The 3rd annual SC Organic Growing Conference, sponsored by the SC Organization for Organic Living (SCOOL) will be hosted on March 1 by Greenville Technical College’s Culinary Institute of the Carolinas on White Horse Road. Farmers and food systems experts from North and South Carolina will teach classes on season extension; techniques for pasturing poultry, hogs and cattle; seed saving and selling; improving farm profitability; bee keeping; aquaponics; small farm tools; permaculture; raising black soldier fly larvae as a feed supplement; herb cultivation; organic gardening; vermiculture; mushroom cultivation; making your own dog food and more.
Local instructors include Paul Coleman from Early Bird Farm in Ware Shoals; Tradd Cotter from Mushroom Mountain in Liberty; and Palmetto Farmers Market members Rebecca McKinney, SCOOL, Piedmont; Chris Sermons from Bio-Way Farms in Ware Shoals; and Mac McGee, Carolina Grassfed Beef/Double M Farm in Anderson.
Conference sponsors include SC Farm Bureau, WP Rawl, Carolina Farm Stewardship Association, Edible Upcountry, Slow Food Upstate, and Clemson University’s Sustainable Agriculture Program.
The $65 registration fee ($15 for middle and high-school students) includes 4 classes, a light breakfast and a locally-sourced lunch. Register at: http://www.brownpapertickets.com/event/467400. For more information, visit www.scorganicliving.com or contact Rebecca McKinney at rebecca@scorganicliving.com (864.414.5337).
