Looking for free or low cost courses on small/hobby farming?

Question

Looking for free or low cost courses on small/hobby farming?

Answer 1

Go see your local County  Extension Agent. He can give you brochures on anything you want to know about farming, gardening, etc and it is all free. Good Luck.

Answer 2

just read topical books from your public library....

and start with the smallest livestock/crop that you can identify....

ie. I bought a dozen fertile chicken eggs and incubated them... pigs, and bees are next

Answer 3

I agree with John, I work often with my local county extension office and they have a great array of both programs and brochures that can help you.

Try this out.

http://www.msue.msu.edu/portal/

Answer 4

http://www.newfarm.org has a free online class for people interested in organic farming on all levels.

you might also want to check out  http://www.farmtoday.com/listservs/marke...

this is a very active list full of knowledgable farmers

Answer 5

Not knowing where you are, here are a couple of general suggestions. Most colleges/ universities allow students to just sit in a class for free but you get no credit and no testing/ evaluation. You can pay for the course and get credit as a part time student and most classes have reasonable costs. Also you have adult evening classes in non-credit info courses that cover a huge range of subjects/ hobbies. I have given classes on hydroponics and organic gardening and those costs are really low.

Consider also seeing who is doing what in your area for small businesses like greenhouses and farmers to spend time with, and many communities have community gardens where a great many people get together in town owned (and sometimes private owned) gardening plots/ clubs. They are frequently free and you get in close contact with other gardeners and gardening clubs. You local extension agent will probably know of these and frequently help to put them together. There is a lot of info on line, too, once you figure out the direction you tend to go, the plants you wish to work with, and the like. This is a great place for info, right here.