Growing Better Final Graphic email

Presenters

Adner Abreu

Adner cur­rently serves as the farm manager at the Eden Valley Farm. Over the years, he has had the oppor­tu­nity to grow in the varied cli­mates and ter­rains of the Domini­can Repub­lic, Arkansas, and Col­orado. Adner is pas­sion­ate about growing quality produce and sharing his knowl­edge with others.

Presentation

Desarrollando un Huerto Prospero/Developing A Thriving Garden

En un huerto hay muchas vari­antes, mas este curso cubrire­mos todos los prin­ci­p­ios que servirán de guía para que tengas en tu huerto una expe­ri­en­cia prospera.

A garden has many vari­a­tions but in this class we will cover guiding prin­ci­ples that will make your garden a suc­cess­ful experience.

Jose Abreu

Jose is the founder and pres­i­dent of the Campo Real Mis­sion­ary Foun­da­tion, an inter­na­tional evan­ge­list, the current direc­tor of Mission Esper­anza and evan­ge­list of the Domini­can Union of Seventh-day Adven­tists, and author of the book Prac­ti­cal Guide to Leaving the City

Presentations

Guia Practica para Vivir en el Campo/Getting to the Country

En esta pre­sentación, hablare­mos de ele­men­tos prác­tico que debemos tomar en cuenta cuando decidi­mos salir de la ciudad. Cuál es el lugar ideal en armonía con nuestra cultura, ide­ología, capaci­dad y recur­sos.
Com­par­tire­mos sobre las formas más con­ve­nientes de desar­rol­lar a nuestra familia. También como avanzar en el plan de Dios sin dejar de tomar en cuenta los valores que hay que desar­rol­lar en este nuevo estilo de vida.

In the pre­sen­ta­tion we will talk about how to prepare to go to the coun­try­side even if we are in the city, what is the ideal place in harmony with our culture, ide­ol­ogy, capa­bil­i­ties and we will share family edu­ca­tion of our chil­dren with the purpose of devel­op­ing a coun­try­side expe­ri­ence that is in harmony with God’s plan.

Planes para Desarrollar Nuestra Agricultura/Garden Planning: What, Where, and When to Plant

Nuestro enfoque prin­ci­pal será; que, cuando y donde plantar. Hablare­mos de téc­ni­cas para elegir el tipo de cultivo ade­cuado en armonía con la tierra, clima y var­iedad de los pro­duc­tos a cul­ti­var. Usando métodos tradi­cionales para conocer las mejores var­iedad en relación a donde nos ubique­mos. Pidi­endo así, obtener mejores resul­ta­dos en lo que sembremos.

In view of the chal­lenges of field expe­ri­ence in agri­cul­ture, we will present the best tech­niques on how to know the type of product appro­pri­ate for each climate and type of land, the best variety of seed adapted to the climate where we are located, the man­age­ment and use of dif­fer­ent seasons, ade­quate fer­til­iza­tion and tech­niques appro­pri­ate to the envi­ron­ment in order to have better results.

Elias & Yumara Acevedo

Elias & Yumara Acevedo, whose family calling has been service, have been involved with medical mis­sion­ary work since 2009. Lifestyle edu­ca­tors with expe­ri­ence in mis­sions, herbal & natural reme­dies, Bible work, mid­wifery, car­pen­try and WFR train­ing, they with their chil­dren have been blessed to min­is­ter together wher­ever God has led.

Presentations

Hierbas Medicinales Para Usar Y Cultivar/Medicinal Herbs To Use And Grow

Hierbas med­i­c­i­nales ben­efi­ciosas, y sus propiedades que se recomienda saber y tener disponibles para tiempos difíciles.

Ben­e­fi­cial med­i­c­i­nal herbs and their prop­er­ties, that are rec­om­mended to famil­iar­ize your­self with and have avail­able for dif­fi­cult times.

Herbal Remedies for Kids Ages 5-8
Kids

A fun inter­ac­tive class on simple herbal reme­dies kids can make at home.

Weston Adams

West­on’s home­steading began at age 13 when his parents moved to central Ten­nessee. He devel­oped a passion for peren­nial fruit crops, which he main­tains to this day. Weston com­pleted a BS in Sus­tain­able Food and Farming in 2022 and presently works at the Baker Creek Heir­loom Seeds research farm.

Presentations

Saving Your Own Seeds!! Ages 5-8

Saving seeds is so much fun! Let’s discuss the dif­fer­ence between open-pol­li­nated seeds and hybrids, and let’s learn how we can save our own seeds year after year after year!

Making Your Own Varieties!! Ages 9-12

Every­one can breed their own new garden vari­eties — come see how! You’ll learn to turn your garden into a lab­o­ra­tory, and you’ll get some special seeds to jump­start the process!

Grafting Your Own Fruit Trees!
Hands-on Additional Fee
2 presentations, 1 hour each
20 person limit per presentation
$25.00 per person

If you want to prop­a­gate your own fruit trees, you must learn to graft! Learn the what, why, and how of graft­ing, and take home enough sup­plies to get started this year!!

Jace Addison

Jace Addison was born and raised in Hico, TX and spent most of his child­hood on the family farm. He is now serving as a pastor in the Hico and Joshua Cowboy churches and lives on his family farm with his wife Kayla.

Presentation

Prayer Time and Devotional

Ariella Andrade

Ariella Andrade lives in Middle Ten­nessee with her mom Jasmine Andrade running a small home­stead. She wants to encour­age other young people to pursue an agrar­ian lifestyle and work for the Lord.

Presentation

Testimonywith Jasmine Andrade
1 hour and 30 minutes

Mother-daugh­ter country living journey in resilience and reformation.

Jasmine Andrade

Jasmine Andrade is a realtor in the middle Ten­nessee, she and her daugh­ter Ariella run a small home­stead called Sweetly Eden Farms. They sell plant based baked goods, organic produce and give horse trail rides. With God’s guid­ance they have been able to min­is­ter to others and share their knowledge.

Presentations

Nuts and Bolts of Making the Purchase

Buying prop­erty, pit­falls to avoid and finding your homestead.

Testimonywith Ariella Andrade
1 hour and 30 minutes

Mother-daugh­ter country living journey in resilience and reformation.

