North Fulton Young Farmers

When the hive swarms, the emergency honey harvest is on! Some of our members did their first honey extraction after deciding to not freeze the frames for a new colony. Our chapter brought some equipment, and we had an impromptu extraction getting to practice their skills before straining and bottling. We got to identify different nectar sources in caps of different frames, taste test, and save the wax. Turning a sad discovery of a swarm into a fun weekend of sweet experiences! A great example of lifelong learning which we love in our chapter.

Pollinators are here for the party! Developing an understanding of pollinator relationships with our food, fiber, and fuel crops help us create more intentional systems. AND our pollinators, especially the diversity of important bee species, go beyond just honeybees (don’t worry though we still love our honeybees). At our instructional garden, we captured these pollinators enjoying our Tulsi crop. Can you identify them? ⬇️

Phase 2 installment of raised beds for the North Fulton Farm Bureau Community Garden in Roswell finished up today. Still have to add mulched pathways to this phase but this garden space is underway! Community garden creation & expansion are part of our young farmer program’s long range plan. This is our 5th community garden space we have been able to work with in large growing season or year long assistance commitments. If you’re a North Fulton or Roswell resident with interest in leasing a bed for a year, contact the office to learn more. The cost of the bed rental will include a Farm Bureau membership which directly supports non-profit educational programs in 61 Fulton County Schools and supporting farmers across Georgia. Sow good seeds 🌱

We had a great time at the 2024 GYFA Summer Tour in Coffee County! Thank you to Coffee County Young Farmers for all that went into this event. We got to tour Premium Peanuts facilities decked out in our PPE. Next, we went to Gillis Grove to learn about their expansions into Satsuma Mandarin production in South Georgia. Last, we went to Paulk Vineyards to see over 1,000 acres in muscadine production, with a pit stop to pick in their blackberry fields, with a visit to their bottling + tasting room. Summer Tour is always a great time to see and learn from producers in the ag industry across areas of the state and to learn about how their operations impact that community and beyond.

Garlic 🧄 harvest is here for some of our growers! Garlic is such a fun crop that makes great use of those colder months for a late spring/early summer harvest. Garlic is most often a softneck variety (stem falls over when ready to harvest/smaller cloves/many cloves per bulb) or a hard neck variety (central stem that produces a scape/larger cloves/fewer cloves per bulb). The cloves, stems, and leaves are all edible. Post harvest most farms opt to cure the garlic to ensure it can have an extended shelf life.

To cure: keep the stem on and separate each stalk by hanging bulb side down, or laying flat on a surface with air flow in a cool, dry, sheltered location - with airflow! Check on them in 3 weeks but they may need to go an additional 3-4 weeks depending on conditions/size/variety, etc. Check that the clove outer layer has become papery and the stems should look dried. Cut the stems and enjoy your garlic harvest!

In the comments, let us know if you’re team softneck garlic or hardneck garlic, Or both? ⬇️

There’s food in the woods! As part of ongoing environmental/agroforestry education, we have started an on campus nursery of edible natives that will be used in workshops and distributed to members farms. Our pilot species for the nursery space is Red Mulberry (Morus rubra) which is one of the earliest and most prolific fruit bearing trees in our Piedmont forests. We will be expanding over time to include other edible natives like highbush blueberries, Chickasaw/American/Flatwoods plums, pawpaws, mayhaw, muscadines and more. Incorporating native edible species not only can provide an additional harvest for value added products but they can also be an important food source for insects, birds, and mammals.

Mark your calendars for some fun in the sun ☀️ We will be hosting volunteers, garden members, Young Farmers, and FFA students for a community garden workday at the N Fulton Farm Bureau office in Roswell. We will be unveiling a 3 phase community garden expansion proposal, providing breakfast for all participants, and turning grass into growing space for all ages! RSVP needed for headcount, so please email [email protected] to confirm your attendance.

Special thank you to Bart Vantieghem from for leading us through todays colony care and hive reboot workshop! We learned about hive construction, hive safety, bee behavior, and indicators inside the hive of colony health during the inspection & clean up. We appreciate everyone who attended and are excited to continue our efforts in building apiaries! Thank you to North Fulton Farm Bureau for sponsoring todays meeting and workshop too.

In partnership with UGA Extension, North Fulton Young Farmers, and North Fulton Farm Bureau, Food Well Alliance is hosting an event where farmers and food entrepreneurs can connect, learn and grow their business. Join us on Monday, April 8 from 4-6 PM at 970 Jefferson Street NW.

A representative from the UGA Small Business
Development Center (UGA SBDC) will be presenting on the offerings available and additional ways to connect with farmers in our region. Link in bio of to register!

Mark your calendars for these Spring Semester Events! We will require an email RSVP before each event to have a headcount for meal/refreshments. Email [email protected] to let me know who is attending and for what events & that counts as your registration. All events are 🎉 FREE 🎉and will be fun! Please attend and share with anyone who may be interested.

Help us kickoff FFA Week by supporting Cambridge FFA at our local Menchie’s! A percentage of all sales from 12-9pm will be donated to our chapter to help support all our amazing programs.

📍 Located at 12850 GA-9 Ste 700, Alpharetta, just a few miles from campus. Tell them you’re there for “Cambridge FFA.”

As the adult agriculture program, we get a great opportunity to support these students and our future of agriculture with this intentional purchase. It’s not only a sweet treat for a rainy Monday but it’s an even sweeter investment into the lives of our students.

Huge THANK YOU to members for showing up and meeting a need right here in our county! Cambridge FFA members donated meal items and conducted a meal packing drive for a local shelter supporting youth experiencing homelessness. By the end of 5th period, we had packaged 405 individual meals that supplement the shelter meal train, freezer, and pantries for families served by the organization. All the meals were packed solely from the items donated by the students in just 5 days. Thank you for Living to Serve!