Month: September 2025

Small Farm College 2025 – Piketon, OH

| Nanette Neal

Join us for the Small Farm College at the OSU South Endeavor Center (1862 Shyville Rd, Piketon, OH) beginning Wednesday, October 15! 

What is Small Farm College?
This 10-hour small farm management college is designed to help landowners examine potential ways to increase profits from their small-acreage properties. The program is open to all new or aspiring farmers, new rural landowners, small farmers, and farm families looking for new ideas. During this course, participants will be challenged to develop realistic expectations for their new farm business. Participants will receive information about getting started, identifying the strengths and weaknesses of their property, and developing a farm business plan. This college occurs over the course of 5 weeks. Each week will focus on a different topic, and at the end, participants will get to experience a simulation with the chance to apply the content from the previous 4 weeks.

Register at:  go.osu.edu/southernohiosfc

Session Dates & Information: 

  • Session I: Getting started on Your New Farm Business
    • Date: Wednesday, October 15 @ 6:30 p.m. – 9:00 p.m.
      • Developing real-life expectations for your farm.
      • Assessing your property and resources.
      • Developing your family and farm mission, goals, and objectives.
      • Managing farm and family income and expenses.
      • What is a farm business plan, and why do you need one?
  • Session II: You Can’t Measure What You Don’t Track (Farm Recordkeeping, Budgets, and Taxes) 
    • Date: Wednesday, October 22 @ 6:30 p.m. – 9:00 p.m.
      • Recordkeeping for farm businesses
      • Using enterprise budgets to project farm income and cost of production
      • Introduction to farm taxes
  • Session III: The Legal Side of Small Farm Management 
    • Date: Wednesday, October 29 @ 6:30 p.m. – 9:00 p.m.
      • Legal structures for farms
      • Farm Leases and Contracts
      • Licenses and permits for selling farm food products
      • Liability concerns for farms
  • Session IV: Money, money, money! The Financial Side of Small Farm Management
    • Date: Wednesday, November 5 @ 6:30 p.m. – 9:00 p.m.
      • Developing farm and family balance sheets
      • Developing financial statements for your farm
      • Farm financing options
      • Developing your farm business plan
  • Session V: Small Farm Reality Simulation 
    • Date: Wednesday, November 12 @ 6:30 p.m. – 9:00 p.m.
      • Experience farm management in a small farm setting with industry professionals

Cost:

  • $80 for the first family member. Each additional family member is $40 per person.
  • Each family receives only one binder of resources. Participants are expected to attend every session.

To learn more, contact Amanda Perkins at 740-289-4837.

All About Goats Webinars

| Nanette Neal

Are you interested in learning more about goat production? Join the Ohio State University Extension Small Ruminant Team for the 2025 All About Goats! Webinar. This webinar series is going to answer producers’ burning questions concerning their own herd and help new producers become knowledgeable herdsman. Whether you raise goats for dairy, fiber, or meat production or as pets, this webinar is for you! All youth livestock exhibitors are encouraged to attend.

The topics and dates for this series are as follows:
September 22- Goat Health and Care
October 6- Farm Business and Management
October 20- Goat Processing
November 3- Livestock Marketing
November 17- Hay and Grain Production
December 1- Coyote Management
December 15- Open Forum: Ask Me Anything

The webinar is hosted via Zoom from 7-8 p.m. EST.

Registration is required and can be completed by visiting go.osu.edu/allaboutgoats25

If you have any questions, please get in touch with Pressley at 419-447-9722 or buurma.20@osu.edu

A Day in the Woods – Shrub Identification

| Nanette Neal

Shrub Identification workshop offered by A DAY in the WOODS program to woodland owners and enthusiasts in SE Ohio at Bishop Educational Gardens of Hocking County on Friday, October 10th

Wine Cap Mushroom Production Workshop

| jagger.6

Wednesday, October 1, 2025
OSU South Centers
1864 Shyville Road
Piketon, Ohio 45661

Time: 5:30-6:30 p.m. Eastern

Cost: FREE

Register: go.osu.edu/mushroomcrops

Bring your work gloves and prepare for an inside look and help conduct actual research during this short 1-hour program!

Learn the basics of Wine Cap Mushroom production, then join our team outdoors for a hands-on activity to build production beds. We will be testing mulches made from different species of wood including invasive trees and shrubs to learn about impacts on pests and production. Then plan to join us next spring to see the results as part of a larger field event.

 

Featuring experts from The Ohio State University and Central State University.

USDA National Institute of Food and Agriculture, Ohio Extension Implementation Program Award: 2024-70006-43574. USDA is an equal opportunity employer and service provider. Any opinions, findings, conclusions, or recommendations expressed in this publication are those of the author(s) and do not necessarily reflect the view of the U.S. Department of Agriculture.

QUESTIONS: Logan Minter (minter.21@osu.edu)

To request accommodations that will help you participate fully in this in person event, share requests during registration or contact Bradford Sherman (sherman.1473@osu.edu).

Ohio Fruit News – August 2026

| Nanette Neal

The August issue of OFN is now posted.  https://u.osu.edu/fruitpathology/fruit-news-2/

This issue features:

  • The Spotted Lanternfly in Ohio: Spread and Crop Risks, By Ashley Leach
  • Ohio Private Pesticide Applicator License Requirements For Fruit and Vegetable Crops, By Melanie Lewis Ivey
  • Lessons from Boll Weevil Eradication: IPM Strategies for Ohio Fruit and Vegetable Growers, By Guil Signorini and Frank Becker
  • Apple (Marssonina) Leaf Blotch on Apples and Crabapples, By Francesca Rotondo and Melanie Lewis Ivey