Kevin Brown

Kevin Brown cur­rently serves as the Pres­i­dent of Andrews Service Cor­po­ra­tion, (an affil­i­ate of Andrews Uni­ver­sity) in Berrien Springs, MI, and the Chief Finan­cial Officer at Farmers Friend in Cen­ter­ville, TN.
Kevin holds an MS in Infor­ma­tion Systems Man­age­ment from Seattle Pacific Uni­ver­sity, an MBA in Finance from the Uni­ver­sity of Illi­nois, and a Bach­e­lor of Busi­ness Admin­is­tra­tion in Account­ing from Andrews Uni­ver­sity.
His work expe­ri­ence includes service in public account­ing, man­u­fac­tur­ing, farming, physi­cian prac­tice man­age­ment, and phil­an­thropy.
Kevin and his wife, Mar­garet (John­ston) reside in Berrien Springs, MI. They have two sons — Sam (Naval Officer) and Simon Luke (Grad­u­ate student).

Presentations

Core Competencies of Entrepreneurshipwith Nick Knecht and Jonathan Dysinger

There are some com­pe­ten­cies that are required of entre­pre­neurs, regard­less of what indus­try or type of busi­ness is involved. We will talk about three of them during this inter­ac­tive session.

Entrepreneurial Finance

We will review a few basic finance best prac­tices’ for busi­ness owners, and con­sider addi­tional advanced topics as time allows during this inter­ac­tive session.

Entrepreneur Panel

We will invite several current entre­pre­neurs to share some of their expe­ri­ences in running a busi­ness and then respond to ques­tions from the audience.

Chett & Melissa Clayton

Chett and Melissa own and operate a small farm in North­ern Michi­gan. Between Chett’s full-time job, home­school­ing, farming, and raising two boys, it is always an adventure! 

Presentation

Grow Great GARLIC!

Come take an inside look at the best garlic vari­eties, cover crops, fer­til­iz­ers, plant­ing and mulching methods, and harvesting/​drying tricks to grow the best garlic around!

Franklin Cobos

Cur­rently licensed to prac­tice med­i­cine in 5 states, Dr. Cobos is board cer­ti­fied in both Anes­the­si­ol­ogy and Lifestyle Med­i­cine. His log home in the woods is used as a part-time san­i­tar­ium, well­ness edu­ca­tion center, and lifestyle med­i­cine prac­tice loca­tion. The year round garden serves as the pharmacy.

Presentations

Homestead Heating 2.0

Decid­ing how best to heat your home is chal­leng­ing. This class will present the pros and cons of dif­fer­ent heating fuels and methods, focus­ing on wood heat. Topics will include how to source the best wood, chain­saw selec­tion, basic safety prin­ci­ples, and main­te­nance tips, and con­sid­er­a­tions you need to care­fully think about before as you decide on how to heat your home.

Budding Electricians Ages 9-12
Hands-onKids
Fun Numbers for Families Ages 9-12
Kids

Math can be easier and more fun that you may have thought! Learn ways to crunch the numbers for simple gar­den­ing sit­u­a­tions without using a cal­cu­la­tor. Get to use your mem­o­rized times tables (numbers 1 through 10), and the simple divi­sions of the day and the dollar (hours, minutes and seconds; cents, dimes and quar­ters). Parents may also attend, but must have their children’s per­mis­sion before being allowed to use a cal­cu­la­tor in class!

Tick Bites - What Doctors Want You to Knowwith Teresa Sherard

Avoid­ing the dry, boring format of some medical pre­sen­ta­tions, this session will be a con­ver­sa­tion between Dr. Sherard and Cobos, fol­lowed by Q&A. Topics will include pre­ven­ta­tive mea­sures and man­age­ment strate­gies across the spec­trum of both tra­di­tional (antibi­otics) and simple reme­dies (herbs, hydrother­apy) using real patient case illustrations.

Katherina Daul

Kathe­rina is a K‑2 teacher and cur­rently flower farming evenings and in the summer on Boun­ti­ful Bless­ings Farm. She loves serving the Lord through sharing God’s love in the opening buds and edu­cat­ing chil­dren through true education.

Presentations

Blossoming Beauty Ages 5-8
Kids

We will dis­cover the beauty of flowers and explore how to grow and harvest them with the purpose of bless­ing others.

Blossoming Beauty Ages 9-12
Kids

We will dis­cover the beauty of flowers and explore how to grow and harvest them with the purpose of bless­ing others.

Skip Dodson

Skip Dodson embraced the Advent message as a 25 year old aero­space engi­neer­ing grad­u­ate student. Over the past three decades he has served as a Bible worker, a dis­trict pastor, an admin­is­tra­tor, and as a college dean and reli­gion chair. He is cur­rently serving as a self-sup­port­ing mis­sion­ary based in Col­orado. Skip has been united in min­istry for nearly 30 years with his wife Renee. The couple have two young adult chil­dren, both of whom are part­ners with them in mission.

Presentations

Construction Theory Part 1: Dirt to Doorknobs
Additional Fee
1 hour
24 person limit
$100.00 per person

Under­stand­ing Build­ing Design and Sequence

Note: fee covers parts 1, 2 and 3 of class.

Construction Theory Part 2: Nailing Down Costs
Additional Fee
1 hour
24 person limit
$100.00 per person

How to Budget for Your Project

Note: fee covers parts 1, 2 and 3 of class.

Construction Part 3: Hands-on
Hands-on Additional Fee
2 presentations, 3 hours each
12 person limit per presentation
$100.00 per person

Basic Wall Framing (90 min)

Demys­ti­fy­ing the Elec­tri­cal System (45 min)

Working with Pex Tubing (45 min)

Note: fee covers parts 1, 2 and 3 of class.

Caleb Dysinger

Caleb Dysinger was born and raised on Boun­ti­ful Bless­ings Farm in middle Ten­nessee where he farms with his parents and brother. As he grew up, farming turned from a burden into his career choice. He loves the chal­lenge of stream lining and making things run more efficiently.

Presentations

Mighty Microgreens! Ages 5-8with Pam Dysinger
DemoKids

Caleb Dysinger (a micro­green farmer) and his mom, Pam (a farmer’s wife) will open your eyes not only to how mighty” micro­greens are but also how mighty” chil­dren are! They may be small but they are mighty!

