Cultivating Food & Health:

Medicine Rooted in Regeneration

Vanderbilt University Medical Center at

Caney Fork Farms in Carthage, Tennessee

On-Farm Dates: Fri Sep 11 - Sat Sep 12, 2026

Program Length: 2 days & 1 night

The Program

Medicine Rooted in Regeneration is a 1.5-day invite-only on-farm educational experience for Vanderbilt University Medical Center (VUMC) focused on bringing healthy food for both eaters and growers into institutional settings and clinical practice. Participants are invited to join a curated program designed by Climate Farm School in collaboration with VUMC and Caney Fork Farms. This is an inaugural program, in which we are seeking feedback and discussion throughout the 2 days around how to iterate toward a viable, valuable and replicable training experience for healthcare professionals.

About the Farm

Located in the rolling hills of Middle Tennessee along the Caney Fork River, Caney Fork Farms is a 400-acre certified organic farm dedicated to growing healthy food while restoring the land through regenerative agriculture. The farm produces a diverse range of vegetables, pasture-raised livestock, grains, and chestnuts, while serving as a living laboratory for research in soil health, agroforestry, nutrient density, and resilient regional food systems. Through its commitment to education, research, and community, Caney Fork Farms demonstrates how regenerative farming can nourish people, strengthen local food systems, and regenerate the landscapes we depend on.

What is Climate Farm School?

Climate Farm School is an on-farm, evidence-based, farmer-led educational experience for people ready to participate in food systems transformation. Our educational pedagogy centers on experiential learning, farmer empowerment, diversified food system stakeholder collaboration, and ecosystem restoration to address climate change.

We’ve had over 450+ participants join our programs, hosted at our farm partners globally: in the US nationwide from Paicines Ranch in California to Hawthorne Valley Farm in New York’s Hudson Valley, to our European partners such as La Junquera in Spain, Spannocchia in Italy and Ballymaloe in Ireland.

Climate Farm School is a project of Ideagarden Institute, a 501c3 non-profit and a 1% for the Planet environmental partner.

Program Instructors

Asher Wright has been working in regenerative agriculture since 2005, with a heavy focus on diversified crop and livestock systems. He loves all things related to agriculture and food systems. His career experience began at the agriculture program at Warren Wilson College, which led him to work on farms around the US and Central and South America. After his travels, he received an M.S. in Animal Science from Clemson University. While at Clemson, he researched forage-finished beef, studying both animal performance and the interface between meat quality and human health.

Asher has a diverse career background working in both for-profit farm businesses and agriculture education. He is also an Accredited Professional with the Savory Institute. Asher is particularly excited about the role that Caney Fork Farms can play in the world and the opportunity to be a part of a team working to make a strong business case for regenerative agriculture through the integration of research and production agriculture.

Dr. Laney Siegner is the Executive Director & Founder of Climate Farm School. Prior to its founding, she was the Director of Academic Programs at Terra.do where she led curriculum development.

She completed her Ph.D. at the U.C. Berkeley Energy and Resources Group in 2020 where she researched sustainable, agroecological food systems and climate change education, and spent several summers working on regenerative farms while completing her dissertation.

She has published book chapters on teaching climate change in the U.S. K-12 classrooms and on conducting participatory agroecology research. Prior to attending graduate school, she worked as a middle school teaching fellow for 2 years in Boston, MA as part of an AmeriCorps National Teaching Fellowship.

She is a published author and experienced speaker, most notably on the topic of soil literacy at TEDxBoston . Originally from the East Coast, she now lives on a farm in Sonoma County, California.

Elaine Patarini is the Director of the Paicines Ranch Learning Center, where she designs immersive on-farm experiences grounded in regenerative agriculture, soil health, and ecosystem vitality. Holding a master’s degree in Health and Nutrition Education, Elaine brings deep expertise in connecting living soils to human nourishment. She has co-created nationally recognized initiatives—including Health from the Soil Up, Women in Ranching, and Gathering Fire—uniting farmers, land stewards, researchers, and healthcare leaders. Across her work at Paicines Ranch and the NoRegrets Initiative, Elaine creates collaborative spaces where changemakers learn directly from the land to transform our food and health systems.

Emily Stutzman, Ph.D. Emily Stutzman is a scholar of socio-ecological systems focusing on the sociology of agriculture and natural resources. She holds a PhD in forestry and a M.S. in rural sociology, both from Auburn University, where she researched the role of natural resources professionals in adoption of agroforestry across the Southeastern U.S. and the role of fish farmer organizations in the development of a commercial aquaculture sector in Uganda. Beginning in, 2015, she directed graduate and undergraduate programs in Environmental and Sustainability Science at Lipscomb University in Nashville, Tennessee.