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Farmer Field Days, Workshops and WebinarsMeet up with other farmers and agricultural professionals on working farms to see organic systems in action! Share your successes and your challenges with peers and connect with useful resource providers. OAK's Farmer Education Events are on-farm and virtual learning opportunities offered monthly for farmers, ag professionals and local food system allies. OAK welcomes farmers from all types and scales of farms - large and small scale, organic and conventional, urban and rural.OAK Members and Member Farms receive discounted registration pricing to OAK events. Keep up-to-date with the details of every farmer-to-farmer learning event - subscribe to our Field Notes newsletter.
Explore event Summaries and Resources for past farmer-focused events (2022-2024) below. Have suggestions for future farms, practices or topics to highlight? Let OAK know.
Upcoming EventsCover Crops, Perennials and Diversified Crops: Sustainable Practices for Long-Term FarmingSeedleaf's Headwater Farm, Lexington KY -- April 24, 2025
Join us for this Field Day at Headwater Farm to learn more about Seedleaf’s community farming practices during seasonal crop transitions and the coordinated efforts of growing food and supporting local ecosystems. Learn about Seedleaf’s partnership with USDA’s Natural Resources Conservation Service to support healthy soil-building, improve Elkhorn Creek’s water quality and enhance pollinator habitat. Discover Seedleaf’s cooperative approach with multiple community gardeners on shared land to ensure clarity and coordination in a community space. Experience their techniques for sowing and terminating cover crops (crimping, tarping and mowing) with multiple scales of equipment. Tour Headwater Farm’s garden production to explore seasonal crop choices and management in the field and high tunnels, and learn more about their agroforestry practices and perennial orchards. This event is supported by a cooperative agreement with the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA)’s Natural Resources Conservation Service (NRCS) and by the Kentucky Agricultural Development Fund (KADF). Registration fees are waived for this event; registration is required.
Registration Coming Soon
First Five Years of an Organic Market GardenDreamTime Market Gardens, Lexington KY -- June 10, 2025
From an open field in the summer of 2020 to a certified organic farm with 1.2 acres of open and covered vegetable and herb production serving an on-farm market, restaurant, grocery and wholesale outlets, DreamTime Market Garden has grown steadily in its first five years. Zach Selby transitioned his work from full-time chef and backyard gardener to full-time organic farmer by learning from other farmers, building in annual growth to infrastructure and production systems, cultivating market and customer relationships, leaning on funding and technical assistance programs, expanding crops and product offerings and growing his farm staff.
Grow Appalachia, the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s (USDA) National Institute of Food and Agriculture and the Kentucky Agricultural Development Fund (KADF) provided support for this Field Day.
Registration Coming Soon
Learnings From a Decade of Rural Community Supported AgricultureOld Homeplace Farm, Oneida KY -- June 23, 2025
Maggie Bowling of Old Homeplace Farm is no stranger to vegetable production and community-supported agriculture. Growing up on her parents’ organic farm and marrying into a pastured livestock operation, Maggie launched her vegetable production in 2014. This decade of learning and growth allowed her to build a strong customer base, improve and expand her production, diversify her crop offerings and trial different market and sales options. In addition to an online store and local drop-off options, Old Homeplace Farm offers 20-week Community Supported Agriculture (CSA) shares featuring 35 crops and options to add meat, cut flower or honey selections.
In this Farmer Field Day, Maggie will provide a look at her greenhouse, high tunnels, packing shed and field crops as she walks participants through her vegetable production, post-harvest and packing systems. Maggie will share the growth of her farm, including equipment, infrastructure and labor needs, while maintaining the growth to a scale that a small crew of three or four farm staff can manage. Join the Field Day to hear Maggie’s considerations of pursuing organic certification and her involvement with the Kentucky Farm Share Coalition. Grow Appalachia, the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s (USDA) National Institute of Food and Agriculture and the Kentucky Agricultural Development Fund (KADF) provided support for this Field Day.
Registration Coming Soon
Farm Resilience Through Healthy SoilsLoretto Motherhouse Farm, Nerinx, KY -- July 1, 2025
For 200 years, the Sisters of Loretto have stewarded the land and natural resources of the Loretto Motherhouse Farm in Marion County. For the past 40 years, the Loretto Community has engaged in conservation practices throughout their livestock pastures, crop fields and woodlands. The farm has been in no-till production for more than 20 years and has used cover crops for the past 10 years. At this OAK Farmer Field Day, Cody and Angela Rakes will share the Farm’s crop production systems using no-till methods, limited chemical inputs, cover crop rotation and interplanting and livestock integration. With a focus on building and supporting healthy soils, the Rakes are constantly learning and experimenting with different seeding and establishment methods, crop timing and selection to allow for soil-building and productive income-per-acre results. To diversify their operation and support their mission-driven community outreach and education, the Farm also produces several acres of pumpkins in cover-cropped fields, yielding clean produce with increased weed and fungal protection. Join the Field Day to explore their pumpkin, corn, soybean, and food-grade small grain systems; production and harvest equipment; and in-field and adjacent land conservation practices. Support for this project comes from the U.S. Department of Agriculture's Partnership for Climate Smart Commodities under agreement number NR233A750004G092 and from the Kentucky Agricultural Development Fund (KADF).
Registration Coming SoonPast EventsExplore Summaries and Resources from OAK's Farmer Education events from 2024, 2023 and 2022. View previous OAK virtual events on our OAK YouTube page, including recordings, snapshots and lessons learned from host farmers.
Register Today!Farmer-Focused Field Days, Workshops and Webinars for the farming community
The Organic Association of Kentucky's (OAK) Field Days are on-farm and virtual learning opportunities for farmers, ag professionals and local food system advocates. OAK welcomes farmers from all types and scales of farms - large and small scale, organic and conventional, urban and rural.
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Along the headwaters of the Elkhorn Creek in Northeastern Fayette County, Headwater Farm cultivates nutrient-dense produce for community partners and supports small local agribusinesses in Lexington. On this 30-acre parcel of leased land, Lexington nonprofit Seedleaf provides acreage to small-scale growers, cultivates culturally significant seeds for organic markets and offers community education on organic agriculture and agroforestry.
