TRAVERSE CITY— The Michigan Land Use Institute’s Get Farming! program is planning several Business of Farming workshops for both aspiring and experienced farmers.

â–º Business Basics: Wendy Wieland, innovation counselor for the MSU Product Center, will help new and aspiring farmers determine the first steps to a successful business. Scheduled for Thursday, Nov. 8, from 3 p.m. to 5 p.m.

â–º Keeping the Books and QuickBooks Basics:  These workshops will introduce new or veteran farmers and other entrepreneurs to practical bookkeeping techniques, as well as how to use QuickBooks, one of the most popular bookkeeping software products. The presenter for both workshops is Stuart Kunkle, a QuickBooks ProAdvisor who keeps the books for Cherry Capital Foods and his own Bricolage Farm. Keeping the Books is scheduled for Monday, Nov. 12, from 6:30 p.m. to 8:30 p.m. QuickBooks Basics is set for Tuesday, Nov. 13, from 6:30 p.m. to 8:30 p.m.

All three of these free workshops will be held at the NMC Aero Park Campus, Room 222 in the Parsons-Stulen Building, 2600 Aero Park Drive in Traverse City.

A workshop on hoophouse management, Hoop for the Future, is slated for Friday, Nov. 30, from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. at Pond Hill Farm, 5581 S. Lake Shore Drive in Harbor Springs. Using hoophouses for cold-weather harvests makes lots of sense if you are interested in extending your growing season or creating a more controlled growing environment. There is a registration fee for this event: $20 or $25 for two from the same farm. The workshop includes lunch from Pond Hill’s Garden Café.

Registration for all of these workshops is requested. For more information and to register, contact Jim Sluyter at 231-889-0199, email jimsluyter@mlui.org or visit www.mlui.org/getfarming.