Mighty Microgreens! Ages 9-12with Pam Dysinger
DemoKids

Caleb Dysinger (a micro­green farmer) and his mom, Pam (a farmer’s wife) will open your eyes not only to how mighty” micro­greens are but also how mighty” chil­dren are! They may be small but they are mighty!

Growing Lettuce in Summer Heat: Tips and Tricks

Dis­cover the secrets to suc­cess­fully growing crisp, deli­cious lettuce even in the swel­ter­ing summer heat. This class will provide you with essen­tial tips and tricks to keep your lettuce thriv­ing during the hottest months. Learn about heat-tol­er­ant vari­eties, optimal plant­ing sched­ules, effec­tive water­ing tech­niques, and shading strategies.

Edwin Dysinger

Edwin and Jen­nifer Dysinger and their chil­dren spent 16 years pio­neer­ing in Sudan, Tan­za­nia and Yemen with ADRA and OCI, working to improve the lives of poor and rural fam­i­lies. That was fol­lowed by 10 years of growing produce with Boun­ti­ful Bless­ings Farm. They enjoy devel­op­ing their home­stead on the family farm, working with son Paul on Seed­time, and spend­ing time with their parents, sib­lings, and 11 grandchildren!

Presentations

How to Start Plants That Thrivewith Paul Dysinger

Dis­cover the art of start­ing your own plant starts at home! Come learn what kind of potting mix to use, the right fer­til­izer to feed your plants, and more.

Soil 101 for The Home Gardenerwith Paul Dysinger

Does soil testing scare you? Come dis­cover six simple soil prin­ci­ples anyone can use to start build­ing healthy soil in their back­yard right now.

Garden Maintenance Tricks for the Backyard Gardenerwith Paul Dysinger

It’s one thing to plant a garden — but now how are you going to main­tain it? Come learn tried and true tricks to keep your garden thriv­ing all year long.

John Dysinger

John Dysinger, along with his wife Pam and their chil­dren, started Boun­ti­ful Bless­ings Farm in the fall of 1998 (after 8 years of class­room teach­ing). He has learned almost every­thing the hard way, but is thank­ful for the many lessons God has taught him in the process. Now his passion is to encour­age others to expe­ri­ence the bless­ings of an agrar­ian life.

Presentations

Berry Good Strawberries

Straw­ber­ries are not an easy crop to grow, but if you follow all the tips I will give in this class, you should be able to achieve success!

Interns, U-turns and Returnswith Pam Dysinger

Have you con­sid­ered interns on your farm? If so, why? In this class, we will examine the why’s and how’s of running a suc­cess­ful intern­ship program.

The Sabbatical--Binding Burden or Bountiful Blessing?

If you have ever won­dered about the Bib­li­cal command to rest the land every 7th year, come hear our per­sonal tes­ti­mony and research from the Bible and EGW.

Weather or Not

In this two hour class we will spend the first hour looking at all the major factors that deter­mine weather and how they combine to produce what we expe­ri­ence on a daily basis. (i.e. Weather 101). The second hour will specif­i­cally look at what we can do as farmers/​gardeners to temper the neg­a­tive effects of weather on our crops.

Jonathan Dysinger

Jonathan grew up on a family farm in Middle Ten­nessee and, at an early age, started taking an inter­est in busi­ness endeav­ors. He now runs an inter­na­tional busi­ness that man­u­fac­tures and dis­trib­utes tools and sup­plies for the small farm indus­try. His expe­ri­ences have helped to develop a passion for busi­ness and the min­istry oppor­tu­ni­ties that it offers.

Presentations

Core Competencies of Entrepreneurshipwith Kevin Brown and Nick Knecht

There are some com­pe­ten­cies that are required of entre­pre­neurs, regard­less of what indus­try or type of busi­ness is involved. We will talk about three of them during this inter­ac­tive session.

Foundations of Effective Leadership

Join us to explore the essen­tial prin­ci­ples of effec­tive lead­er­ship. Dis­cover how to inspire and guide your team using proven strate­gies and a faith-driven approach to achieve success.

Joshua Dysinger

Joshua Dysinger grew up working with his family on Boun­ti­ful Bless­ings Farm, and now manages the winter growing season along with his wife Kelli. Joshua also manages the harvest and mar­ket­ing for both summer and winter season as well as selling pasture raised eggs from his large flock of hens.

Presentation

Field to Fridge: A Deep Dive into Harvest and Processing

In this class we will be going through the systems and prin­ci­ples that I have found to most effi­ciently manage harvest and pro­cess­ing of your produce, pro­vid­ing the highest quality product pos­si­ble for your customers.

Pam Dysinger

Pam Dysinger loves the agrar­ian life with all its oppor­tu­ni­ties for labor and min­istry. She and John started Boun­ti­ful Bless­ings Farm in 1998 and since then they have been reaping the ben­e­fits of farm life. She is mother of 5 chil­dren, and reg­u­larly enjoys visits from her 5 grandchildren.

Presentations

Mighty Microgreens! Ages 5-8with Caleb Dysinger
DemoKids

Caleb Dysinger (a micro­green farmer) and his mom, Pam (a farmer’s wife) will open your eyes not only to how mighty” micro­greens are but also how mighty” chil­dren are! They may be small but they are mighty!

Mighty Microgreens! Ages 9-12with Caleb Dysinger
DemoKids

Caleb Dysinger (a micro­green farmer) and his mom, Pam (a farmer’s wife) will open your eyes not only to how mighty” micro­greens are but also how mighty” chil­dren are! They may be small but they are mighty!

Interns, U-turns and Returnswith John Dysinger

Have you con­sid­ered interns on your farm? If so, why? In this class, we will examine the why’s and how’s of running a suc­cess­ful intern­ship program.

Greater Simplicity

In this class we will look at ways to live more simply, on less money and yet have a full and abun­dant life.

Preserving the Harvest

In this class we will be dis­cussing tools, tips and tech­niques for simple and effi­cient food preservation.

Paul Dysinger

Paul Dysinger enjoys teach­ing people all over the world how to grow their own healthy, nutri­ent-dense, organic food through online garden train­ing and soft­ware — www​.seed​time​.us. He is the blessed husband to his wife Natasha and father of two sons and one daugh­ter. They cur­rently live in TN and enjoy seeing how much food they can grow on their small homestead.

