Webster City, IA, February 08, 2024 — Murray McMurray Hatchery is pleased to announce Charles Dowding will headline this summer’s Murray Fest Midwest homesteading conference and festival in Webster City, IA, on June 29-30.

Charles Dowding is an internationally recognized British gardener, author, and a pioneer of modern “no dig” gardening and organic soil management. Dowding shares 40 years of vegetable growing and ‘no dig’ experiments on his website, YouTube channel, and books. He also continues to run a small market and teaching garden in Somerset, UK.

“Charles Dowding gave me the confidence to just get started gardening. I didn’t need a big tiller. I didn’t need to build raised beds. Just some scrap cardboard and compost. It lowered the cost of entry. It was so refreshing to see someone hold the door open and say ‘come on in,’” said McMurray Hatchery president and owner, Tom Watkins. “I’ve always gardened more traditionally, but as my kids and work grew, time became harder to find. Charles Dowding showcased a way to garden that was faster, and easier. I’m beyond excited to break out my best squash with such a venerated and distinguished gentleman this summer.”

Murray Fest Midwest is Iowa’s premier homesteading, poultry, and gardening festival. This summer, attendees from across the nation will head to the heartland to learn homesteading skills, chicken keeping and animal husbandry, gardening, food preservation, and more from leading experts including Charles Dowding. Hosted by Iowa’s historic Murray McMurray Hatchery, the festival also features live music each evening, featuring GRAMMY-winning singer/songwriter, Rory Feek.

Festival speakers include Jessica and Jeremiah Sowards of YouTube’s Roots & Refuge Farm, top podcasters from Coffee with the Chicken Ladies, homesteader and best-selling author Ann Accetta-Scott of A Farm Girl in the Making, and regenerative farming expert Daniel Salatin of Polyface Farm.

See Charles Dowding this summer at Murray Fest Midwest, as he shares how to grow soil more naturally; to grow healthy and health-giving food; grow more, from fewer resources, in less time; and help the planet at the same time.