This free workshop on spring gardening for beginners is provided by OSU County Extension.

Gardening is for everyone. You don’t have to have a big backyard to grow flowers, vegetables, herbs, and other plants. Whether you are a new gardener or a seasoned planter, you can learn about how to start a garden, the correct tools to use, proper soil testing, and how to plant seeds and harvest.

Educational handouts will be provided for the program. Books and support materials, and a tool lending library, are available for checkout.

For more information or to register, visit the event webpage, or contact the Southern Oaks Library by email or phone (405-631-4468).

At this free “No Hay” field day, learn to manage your forage for more yield, higher quality, and efficient utilization by livestock. Cut your workload and keep your money!

Lunch is provided. Please RSVP to help with the head count for the meal.

For more information or to RSVP, contact the Grady County Conservation District by email or phone (405-224-0523).

At the American Solar Grazing Association annual meeting, you will learn about 2022 highlights, programming for 2023, and upcoming ASGA projects, as well as meet ASGA’s membership team and much more! ASGA members will also vote on candidates for the Board of Directors. Only ASGA members are eligible to vote for board members, but non-members are welcome to attend.

The meeting is free and online, but RSVP is required.

For more information or to RSVP, visit the event webpage, or email ASGA.

Planning Your Pollinator Habitat (MJV webinar)

Stay connected with the latest monarch conservation topics by attending Monarch Joint Venture’s free monthly webinars. This series is a unique opportunity to hear from experts across various interdisciplinary fields related to monarchs, other pollinators, their habitats, and the threats and pressures that make conservation urgent. Bring your questions and get ready to discover how you can get involved to protect monarchs.

All webinars are one hour long and occur at 1:00 PM Central Time. Please note that scheduled webinars are subject to change.

This free webinar is first-come, first-served, with a capacity of 500 attendees. Register early to ensure a place.

For more information or to register, visit the registration page, or contact Stacy Carlson by email or phone (651-222-7631).

All past webinars are available to view; visit MJV’s webinar archive.  This series is co-hosted by the Monarch Joint Venture and the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service’s National Conservation Training Center.

At this free Vendor Resource Fair, learn about EBT and DUO, the Food Freedom Act and Oklahoma Grown and licensing while connecting with representatives from ODAFF, Farm Services Administration, Oklahoma County Extension and the ONIE Project.

The event is free, but RSVP is required by March 17.

For more information or to register, visit the registration page, or contact Brandi Buys by email or phone (405-713-1125).

Are you interested in learning how to can foods? The Choctaw Library is hosting a Canning 101 program with the help of the OSU Extension presenter, Taylor Conner. Attendees will learn how to can orange jelly and be able to take it home.

For more information or to register, visit the event webpage, or contact Taylor Conner by email or phone (405-713-1125).

Tune in to RFD-TV on March 29 at 5:30pm EDT for the premiere of a new “America’s Heartland” episode showcasing farmers and ranchers from across the country who are leaders in sustainable innovations.

SARE partnered with PBS KVIE to produce this episode, which features farmers describing their commitment to sustainability, how they plan to meet farming challenges of today and tomorrow, and how SARE has impacted their farming practices.

Watch as Bryce Wrigley of Delta Junction, Alaska, discusses the importance of soil health and how cover crops have improved his overall operation. He addresses the need for building food security in Alaska as well as how his farm is working to address this issue at the local level. Lastly, see how Wrigley works to share his newfound knowledge with other farmers.

In North Dakota, brother and sister Drew and Erin Guagler run a 4,000-acre ranch. The Guaglers have received several SARE grants over the years to test out new farming methods on their land. They’ll talk about their grant projects that focused on bale grazing as a way to improve soil health. By prioritizing the health of the land, they know they’ll be able to pass it down to future generations.

Pennsylvania farmer Hannah Brubaker-Smith’s story is unique because she not only received a SARE grant but also served as a leader on the SARE committee that decides how the grant programs will address agricultural needs throughout the Northeast. She and her wife Debra have been farming in Cuba Mills, Penn., on land that has been in the family for 40 years. They’ll share how diversification and new marketing opportunities have benefited their farm.

Lastly, the episode features a collaboration between farmers and researchers: an important component of many SARE grants that allows innovative ideas to be tested in real-world farming conditions. In west Texas, Dr. Reagan Noland is working with rancher Chad Raines to see if running sheep in organic cotton can be an effective method of weed management that allows a farmer to reduce their use of tillage.

Watch the episode on RFD-TV, March 29, at 5:30pm EDT. RFD-TV is carried nationwide on DISH and DIRECTV (satellite), and many cable systems: https://www.rfdtv.com/find-us-on-tv.

Join the Okmulgee County Conservation District for this free urban soil health workshop. Lunch is provided, but RSVP is required.

For more information or to RSVP, contact the Okmulgee County Conservation District by email or phone (918-756-8111).

In this free webinar on marketing and messaging for urban farms, Katie Nixon will present. Nixon co-operates Green Gate Family Farm with her husband. It is a certified organic diversified market farm where they produce vegetables, fruits, bedding plants, eggs and flowers. Katie is a founding member and current president of the KC Food Hub, a farmer-owned and farmer-run cooperative serving the wholesale market. For West Central Missouri Community Action Agency, Katie serves as the Food Systems Director. In this role, she has brought in more than $2 million in USDA and other funding to improve the regional food system. Katie has participated in sustainable food and farming work in Washington, Ireland, South Africa, Mexico and New Zealand. In 2020, she was selected as a Zhi-Xing China Eisenhower Fellow.

For more information or to register, visit the event webpage, or contact Tricia Jenkins by email or phone (785-532-6170).

This webinar is part of Gaining Ground, a free webinar series geared toward agriculture educators. The goal of Gaining Ground is to equip agriculture educators with knowledge from national experts that support Urban Food Systems enterprises in the region. Participants will learn technical and systems-level information for successful Urban Food Systems practices through the series.

Each webinar is delivered by experts from the urban core such as urban farmers, nonprofit educators, food policy advocates and government workers. Webinars are one hour in length.

Gaining Ground is presented by the Urban Food Systems program at K-State Olathe.

What is that weed?  Are you a new farmer transitioning to organic production? This webinar will highlight available free tools to assist farmers and agriculture professionals with the identification of weeds and herbicide injuries in field crops. This webinar will also cover the use of the Take Action Herbicide Mode of Action chart for farmers in transition.

For more information or to register, visit the event webpage, or contact the Rodale Institute by email or phone (610-683-1400).