Presentations

Starting Your Very Own Garden Ages 9-12
Kids
Starting Your Very Own Garden Ages 5-8
Kids
How to Plan Your Garden Without Stress or Guesswork

Dis­cover how to plan your garden in three simple steps. Let’s cut through the clutter and get your garden plan off to a great start this year!

How to Start Plants That Thrivewith Edwin Dysinger

Dis­cover the art of start­ing your own plant starts at home! Come learn what kind of potting mix to use, the right fer­til­izer to feed your plants, and more.

Soil 101 for The Home Gardenerwith Edwin Dysinger

Does soil testing scare you? Come dis­cover six simple soil prin­ci­ples anyone can use to start build­ing healthy soil in their back­yard right now.

Garden Maintenance Tricks for the Backyard Gardenerwith Edwin Dysinger

It’s one thing to plant a garden — but now how are you going to main­tain it? Come learn tried and true tricks to keep your garden thriv­ing all year long.

Diana Fleming

Dr Diana Fleming PhD is a licensed dietit­ian grad­u­ate from Tufts Uni­ver­sity and a lifestyle med­i­cine nutri­tion pro­fes­sional from the Amer­i­can College of Lifestyle Med­i­cine. For 20 years she worked for the non-profit orga­ni­za­tion Ardmore Insti­tute of Health where she was Direc­tor of Nutri­tion Ser­vices of the Lifestyle Center of America, co-author of The Full Plate Diet and The 30-Day Dia­betes Miracle cook­book, taught nutri­tion, devel­oped pro­grams, ana­lyzed recipes, con­ducted webi­nars on various lifestyle sub­jects and pro­vided nutri­tion coach­ing to scores of patients, family and friends. Today, Diana uses those bless­ings from the Lord to further His Kingdom by serving as Health Evan­ge­list for the Ardmore SDA church.

Presentation

Plants & Gut Microbiome--What's the Connection?

The Gut Micro­biome is a hot topic today. Every branch of med­i­cine is explor­ing its impact on health and disease. Why? This two-part talk delves into the basics of the gut micro­biome: what is it, how do we keep it healthy, how does it keep us healthy, and how does it relate to the Eden Diet and AdAgrA?

Fred Flint

Fred is pas­sion­ate about family, mis­sions, prac­ti­cal country living, and gar­den­ing; is married to Marie, and is father to three of the finest young people ever. He has been involved in agri­cul­ture since a very young age, and start­ing at age 15, he has led out in various insti­tu­tional farms.

Presentations

Formas Prácticas que Harán tu Mudanza al Campo sea un Éxito/Practical Ways to Make Your Move to the Country a Success

Lec­ciones del viaje de des­cubrim­iento de una familia mien­tras; por ensayo y error, vic­to­rias y der­ro­tas; encuen­tra y forma un pequeño pedazo de paraíso en Tennessee.

Lessons from a family’s journey of dis­cov­ery as they, by trial and error, vic­to­ries and defeats, find and form a small piece of par­adise in Tennessee.

Tips for Finding Success with a Ministry Farm

We will delve into some of the key factors that help towards success with an insti­tu­tional farm.

Métodos Seguros para el Control de Plagas y Malezas en el Jardín/Safe and Secure Methods for Control of Garden Pests and Weeds

Claves para pre­venir y con­tro­lar plagas y malezas comunes en el jardín uti­lizando medios sen­cil­los y eficaces.

This class will give you the keys to prevent and control common garden pests and weeds using simple and effec­tive means.

Varias Formas Prácticas de Aumentar la Lida Útil de tus Cosechas/Practical ways to Increase the Storage life of your Harvestswith Marieann Flint

Demostraremos varios métodos difer­entes para con­ser­var ali­men­tos de forma segura para su alma­ce­namiento prolongado.

We will be demon­strat­ing several dif­fer­ent methods to pre­serve food for extended storage safely.

Marieann Flint

Marieann is a Dr. of Natur­opa­thy, edu­cat­ing on how to make healthy lifestyle changes and mental and spir­i­tual choices. She is a farmers wife and mother of three pre­cious home­schooled chil­dren, and has a passion for train­ing youth. She is also a radio, con­fer­ence, and church speaker in the US and abroad.

Presentations

Simple and Practical Soapmaking
Hands-on Additional Fee
2 presentations, 2 hours and 15 minutes each
25 person limit per presentation
$25.00 per person

Each par­tic­i­pant will be craft­ing their own laundry soap and shampoo bar. This is a learn­ing together oppor­tu­nity where theory and humor combine for a cleans­ing effect. Addi­tional fee applies.

Varias Formas Prácticas de Aumentar la Lida Útil de tus Cosechas/Practical ways to Increase the Storage life of your Harvestswith Fred Flint

Demostraremos varios métodos difer­entes para con­ser­var ali­men­tos de forma segura para su alma­ce­namiento prolongado.

We will be demon­strat­ing several dif­fer­ent methods to pre­serve food for extended storage safely.

Tony Fuentes

Tony Fuentes is the Farm Manager, Agri­cul­ture Teacher, and Men’s Dean at Hart­land College, as well as the Direc­tor of the Pied­mont Bible Camp. With over a decade of farming expe­ri­ence, he is ded­i­cated to edu­cat­ing and inspir­ing fam­i­lies to embrace a country lifestyle. Tony has a deep passion for working with youth and teenagers, taking annual mis­sion­ary trips to various coun­tries to share his love for service. He is happily married to his wife, Kenya, and is a proud father of three chil­dren: Yetzley, Jabneel, and Yetzraim.

Presentation

Preparación del Huerto/Garden Preparation

Apren­der­e­mos juntos algunas de las formas más efi­cientes de riego, con­sid­era­ciones básicas en la preparación del suelo y cómo ase­gu­rarnos de tener un suelo fértil.

We will cover some of the most effi­cient ways to irri­gate, the basic con­sid­er­a­tions in soil prepa­ra­tion and how to make sure you have fertile soil!

Darren Greenfield

Darren cur­rently teaches an Agri­cul­ture class at Weimar Uni­ver­sity that involves the EGW methods of plant­ing trees, along with all the other con­sid­er­a­tions involved. Orig­i­nally from New Zealand, some of his ances­tors were suc­cess­ful and expe­ri­enced orchardists. One of them devel­oped the New Zealand favorite peach Golden Queen.” His Father at age 83 has a large home orchard with many vari­eties. Darren and his father are con­stantly sharing expe­ri­ences and infor­ma­tion. Cur­rently Darren is devel­op­ing an orchard that will have year round pro­duc­tion and income. 

