and has been run by locals since! Expect a live auction with some fast talking cattle rattle, an opportunity to purchase a meal or some pie from the Market Grill (ingredients may not meet our usual standards, but it's a true local experience! Eaters discretion advised), and an all around good time.

This is a free pre-conference, but tickets are limited.

Located in Cedar City

Hands-on. Learn how to make sausage, and take home 2 lbs pounds of sausage and detailed notes and recipes/formulas.

• Location

  • Red Acre Farm

    2322 West 4375 North

    Cedar City, UT 84721

Sponsored by E & I Conservation District

Led by Tony Richards of Utah Soil Health Partnership

Learn how the power of observation and some simple in-field tests can tell you how healthy your soil is and identify resource concerns that might be impacting the productivity of your soil. We will use a rainfall simulator to demonstrate how soil health principles impact its ability to be resilient to extreme weather conditions. We will make onsite comparisons of a biodynamic, certified organic, two-acre vegetable farm and a neighboring larger-scale alfalfa farm. 

Location

Red Acre Farm

2322 West 4375 North

Cedar City, UT 84721

Led by Paige of Cache Canning in Escalante.

Learn the basics of both water bath and pressure canning with an emphasis on modern food safety. Whether you're a beginner or a seasoned pro, you'll leave with skills and knowledge to add to your food preserving arsenal and leave with a few completed jars for your pantry.

Location

Red Acre Farm

2322 West 4375 North

Cedar City, UT 84721