Rural Action

Learn from a grass-based dairy farm about small-scale dairy production and cheesemaking. Laurel Valley Creamery is a grass based sustainable producer of Jersey milk that we craft into small batches of farmstead cheese. The Nolan family specializes in naturally aged raw milk cheese in addition to making several pasteurized specialty cheeses. Learn more and register here.

Learn about silvopasture on a pastured sheep operation in Athens County! This silvopasture tour will take place at Krusling Farm where the Krusling family raises 400 hair sheep on 90 acres of fescue clover pasture, plus 50 acres of rented ground for grazing annuals and 35 acres of unreclaimed limestone gravel mine which is in the process of being converted to natives for grazing. Learn more and register here.

Learn about the cultivation and processing of chestnuts and acorns! Curious about perennial agriculture? Interested in growing and processing nuts? Join this field day to see a chestnut orchard in person, tour a processing facility, and learn about how the individuals at Route 9 Cooperative are making value-added flours from chestnuts and acorns. Learn more and register here.

Tour a 7-acre silvopasture on a pastured beef and chicken farm in Noble County! This silvopasture tour will take place at Hidden Creek Pasture where Wendall Miller, his wife Carla, and their five children manage 70 acres of rolling farm and woodlands. They raise pastured beef and chicken using managed grazing to improve their soils and produce healthy, nutrient dense foods for their family and community. Learn more and register here.

Learn about commercial elderberry cultivation and processing from this working farm in Adams County! Curious about growing and processing elderberries? Wondering what it takes to build a licensed kitchen on your farm? Heather and Beth, owners and beginning farmers of Ohio Elderberry Farm + Kitchen, have been growing elderberries for personal use since 2008 before launching into growing them at scale in 2020. They cultivate approximately 450 elderberry bushes, primarily Adams, York, Nova, and Bob Gordon cultivars. Learn more and register here.