Presentation

Guiding Principles for a Successful Orchard

Topics covered in this class will include but not limited to: Variety selec­tion, root­stock, planting/​site prepa­ra­tion, Fer­til­iza­tion, Vital plant­ing infor­ma­tion, Irri­ga­tion, Shaping, pruning, thin­ning, Natural Pest and disease control, Crit­i­cal points of influ­ence, Bible and S.O.P. gems for success.

Nathan Hamilton

Nathan is a fruit farmer from Nova Scotia. From boyhood he has had a passion for animals and farming. 10 years ago his family started breed­ing golden retriev­ers. Their busi­ness — Goldens with a Mission — has pro­vided 80 dogs for fam­i­lies and indi­vid­u­als, includ­ing service dogs for people with disabilities.

Presentations

Puppies for Profit

An overview of the process of oper­at­ing a dog breed­ing busi­ness. We will discuss the factors involved in choos­ing good breed­ing stock, the birthing process, and raising and mar­ket­ing puppies.

Prayer Time and Devotional

Elizabeth Harrison

Eliz­a­beth enjoys working along­side her parents and broth­ers in their garden, with the chick­ens, & a White Chinese Goose on their back­yard home­stead in Upstate New York. She owns The Better Bread,” — a sour­dough microbak­ery focused on using whole­some ingre­di­ents. You will often hear Eliz­a­beth talk about two of her favorite things — sour­dough & her feath­ered-friends. She’s excited to share her passion with others.

Presentations

All Your Sourdough "Need to Knows"!

This class is rec­om­mended prior to attend­ing Demo Class. 

Sour­dough success! We will dive into: all about starter, discard, ben­e­fits, flours, ter­mi­nolo­gies, trou­bleshoot­ing, hacks, why sour­dough, Q&A, and seeing/​smelling in person what your starter is telling you.

Hit the ground running - Sourdough in Action
DemoHands-on Additional Fee
2 hours and 15 minutes
25 person limit
$20.00 per person

A time­line of each of the steps pre­pared in time­lapse. Starter in a jar to baked loaf! See, touch, smell and taste! What to look for, con­sis­tency, stretch and folds, dough struc­ture. Shaping, scoring, post bake tips. 

Included: Every­thing but the kitchen sink” sour­dough starter kit – mason jar, live or dehy­drated starter, sil­i­cone spatula, bench scrape, proof­ing basket, bread lame, tea towel, rubber band, dough whisk, instruc­tions, sour­dough bread recipe card

    Feathered Friends Fun: Chicken Class for Kids Ages 5-9
    Hands-onKids

    Join us for a fun, inter­ac­tive class and learn all about chick­ens in a lively, hands-on session perfect for kids! 

    What to Expect:

    • Chicken Com­mu­ni­ca­tion: Under­stand what your chick­ens are telling you and how to care for them.
    • Inter­ac­tive Dis­plays: See a mini coop replica and a brooder setup.
    • Back­yard Expe­ri­ence: Immerse your­self in the sights and sounds of back­yard chickens.
    • Hands-On Craft: Enjoy a fun craft activ­ity related to chickens!

    Bring your curios­ity and get ready for an egg-citing adventure!

    Egg-cellent Chicken Adventures for Kids Ages 9-12
    Hands-onKids

    Come and dis­cover the world of chick­ens and entre­pre­neur­ship in a fun, hands-on, inter­ac­tive session.

    What to Expect:

    • Chicken Care: Learn how to prepare and prop­erly care for your chickens.
    • Com­mu­ni­ca­tion: Under­stand what your chick­ens are telling you.
    • Raising Chick­ens: Explore dif­fer­ent ways to raise chick­ens and learn about various breeds.
    • Health & Main­te­nance: Dis­cover how to main­tain the health of your flock.
    • Busi­ness Skills: Learn how to sell eggs, market your prod­ucts, and start a small chicken business.
    • Climate Adap­ta­tion: Get tips on making chicken keeping work for your climate.
    • Pros & Cons: Discuss the pros and cons of dif­fer­ent breeds and coops.
    • Com­pre­hen­sive Overview: Cover the dif­fer­ent aspects of chicken keeping to equip kids with prac­ti­cal knowledge.

    By the end of the class, kids will leave with a clear direc­tion and the con­fi­dence to apply what they’ve learned to their own chicken-keeping adventures!

    James Hartley

    While raised Roman Catholic, God used a veg­e­tar­ian restau­rant in Europe and an organic farm in Italy to intro­duce James to Seventh-day Adven­tists. Since his con­ver­sion, James has served in dif­fer­ent lead­er­ship capac­i­ties in min­istry. He cur­rently serves as Exec­u­tive VP for OCI and General VP for ASI. James is engaged in min­istry with his wife Dani and their two girls, Layla and Lauren.

    Presentations

    The Call to Country Living: A Historical Sketch

    Dis­cover the his­tor­i­cal roots and sig­nif­i­cance of the Adven­tist movement’s call to country living. Explore its impact on health, spir­i­tu­al­ity, and com­mu­nity life through cap­ti­vat­ing stories and insights.

    Rural Seclusion or Mission Outposts?

    Explore the del­i­cate balance between pur­su­ing rural soli­tude and the imper­a­tive to spread the gospel to the world.

    A Family Outpost Changed My Life

    A per­sonal tes­ti­mony of how God used a family farm in Italy to intro­duce James to Christ, high­light­ing how the prin­ci­ples of country living sig­nif­i­cantly influ­enced his con­ver­sion and ded­i­ca­tion to God’s mission.

    Growing Better
    1 hour and 15 minutes
    Main Hallin Worship Center

    Joy Kauffman

    Joy Kauff­man, MPH, is the Founder and Exec­u­tive Direc­tor of FARMSTEW Inter­na­tional, which serves under­priv­i­leged fam­i­lies glob­ally with the prac­ti­cal gospel. She grad­u­ated Magna Cum Laude from Johns Hopkins Uni­ver­sity and Vir­ginia Tech. Joy is a Chris­t­ian, public health nutri­tion­ist, gar­dener, wife, mother, and grandma’ to an orange cat.

