Even in winter,
local agriculture
events bloom
By Scott Nicholson
nicholson@wataugademocrat.com

Even in the dead of winter, agricultural planning and education ideas continue to sprout. Workshops over the next two months will help anyone from the home grower to the commercial producer.

A Slow-Food High Country workshop is coming up Jan. 20. It will cover late-winter gardening and begins at 3:30 p.m. with a tour of Mary Gray’s garden in Boone where she has been experimenting with season extension. That tour will be followed by a potluck at Maggie McFadden’s house. For more information, e-mail slowfoodboone@gmail.com.

A log-grown shiitake mushroom workshop is coming up for fans of the fungi, with spawn orders due by Jan. 30. NCA&T State University Mycology program is operating its shiitake mushroom mycelium (spawn) distribution program again this year. The program encourages the growth of a regional mushroom production network.

In order to receive shiitake spawn, growers must agree to cut 200 or more oak logs this season and purchase the other mushroom inoculation supplies themselves, including drills, bits, spawn plungers and other equipment. For more details and to order spawn for Ashe, Watauga, and nearby counties, contact Richard Boylan at the Ashe County Extension Center via e-mail, or at (336) 219-2650.

The 2008 Western North Carolina Shiitake Mushroom Workshop will take place on Jan. 23 in Burnsville.

This will be a demonstration workshop for anyone who would like to learn how to inoculate logs with shiitake mushroom spawn. To register for the workshop, call Jean Harrison at (828) 255-5522 or jean_harrison@ncsu.edu.

For those wanting to be environmentally friendly and make a little money, a commercial-scale organic and certification workshop is coming up this month. The class is presented by the N.C. Cooperative Extension Service for farmers who want to either start or make the move to organic farming for profit.

This class is geared toward growers who are already set up for commercial scale production, with at least one acre available for cultivation.

Topics covered will include soils and fertility, disease identification and control, insect identification and control, weed management, post-harvest handling, certification, record-keeping, and marketing to wholesale buyers. The class will meet every Thursday at the Watauga County Extension Center through April 3. Cost is $50 and limited to 15 participants.

For more information, call the Watauga County Cooperative Extension office at (828) 264-3061, or e-mail Richard Boylan at richard_boylan@ncsu.edu.

Ag-options grant requests are available for the current year. Farmers who want to supplement their agricultural income through agricultural tourism ventures or a diversified mix of agricultural commodity production are encouraged to apply.

Grant requests should be $2,500 or more, up to $5,000, and unique and creative proposals are welcome.
The $2,500 grant is available to farmers who would like to try a new venture on their farm, and a $5,000 grant is available for farmers who commit to writing a business plan for their new venture.

Applications must be postmarked by Jan. 25. Contact Robert Hawk at (828) 456-3575 for more information.

Upcoming events for February include the N.C. Winegrowers Association Annual Meeting, Feb. 1-3 in Greensboro; 2008 Marketing Opportunities for Farmers Conference, Feb. 23 at Warren Wilson College in Swannanoa; and the Northern Piedmont Specialty Crops School, Feb. 29 in Roxboro.