Join us for our 5th Annual Start Farming event. Hear from First Coast farmers, ask questions, buy local goods, and get answers to start farming today!

Panelists:
Dr. Stephen Jennewein, UF/IFAS Small Farms Extension Agent
Charles Goodin of Johnny Appleseed Organic
Mika Hardison of The Herban Bee
Kimberly Ruessler of Lola Farms 

Vendors: 
The Herban Bee 
White Harvest Farms 
Little Black Box 
Apple Rabbit Compost 
NativeJax 
Dave The Plant Man 
Eat Your Yard Jax 
Clinical Traditions Herbalist 
Madison Schott Ceramics 
Alice Shinkos 
Kristina Hoover Fine Art 
Connor Poovey Art
Chancho King 
The Spoonful Bakery

Presenting Sponsor: 
Cascade Outdoor Design

Supporting Sponsors: 
NativeJax 
Apple Rabbit Compost 
Edible Northeast Florida
Riverside Arts Market
St Johns Soil and Water Conservation District
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This event is offered as a free service to our citizens and our agricultural community thanks to our generous sponsors.

​It's time for our November Volunteer of the Month! We would like to recognize our District Aide, Thea Baker. Thea records minutes for our meetings twice a month and assists us in budget preparation and communications. She is an EIT‐certified civil engineer now focusing on sustainability and has contributed her expertise to our Regeneration Park project. Her passion is to do meaningful work that helps reduce environmental degradation and social inequality. While serving as District Aide, she has nearly completed her master's degree is in Global Sustainability with a concentration in Sustainability Policy from USF. She will be graduating at the end of Spring 2022. We are grateful for her dedication to serve the District this year!

​More about Thea:

• Thea and her husband have an 7 month old son, Levi, who she's pretty obsessed with. 
• She loves backyard gardening and learning about what "weeds" are edible.
• She pledged to never buy any new clothing for herself or anyone in her family at the beginning of 2019 and has stuck to it!

Calling all photographers! The National Association of Conservation Districts annual photo contest is now open for submissions. This contest is open to all amateur photographers. Photos must fall under one of the following 4 categories:

1. Conservation Practices
2. Close-up Conservation
3. Conservation in Action
4. Agriculture and Conservation Across America

For more information about what qualifies for each category, visit the NACD website here. Contestants can enter up to 5 photos per category. Photos will be judged by technical merit (proper exposure, framing, and in focus) and composition (imagination and creativity).

Submissions must be emailed to the Duval Soil & Water Conservation District at duvalswcd@gmail.com by Wednesday, November 24th. All contestants must fill out this entry form and photo release with each photo submission. If you are submitting a photo in which a subject or model’s face is recognizable, you must also complete and attach this subject and model release with your photo(s).

Minor digital enhancements for cropping, red-eye removal, filters and corrective functions are permitted; however, an image judged to be significantly altered may be disqualified. Contestants are not permitted to place borders, frames or backgrounds around their images or to place watermarks, dates, signatures or copyright images onto photos. Previously published photos are not eligible for the NACD Photo Contest.

Duval County category winners will be announced Monday, November 29th. An overall winner will receive a cash prize! The local winners will then be automatically entered into the national competition where 1st place winners will be awarded $100 and 2nd place will receive $50. National winners will be announced at the NACD's annual meeting in February.