    Presentations

    FARM STEW and You Ages 5-8
    Hands-onKids

    You’ll get your hands dirty and clean! Your mouth filled then scrubbed! Your hearts warmed then stretched! Join us as we explore the recipe for abun­dant life!

    Growing Connections, Health, and Hope!
    1 hour and 30 minutes

    Joy’s love for gar­den­ing began on her grand­par­ents’ farm. Hear her journey of becom­ing veg­e­tar­ian at 9, study­ing nutri­tion, joining the Adven­tist church, and found­ing FARMSTEW to promote health globally.

    Nick Knecht

    With over a decade of expe­ri­ence in media, mar­ket­ing, and brand build­ing, Nick cur­rently serves as Brand Manager at Farmers Friend in Cen­ter­ville, TN. He is pas­sion­ate about travel, inno­v­a­tive tech, and space­flight, and loves spend­ing time with his wife Kirsten and their 3‑year-old son Judah.

    Presentations

    Core Competencies of Entrepreneurshipwith Kevin Brown and Jonathan Dysinger

    There are some com­pe­ten­cies that are required of entre­pre­neurs, regard­less of what indus­try or type of busi­ness is involved. We will talk about three of them during this inter­ac­tive session.

    From Concept to Consumer: Strategies for Strong Branding

    Find out how to bring your concept to life with effec­tive brand­ing. Learn simple, pow­er­ful mar­ket­ing methods to build a brand that stands out.

    Chad Kreuzer

    Chad and Fadia Kreuzer have spent years pro­duc­ing films on archae­ol­ogy, history, health and longevity. They also share sem­i­nars on the gut-brain con­nec­tion, health, over­com­ing habits, and over­com­ing the media trap nat­u­rally. Their website is: anchor​point​films​.com They also have a YouTube Channel called Health and Homestead” 

    Presentations

    Divine Directions: Understanding God's Call To Rural Living

    Why have God’s people been called to country living in the last days? What are some mis­un­der­stand­ings about about this calling? How can we find peace and joy in God’s plan for rural living?

    Frugal Farm Life: Smart Strategies for Rural Living on a Budget

    Times are tough finan­cially. How can we find a way to live and thrive in the country on a smaller budget? Find some prac­ti­cal tips for both finding a less expen­sive country prop­erty and frugal ideas of how to live once you are there.

    Country Calling: Discovering God's Missionary Plan In Country Living

    God has a plan to make your country prop­erty a beacon of light that can spread the truth to those around you and those in the city. In this session we will see that God has a plan to trans­form us thought country living that we may be better lights to the world. 

    Erin Maloney, PhD

    After grad­u­at­ing from South­west­ern Adven­tist Uni­ver­sity with a Bachelor’s of Biology, Dr. Erin Maloney joined a bio­med­ical research lab at the Uni­ver­sity of Texas Health Sci­ences Center in Tyler, Texas. She has a Doc­tor­ate in Medical Biology from the Polish Academy of Sci­ences. Through the years, she remained involved with South­west­ern’s Dinosaur Project, trav­el­ing to Wyoming every summer to help recover and study fossils.

    Presentations

    Digging for Dinosaurs Ages 9-12
    Hands-onKids

    An activ­ity-based class that helps kids under­stand that the dinosaurs died and were buried in the Bib­li­cal flood.

    Digging for Dinosaurs Ages 5-8
    Hands-onKids

    An activ­ity-based class that helps kids under­stand that the dinosaurs died and were buried in the Bib­li­cal flood.

    Tommy Mayer

    Tommy Mayer is cur­rently a teacher/​farmer at DayStar Adven­tist Academy. Prior to that he appren­ticed with Lynn Hoag, which was a great prepa­ra­tion for his work at DayStar. Tommy has spear­headed a project called The Food Lab”, with the goal to have zero waste of farm produce — by dehy­drat­ing, freeze-drying and pickling.

    Presentation

    Prayer Time and Devotional

    Gabriel McClover

    Gabriel & Von­nelle McClover are the owners of the Vine­yard Café & Juice Bar (estab. 2015) in Sum­merville, GA, and are the Founders of the F.I.T.T. Chal­lenge. They have worked in GA and across the country edu­cat­ing about tasty, plant-based nutri­tion to help prevent and reverse chronic lifestyle dis­eases. Their 5 chil­dren range from 3 – 15 years of age.

    Presentations

    Prayer Time and Devotional
    Final Charge
    1 hour and 15 minutes
    Main Hallin Worship Center

    Neil Nedley

    Neil Nedley, M.D. is founder and medical direc­tor of the Nedley Depres­sion and Anxiety Recov­ery Pro­grams, and Opti­mize Your Brain” program designed to enhance emo­tional intel­li­gence. Dr. Nedley is a board-cer­ti­fied Inter­nal Med­i­cine spe­cial­ist with an empha­sis in the dif­fi­cult-to-diag­nose patient, gas­troen­terol­ogy, and mental health. He also serves as Pres­i­dent of Weimar Uni­ver­sity. He has pre­sented and pub­lished numer­ous sci­en­tific studies and is well known as a public speaker and teacher through­out the world. He is the author of Proof Pos­i­tive, Depres­sion — the Way Out, The Lost Art of Think­ing, and Opti­mize Your Brain. Dr. Nedley and his wife Erica have four sons.

    Presentation

    Soil and the Mind--Is There a Connection?

    Dr. Nedley will explore with you the amazing ben­e­fits of being in touch” with soil. Learn how agri­cul­ture helps with pos­i­tive neu­ro­plas­tic­ity — through plan­ning, working with your hands to execute the plan, and eating the healthy fruit of your labors. You will never see dirt” the same way again.

    Kyle Neuroh

    Kyle Neuroh is a self taught wood­worker who lives with his lovely wife Sherri and two boys Llandon and Hudson along with a plethora of crit­ters on their 26 acre home­stead in Williamsport, TN. Kyle has a wood floor­ing busi­ness, and a custom fur­ni­ture busi­ness that he oper­ates from a shop on their property.

