In early December, members of our leadership team (Kelsey Keener, Jess Wilson, Mattie Sienknecht, Kelsey Freshour, Randall Tomlinson and Emily Dudley) attended the 2025 TN Local Food Summit at the Trevecca Community Church in Nashville, TN. The Summit was a great opportunity to connect with folks across the state and beyond, and learn about all kinds of topics like seed keeping, community land ownership, grant writing, regenerative grazing, fiber farming, and so much more. Two members of our leadership team, Jess Wilson and Kelsey Keener, led two sessions! Jess Wilson’s session focused on building a statewide policy coalition and Kelsey Keener led a session on pasture-raised egg production. #localfood #tnlocalfoodsummit #setnyf #agriculture #youngfarmers

With the coming winter storm, we have decided to postpone the CRAFT Fruit Crops Workshop at Wheelers Orchard and move the SeTNYF Annual Meeting and Strategic Planning Session to a virtual format. If you signed up for the event, look for an email with more info and please keep an eye out for a new workshop date. Whether or not you signed up, you are welcome to join us on Sunday to connect and plan from the comfort of your home. In addition to our annual meeting, we will identify strategic planning goals for SeTNYF that we will aim to accomplish over the next 4 years. SeTNYF Annual Meeting and Strategic Planning Session (virtual) Sunday, January 25th 1-2:30 p.m. Central Join at the link in our bio!!! Questions? Please reach out to Emily at setnyfcoordinator@gmail.com We are aware that the icy weather could bring significant power outages and we will be monitoring this. We will reschedule the meeting if needed. Stay warm and safe this weekend!!

As we head into the new year, we’re looking back on our events from last year and looking forward to the exciting things we’ve got brewing this year! In November, our friends at Feathers and Fruit in Soddy Daisy, TN showed us how to process chickens on their farm. Participants were able to take part in every part of the process. In addition to sharing their skills, Jessie and Robert shared their farming journey and knowledge from 10 years of livestock, fruit trees, and crafting canned products with farm-grown locally-sourced ingredients. We’re so grateful to Feathers & Fruit and Crabtree Farms of Chattanooga for their support of this event. Stay tuned for more recaps AND updates to come. #farmtotable #chickenprocessing #youngfarmerscoalition southeasttennesseeyoungfarmerscoalition

WINTER URBAN AG ROUNDTABLE With the Chattanooga Food Forest Coalition, Chattanooga Food Coalition, Crabtree Farms, Wild Violet Permaculture, Southeast TN Young Farmers, Southeast TN CRAFT and other partners! Join us as we build upon the momentum from the October roundtable discussion where we developed working groups focused on education, resource sharing, land access and production, and policy. Connect with folks involved in ag and gardening projects across the city be part of the development of a collaborative support structure for Chattanooga urban ag. Dinner will be provided, and childcare is available (please let us know if you need it!). Link to sign up is in our bio!! We hope to see you there! Questions? Please reach out to Emily Dudley at setnyfcoordinator@gmail.com or (516)279-8871, or send us a DM.

Kick off 2026 with the Southeast TN Young Farmers! This year we are taking part in a strategic planning exercise that will guide our work for the next 5 years, and we want to hear from our members and network! Join us for a strategic planning session/annual meeting and a fruit crops workshop on January 25th from 12-4 p.m. Central at Wheeler’s Orchard in Dunlap! This event will begin with a potluck and annual meeting/strategic planning. Then we will learn about timing and strategies for pruning blueberries and grape vines, and take a tour of Wheelers Orchard to learn about their orchard/vineyard operation, value-added products and on-farm market. You are welcome to come only for the workshop if you do not wish to participate in the strategic planning session. Here is the timing for each of the sections: 12-2 p.m. Potluck and Strategic Planning 2-4 p.m. Fruit crop pruning and farm tour Please reach out to SeTNYF chapter coordinator Emily Dudley at setnyfcoordinator@gmail.com with any questions. Leading up to the event, you will receive an email with the address and last minute info! Sign up at the link in our bio. If you aren’t able to make it to the meeting, keep an eye out for more info on how you can be involved in the planning process!!

On November 15, we had a Farm to Food Bank event with the Chattanooga Area Food Bank. We had a tour of the food bank, learned more about their mission, engaged in a presentation about how local farmers can support the food banks, volunteered in the garden, and had our annual quarterly meeting over lunch. It was a super fruitful action packed day. #farmers #producersandconsumers #foodjustice #foodaccess

Did you know that two of our leadership members are pirates? They’re also full-time farmers, and they will be presenting at @tnlocalfood summit! Jess Wilson is presenting in the Community & Culture section on “Building a Statewide Policy Coalition” on Friday at 10:15 AM. Kelsey Keener is presenting in the Livestock & Agroforestry section entitled “Scaling Pasture-Raised Egg Production on a Regenerative Farm” at 10:15 on Saturday. Go ahead and sign up for the summit so you can attend their amazing talks. #localfood #farming #tnlocalfood #regenerativeagriculture #policy #foodjustice

Registration is open for the 15th Annual TN Local Food Summit from December 5-7, 2025 at Trevecca Community Church in Nashville, TN! This year’s theme is Healing Land, Healing Communities. Farmers, ranchers, food system advocates, and professionals will come together to cultivate a resilient and equitable food system. The topics will focus on the intersection of healthy land, food, and communities. Lectures will discuss seed keeping, soil and ecosystem health, community and culture, business and markets. The keynote speakers include Bonnetta Adeeb, Founder and President of STEAM ONWARD, Rev. Jen Bailey, Founder of Faith Matters Network and Executive Director of The Dan and Margaret Maddox Fund, and Dr. Ashley Brailsford, founder of Unearthing Joy. Registration options range from $20 to $175 depending on the day and section of the conference or you can sign up to volunteer for 6 hours for a free conference ticket or volunteer for 3 hours and get a 50% discount on your ticket. You may also want to consider becoming a vendor or a sponsor! Head over to @tnlocalfood and click the link in their bio to register, volunteer, or sign up to be a sponsor or vendor. We hope to see you there! #tnlocalfood #sustainableandresillientfoodsystems #agriculture #localfoodsystem #healinglandhealingcommunities

We’ve got another great event planned for November! Join us at Feathers & Fruit on November 21 to learn about on-farm chicken processing! You’ll learn how to harvest a live chicken and then take it home right off of the farm. Wear clothes you don’t mind getting dirty, bring a cooler for your chicken and any other farm goodies. After we thoroughly wash our hands, we’ll connect over a light dinner. Registered on our website! We look forward to seeing you there! #freshfood #chickenprocessing #foodconnection #farmtotable #setnyf #youngfarmerscoalition

In this time of uncertainty regarding food assistance programs, it is especially pressing to invest in our local food system and partner with our neighbors. Join us Saturday, November 15 at the Chattanooga Area Food bank to hear how farmers can support their neighbors, help with the on-site garden project, tour the food bank, and have our quarterly meeting over a potluck. Go ahead and sign up and bring a side dish if you’re able! As always, reach out to Emily Dudley at setnyfcoordinator@gmail.com if you have any questions. #localfoodsystem #foodaccess #snap #chattanoogaareafoodbank