Webinar Schedule and Participant Guide
Webinar Dates
Live instruction for 2025 will begin on Mon Sept 22 with our first webinar from 6:30-8pm Eastern and continue at the same time every Monday through Oct 27th. All webinars are recorded and posted here in your online classroom to watch anytime. Once enrolled in this course, you will retain access to all materials indefinitely and may return to participate in future live offerings of the course as well. We hope you'll join us!
To access the webinars during our next live session, you will simply need to click on the webinar join link that is posted in the Weekly Resources section of this course. This link only works on the appointed day and time for the webinar, so while you can try clicking it sooner, it won't open the webinar meeting for you.
You may also join our webinars from a mobile device by installing the official Zoom app from your preferred app store. Then, when it's time for a webinar, simply open your Zoom app and enter the 9-digit meeting ID that will be posted along with the webinar link.
Weekly Topics
Our weekly webinars are designed to expose you to a wide range of farmers, farming styles, enterprises, and business models.
First webinar: Erica Frenay, Course Overview and Getting Started in Farming
Join course facilitator Erica Frenay for an intro to the course, farming advice from successful farmers, and an intro to holistic decision-making.
Second webinar: Erica Frenay, Shelterbelt Farm
Review of Week 1 homework and questions; then Erica will share Shelterbelt Farm's start-up process, focusing especially on how her family's values have shaped their decision-making and goal-setting.
Third webinar: Dan Rivera, Triple Green Jade Farm
Review of Week 2 homework and questions; then we will be joined by Dan Rivera of Triple Green Jade Farm. Dan farms in the Adirondack region of NY, raising pastured eggs and meats and also running a bakery using freshly milled local and local grains. Dan has embarked on a cooperative project also, which offers the opportunity for people of all ages to buy into land access, business partnership, and a small developing ecovillage on the farm. This sort of cooperation is becoming more common as the land is increasingly unaffordable and people realize the potential benefits of working together toward shared goals.
Fourth webinar: Farmer Presenter TBA
Review of the Week 3 homework and questions; then we'll hear from a farmer with helpful ideas and real-world farm solutions.
Fifth webinar: Alex Stewart and Tara Taylor, Unadilla Community Farm
Review of Week 4 homework and questions; then Alex Stewart and Tara Taylor will share the story of the Unadilla Community Farm being started by a collection of WWOOFers, and the recent transition of leadership and ownership to a new round of beginning farmers that includes Alex and Tara, as well as the recent preservation of the land by a land trust. They are excited to tell you how inheriting a not-for-profit, community driven food forest model has been a profoundly affirming experience of non-extractive food systems and share what they've learned along the way.
Sixth webinar: Student Presentations, Wrap-Up, and Next Steps
We will have a couple of brave volunteer students from this course share their farm start-up plan so far, and allow time for a final Q&A at the end. This webinar may stretch a little longer than the previous weeks, depending on how many student presenters we have and how many questions you all want to discuss!
Zoom Participant's Guide
The below guide explains how to use the Zoom video platform for this course's weekly webinars.