    Presentations

    Being Creative with God's Creation
    Hands-on Additional Fee
    3 presentations, 1 hour each
    15 person limit per presentation
    $50.00 per person

    This 1 hour class will focus on using mate­ri­als on or around your prop­erty to make some simple items such as coast­ers, toys, sea­sonal dec­o­ra­tions, etc. with the hope of spawn­ing cre­ativ­ity for the student. Some simple tools and paints will be pro­vided for each student to keep, and they will be given 3 projects to make and keep. There will be suf­fi­cient time to finish at least one in the class period, with the others to be com­pleted at home. Age 6+; child must be accom­pa­nied by parent or guardian.

    Introduction to Wood Carving
    Hands-on Additional Fee
    3 parts, 3 hours total
    20 person limit
    $150.00 per person

    Stu­dents will be instructed in har­vest­ing wood around their prop­erty and learn how to carve a serving spoon, spatula, and grain scoop or bowl using hand tools. Each student will receive a begin­ners kit of tools along with some wood, and work through the carving, sanding and fin­ish­ing by the end of the three class periods. Age 16+

    Daniel Nicholls

    Daniel Nicholls started gar­den­ing in his late teens and never stopped. Shortly after joining the Adven­tist church in 2013, he began to work on farms and has found it to be a ful­fill­ing min­istry. He now shares Christ and his passion for gar­den­ing as the Agri­cul­ture Direc­tor at Hol­brook Indian School

    Presentations

    Mapping Success

    We don’t try to get any­where impor­tant without a map. Let’s talk about how we can get a a clear picture of where we’re going with our institution’s farm and how we are going to get there.

    Taking Care of Our Primary Customer

    We may not see our cafe­te­ria as a cus­tomer but they can be our best cus­tomer; not only that, they are prob­a­bly our most impor­tant cus­tomer. Let’s talk about how we can serve them with our institution’s farm.

    Small Scale No-till Methods

    Can no-till” really be prac­ti­cal on a small scale? Come learn about the tools and methods that can make no-till work for you — no matter how small your plot is.

    Scaling Up Your Composting

    Have you out­grown that small compost bin in your back yard? If you’re ready to go big on com­post­ing, this class is for you.

    Kelly O'Connor

    Growing up in rural Alabama, Kelly was raised by parents who embraced the country living message. She has taken that expe­ri­ence along with a passion for organic no-till gar­den­ing into running a small no-till flower farm. Kelly lives with her husband Ed, and four young adult chil­dren in Newalla, Oklahoma.

    Presentations

    Pollinators—Our Amazing Garden Helpers Ages 9-12
    Kids
    Getting Started in Flower Farming

    Where do I start? Let’s look at some of the basic tools and sup­plies needed to estab­lish a prof­itable flower farm. We will also explore the capital invest­ments that may help estab­lish a better market share for your blooms.

    Exploring Growing and Marketing Flowers on a Small Plot

    What are you growing this season? Finding the right crops to fit your budget, time and space can be com­pli­cated. We will look at five basic crops that are easy to grow with a rea­son­able profit margin, and a few that are more chal­leng­ing with greater proffit potential.

    Pollinators—Our Amazing Garden Helpers Ages 5-8
    Kids

    Kenny Point

    Kenny Point is a farmer, bee­keeper, and writer living in Central West Vir­ginia. He raises a variety of crops for market that include ginger, turmeric, leafy greens, garlic, med­i­c­i­nal herbs, and gourmet mush­rooms. In addi­tion to his agri­cul­tural pur­suits, his back­ground includes Medical Mis­sion­ary, herbal, nutri­tional, and prim­i­tive skills training.

    Presentations

    Cultivating Sweet Potatoes for Storage or Market

    Learn how to grow, store, and save sweet pota­toes and dis­cover how they may be the most impor­tant crop that you can grow.

    Understanding & Working with Honeybees

    Explore the fas­ci­nat­ing life and orga­ni­za­tion of hon­ey­bees and find out whether bee­keep­ing is a good fit for your back­yard, home­stead, or farm.

    Uncommon Fruits for the Home Garden

    Dis­cover these unusual fruits that are deli­cious, nutri­tious, easy to grow and low main­te­nance, making them a perfect addi­tion to back­yard gardens and home orchards.

    Alan Seiler

    Alan Seiler is a small-scale veg­etable grower in South Central Okla­homa. He has been involved in agri­cul­ture since he was 14 years old. Okla­homa is a chal­leng­ing envi­ron­ment to grow in and there­fore been a great place to learn how to grow with weather, water quality, soil fer­til­ity and heat-related chal­lenges. Alan is working on his degree from the Uni­ver­sity of Hard Knocks.

    Presentation

    Prepping and Planting Your Growing Beds to Help Your Plants Thrivewith Ricky Seiler
    Demo

    Dis­cover how prepar­ing your growing beds and using good plant­ing tech­niques can help your veggies get strong start.

    Ricky Seiler

    Growing up in Texas, Ricky Seil­er’s expe­ri­ence with gar­den­ing was growing pithy weedy radishes. He never dreamed someday he and his wife would join their adult chil­dren to start Bet­ter­To­gether Farm, a small market garden, in South­ern Okla­homa. Now the family grows more than 30 dif­fer­ent veg­eta­bles on their year-round farm.

    Presentations

    Prepping and Planting Your Growing Beds to Help Your Plants Thrivewith Alan Seiler
    Demo

    Dis­cover how prepar­ing your growing beds and using good plant­ing tech­niques can help your veggies get strong start.

    Stepping into Hoophouse Growing--Should You Do It?

    Explore the pros and cons of green­house growing and find out if getting a green­house is a good fit for you.

    Growing the Right Plants at the Right Time in the Right Place

    Learn what veggies grow best in your neck of the woods to help make your gar­den­ing fun and rewarding.

    Seth Shaffer

    Seth Shaffer is a farmer with over a decade of expe­ri­ence helping to run his fam­i­ly’s farm, Red Clay Farm, and teach­ing sus­tain­able agri­cul­ture to the stu­dents at South­ern Adven­tist Uni­ver­sity. He has a masters degree in Sus­tain­able Food Systems from Green Moun­tain College and is pas­sion­ate about teach­ing agriculture. 

    Presentation

    Cover Cropping and Its Benefits

    Cover crop­ping is an invalu­able tool for any gar­dener or farmer. Soil is a depletable resource that must be tended to as care­fully as any crop. Come and learn one way of rebuild­ing and enhanc­ing the soil through cover crop­ping; whether you have a single raised bed or a field. Learn how cover crops hold nutri­ents, keep the soil mois­ture in place, prevent weeds, build organic matter and much much more.

