September 19 - 21, 2025
The Plains, VA
Kinloch Farm
Experience the Soil Health Connection Like Never Before
Join us for a one-of-a-kind immersive and eye-opening weekend that brings together farmers, food retailers and processors, health professionals, chefs, scientists, and healthy eaters to explore how regeneratively grown food nourishes our bodies, our land, and our communities.
Hosted at the beautiful Kinloch Farm in The Plains, Virginia, this event is more than a workshop—it’s a full-sensory journey into soil, flavor, and healing. Over three days, you’ll enjoy field demonstrations, hands-on farming experiences, and expert-led panels.
Come hungry for knowledge—and leave with tools to grow, cook, and source food that heals.
About the Academy
Why Attend?
- Discover how healthy soil grows healing food
- Learn from farmers, chefs, scientists, and health experts
- Taste and feel the difference of nutrient-rich, regeneratively grown ingredients
- Gain practical tools to support health—yours and the planet’s
- Connect with a vibrant community of like-minded changemakers
- Leave energized, equipped, and inspired
Who Should Attend?
This event is designed for anyone passionate about soil, health, and food, including:
- Consumers & Families seeking to improve health through food
- Farmers & Gardeners interested in regenerative practices
- Chefs & Food Service Professionals focused on flavor, nutrition and
sustainability - Nutritionists, Health Coaches & Medical Practitioners exploring food-as-
medicine - Educators & Food Advocates building community resilience
- Philanthropists & Policy Makers supporting soil-to-health innovation
- Food retailers & processors looking to source healthy, flavorful food for their customers
Agenda
Friday, September 19
Setting the Stage: Our Living & Life-Giving Soil
4 PM Check-In/Registration
5 PM Introductions/Opening
6 PM Keynote
7 PM Casual BBQ & Social Hour
9 PM Adjourn
Saturday, September 20
Flavor, Nutrient Density, and Farm Discovery
7:30 - 8:30 AM Breakfast
8:30 AM Food as Medicine: Nutrient Density & Phytonutrients
9:30 AM From Soil to Gut Health: Soil Health Principles
10:15 AM Break
10:30 AM Real-Time Food Testing: Measuring Nutrient Density in the Foods We Eat
11:00 AM Panel: “Flavor, Nutrients & the Soil Connection”
12:00 PM Lunch
1:00 PM Soil Health Demos
2:00 PM Farm Tour
3:00 - 5:00 PM Hands-On Field Exercises
7:00 PM Farm-to-Table Dinner, “Healing Through Harvest”
9:00 PM Adjourn
Sunday, September 21
Reflection, Connections, and Goodbyes
7 - 9:00 AM Breakfast
9 AM Interactive Field Session
10 AM Getting Started with Regenerative Living
10:45 AM Break
11:00 AM Sourcing Regenerative Products: Practical guide for chefs, nutritionists, and home cooks
12:00 PM Adjourn with lunch
Keynote Speaker
Meet Kate Kavanaugh
Kate Kavanaugh is a writer, farmer, nutritionist, and butcher exploring the intersections of ecology, culture, biology, and economics. Through her work at Western Daughters Butcher Shop and her podcast Mind, Body, and Soil, she invites people to explore the connections between land, food, and culture. With a background in biology and agriculture, Kate brings scientific rigor and grounded storytelling to her work—whether she’s interviewing leading thinkers, raising animals on her New York farm, or writing about the deeper structures that shape our food system. She is devoted to building place-based knowledge and frameworks that challenge extractive models—offering, instead, a grounded vision of participation, interdependence, and repair to the stories we tell about our food system and beyond.
Registration & Getting There
Cost of Tuition
Tuition of $1,400.00 includes
• In-person attendance at the SHA and course materials
• Access to quarterly alumni Q&A conference calls with SHA instructors and the graduate portal on the SHA website
PLEASE NOTE: Late registration after 9/8/25 does not include meals. Attendees registering after this date will need to cover all meals on their own.
Cancellation Policy
The down deposit of $500 is non-refundable, but can be transferable toward any academy held in 2025 or 2026.
Financial assistance through scholarships are available to help with the cost of tuition. To apply for a scholarship, please register for the academy, then submit a scholarship application.
Scholarships are made possible thanks to the generous support of private organizations and individual donors.
Classroom & Farm Location
Kinloch Farm
5313 Hopewell Rd,
The Plains, VA 20198
Hotel Information
Hilton Garden Inn
15001 Washington St,
Haymarket, VA 20169
(571) 486-5565
As of 8/24/25 hotel is fully booked.
Lodging costs are separate from tuition.
Closest Airport
Washington Dulles (IAD) Airport
1 Saarinen Cir,
Dulles, VA 20166
Reagan National (DCA) Airport
2401 Ronald Reagan Washington National Airport Access Rd,
Arlington, VA 22202
Baltimore (BWI) Airport
7050 Friendship Rd,
Baltimore, MD 21240
About the Host Farm
Encompassing over 3000 acres of protected and historic farmland in Virginia’s Piedmont, Kinloch Farm operates at the intersection of agriculture and conservation. We believe these two activities are intertwined, which is why we pursue regenerative and adaptive management principles designed to support ecological processes and outcomes across our farm.
Through our management in our grasslands, savannas, riparian areas, and wetlands, we promote native species diversity, wildlife and pollinator habitat, refuge and nesting ground for migratory grassland birds, health and vitality of our waterways, as well as carbon sequestration. We quantify this work through our research partnerships with local, regional, and national organizations.
We pursue adaptive grazing practices with our cattle that are bred to consume Virginia forages and produce an outstanding animal. The grazing herd regenerates our land by improving soil microbiology, increasing water retention, storing carbon, and promoting a diversity of forages in our system. We operate in a system of patience, observation and adaptation.
Today, the third generation of Curriers are enthusiastically engaging in the family legacy with a retail market for Kinloch grassfed beef, honey and other locally grown foods. They are supported in this effort by a team of long tenured professionals in the fields of agriculture, conservation and business. With decades of investment in Kinloch’s land, animals and people and a strong sixty year relationship in the Piedmont, we are committed to bringing our relationship even closer in the goal of sharing our heritage with our Piedmont community.
