Our host farms, farmers and their apprentices are a diverse bunch.  All host farms were asked to cover their soil management practices, some basic business management skills, and their production planning process.  After that though, it was up to the farmers and apprentices to cover the topics they found most important or interesting.  Here is a selection of host farms, and some of the topics covered during 2008 one-on-one training sessions.

At Prairie Birthday Farm fruit is a mainstay with training in blueberry and plum production. Later training sessions at Prairie Birthday included grant writing and business development. 

At Spring Creek Farm organic pest control measures were in order, including where to purchase them, how to use them and regulations governing their use.

At Fair Share Farm apprentices learned the ins and outs of establishing and managing a CSA (Community Supported Agriculture) program, then explored the fine art of elderberry wine making.

At Bear Creek Farm an in depth look at equipment options included machinery, high tunnels and their costs.

At Hoyland Farms seed saving basics, seed and input sourcing  and fruit tree grafting were covered.

At the Kansas City Community Farm the ins and outs of organic certification, including record keeping, practices and the certification inspection kept both farmers and apprentices occupied.