    Teresa Sherard

    Teresa Sherard, M.D., earned her medical degree from Loma Linda Uni­ver­sity School of Med­i­cine in 1999. She also has a fel­low­ship in Lifestyle Med­i­cine earned while prac­tic­ing at the Lifestyle Center of America in OK. Cur­rently, Dr. Teresa Sherard, MD prac­tices in Ava, MO.

    Presentation

    Tick Bites - What Doctors Want You to Knowwith Franklin Cobos

    Avoid­ing the dry, boring format of some medical pre­sen­ta­tions, this session will be a con­ver­sa­tion between Dr. Sherard and Cobos, fol­lowed by Q&A. Topics will include pre­ven­ta­tive mea­sures and man­age­ment strate­gies across the spec­trum of both tra­di­tional (antibi­otics) and simple reme­dies (herbs, hydrother­apy) using real patient case illustrations.

    Lee Wellard

    Lee Wellard is a grad­u­ate from the Insti­tute of Medical Min­istry at Wild­wood Lifestyle Center & Hos­pi­tal in Georgia and went on to become a teacher of applied phys­i­ol­ogy and nutri­tion. Lee is a cer­ti­fied Holis­tic Health Prac­ti­tioner and has also com­pleted his studies as a Master Herbal­ist and went on to a degree his doc­tor­ate in Natur­opa­thy and is a vol­un­teer teacher of botan­i­cal med­i­cine at Andrews Uni­ver­sity. In 2018 Lee started the Amer­i­can Herb Shoppe and has a suc­cess­ful online busi­ness that spe­cial­izes in some of the best organic herbal extracts.

    Presentation

    Best Herbal Remedies for Common Ailments

    In this session we will be cov­er­ing the best simple and effec­tive botan­i­cal reme­dies that can bring relief to a lot of suf­fer­ing and alle­vi­ate many common com­plaints. Herbal­ist Lee Wellard will be dis­cussing the most effec­tive ways to use simple herbs, many of which we can grow in our own garden.

    Joshua White

    Joshua White is an edu­ca­tor and the direc­tor of A Think­ing Gen­er­a­tion – a min­istry pro­vid­ing sem­i­nars, con­sul­ta­tions, and media mate­r­ial to help fam­i­lies and schools around the world under­stand and follow God’s methods of true edu­ca­tion. Learn more at aThink​ingGen​er​a​tion​.org.

    Presentations

    True Education – Is it Really that Important?

    If we fail to under­stand this, we will never have a place in the kingdom of God,” are the inspired words used to describe the impor­tance and urgency of true edu­ca­tion – a rad­i­cally dif­fer­ent plan of edu­ca­tion for a pecu­liar people.

    True Education: You Mean, There's a False?

    The plan of true edu­ca­tion is simple and applic­a­ble in every sit­u­a­tion. What does it actu­ally mean? How can it be fol­lowed in modern times? This session will cover the prin­ci­ples of true edu­ca­tion in a prac­ti­cal way for parents and teach­ers alike.

    True Education – How do I actually do this?

    Con­vert­ing theory to reality can be a chal­lenge for the busy parent or teacher. Whether you’ve studied true edu­ca­tion for years or are just now hearing the term, this session will provide a simple, applic­a­ble, and prac­ti­cal guide for putting it into practice.

    Que Significa la Verdadera Educación?/What Does True Education Mean?

    Si hay una ver­dadera, debería ser una falsa. Entonces, ¿qué sig­nifica el término ver­dadera edu­cación? ¿Hay real­mente dos sis­temas de edu­cación, y como puede enten­der los padres y mae­stros cual sistema están siguiendo?

    If there is a true, there must be a false. So, what does the term true edu­ca­tion mean? Are there really two systems of edu­ca­tion, and how can parents and teach­ers under­stand which system they are following? 

    Como Aplicar la Verdadera Educación?/How To Apply True Education?

    Quizás la edu­cación ver­dadera parece difícil para aplicar. ¿Como empezar? ¿Como pueden los padres y mae­stros hacer la edu­cación ver­dadera de manera prac­tica? Todos pueden seguir los planes de Dios para educar nue­stros niños para la eternidad.

    Maybe true edu­ca­tion seems dif­fi­cult to apply. How to start? How can parents and teach­ers do true edu­ca­tion in a prac­ti­cal way? Every­one can follow God’s plan to educate our chil­dren for eternity.

    Althea Zaddock

    Since 2005, Althea has been a ded­i­cated nurse spe­cial­iz­ing in neona­tal and pedi­atric nephrol­ogy, adult dial­y­sis, and case man­age­ment. Seeking a slower pace, she and her family moved to the coun­try­side to embrace nature and strengthen their faith. Today, she manages case man­age­ment at a Texas hos­pi­tal while assist­ing on their homestead.

    Presentation

    A Faith Journey from the City to the Countrywith Eric Zaddock
    1 hour and 30 minutes
    Main Hallin Worship Center

    Eric & Althea will share their journey in learn­ing and fol­low­ing God’s callto the country and away from life in the heart of the city where their hearts were attached.

    Eric Zaddock

    After a 15 year career in the Archi­tec­ture pro­fes­sion, Eric and his family fol­lowed God’s call to move to the country. Eric now has a YouTube channel which show­cases their home­steading expe­ri­ence and high­lights topics on gar­den­ing, rain­wa­ter recla­ma­tion, tending small live­stock, basic con­struc­tion, and build­ing solar systems.

    Presentations

    The Basics of Building Your Own Solar System

    This class will cover the basics of how systems work, types of systems, how to assess your energy needs, system plan­ning, com­po­nents, and bud­get­ing, basic design, how to pur­chase, and basic installation.

    Home Solar System Connections and Calculations

    In this class we will explore how to cal­cu­late what you need for your home, how to cal­cu­late and con­fig­ure panels, and how to make simple connections.

    A Faith Journey from the City to the Countrywith Althea Zaddock
    1 hour and 30 minutes
    Main Hallin Worship Center

    Eric & Althea will share their journey in learn­ing and fol­low­ing God’s callto the country and away from life in the heart of the city where their hearts were attached.