Eden Shale Update-November

It was still dark as I climbed into my pickup to head to the farm. The stars were visible and a low crescent moon hung on the western horizon. There was a chill in the early morning air, but that would all change quickly as the sun started to rise causing the temperatures to do the same. It would be a bright and beautiful fall day for our annual Open House Field Day at Eden Shale Farm.

We host this field day every year on the third Saturday in October.  It is our chance to showcase the new projects we have been working on for the past year. And every year, we get a good crowd of new folks that have never been to Eden Shale. This year we had over 100 people come and enjoy the day with us.
In all it has been another great season of hosting people at the farm. This year we hosted 20 tours and welcomed over 400 people through our gates. We continue to see new people attend the tours and we are excited that so many folks continue find our work valuable.

I continue to be impressed with the diversity of our visitors, both in their occupations and where they are from.  We had the opportunity to host high school ag teachers from across the state for a professional development day, then later we had science teachers from all over the United States join us for similar training.  Both days with these teachers was wonderful as they were eager to learn the information so that they could take it back to their classrooms and share it with students. There is no doubt that those two days will have a lasting impact on agriculture for years to come.
Other notable groups that visited Eden Shale were the KCA Leadership Development class, The Berry Center, Accelerating Appalachia, West Virginia Conservation Agency, KY Division of Water, NRCS, as well as a group of cattle producers from the Baltics (Lithuania, Latvia, Estonia).

In total for 2024, Eden Shale Farm has hosted 20 farm tours totaling 405 people.  Those in attendance were from 62 Kentucky Counties, 22 US states, and 5 foreign countries (Lithuania, Latvia, Estonia, Nigeria, and Jamacia).
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It is our goal to spread good ideas throughout agriculture, not only in Kentucky but throughout the United States and around the world. Thank you to all those who have taken the time to visit the farm this year. It certainly has been our pleasure to share our time together. From our farm to yours, Merry Christmas. 

2024 Eden Shale Open House Attendees