Herb Farm Best Practices

4855 Broad Run Road,Jefferson MD 21755

03 September, 2022

Description

Join Lacey Walker of Fox Haven Farm for a hands on field day all about growing and processing herbs at scale. During this field day you will get the opportunity to Tour the farmLearn about crop rotation and perennial burnoutLearn about dry farming herbs and planting times. Learn about regulations for drying and processing herbs in MDParticipate in a hands on activity that may include planting or harvestingThis is a hands on BFTP field day with limited tickets available. Please bring food or herbal goodies to share during the potluck lunch. About Lacey is an educator whose passion for herbs led to becoming Fox Haven’s herb farmer, herbalist, forager, and plant educator. While teaching English to non-native speakers in DC, Lacey began facilitating peer to peer learning, a style of group learning. As Director of the Learning Center Farm, she created the Fresh Herbal CSA in 2017 and established Fox Haven’s Herbal Internship Program in 2018. A lifelong learner, Lacey studies with local mentors and has completed two years of apprenticeship at the Wild Ginger Herbal Center (formerly Centro Ashe), as well as two study trips to Costa Rica. She completed training on A&P with Tammi Sweet of Heartstone Herbal School. In 2017, she completed coursework on fermentation with Sandor Katz in Tennessee, and in 2019, completed an apprenticeship with Susquehanna Apothecary, where she honed medicine making skills. Fox Haven is a non-profit education center and retreat. The farm serves a 70 person CSA of fresh herbal harvests in the growing season and a 35 person dry CSA in the winter. The farms goals are educational and community building first and foremost and also to provide fresh and freshly dried herbs in the region. Fox Haven got their drying license in 2020. They farm mainly by hand, start seeds for all crops, grow beds of diverse crops and harvest from wild-like plantings and wild plants. They have an herbal internship that takes 10 people per year and includes long term community in the form of winter studies, field trips, opportunities to teach at Fox Haven etc. The CSA comes with a 2 hour class each month and copious study guides and digital resources. Fox Haven, along with other community members, started the Chesapeake Herbshed in 2020 as a peer-to-peer network of herbal growers and herbal sellers, apothecaries, clinicians and product makers in PA, WV, VA, MD and DC.