Interest in food preservation has returned!  The request for food preservation classes have increased yearly in Bourbon and Clark County extension offices.  Our clientele has a genuine desire to know “what” is in their food as well as being concerned about accessibility of food items. Many or the request involved working individuals that could not attend the typical daytime workshops.  Bourbon, Clark county FCS agents decided to pool their resources to offer a Food Preservation Class in each county.  Having double manpower and resources for each session allowed the clients to complete the courses in both pressure canning as well as boiling water method in one evening session.  Both county sessions were maxed in capacity with request to return for future sessions.  Each of these classes 3 ½ hours sessions and were offered in each county on a different date.  The 2 counties are connected and are in easy traveling distance for all clients which increased availability convenience..  To ease the load and preparation for each agent the responsibilities were divided but the same for each session.

The clientele was receptive to this format and was appreciative of agents making the accommodations.   Of the eighteen Bourbon County attendees, 100% indicated that they preferred the multiple county presentation format: 98% indicated that they would do food preservation at home, 94% learned a new technique of food preservation and 89% learned something new about a food preservation technique that they had tried before.  100% of those attending agreed that this format was more adaptable to their personal likes and schedules.

100% of the agents involved agreed that the sharing of responsibilities and teaching made teaching food preservation more manageable.

One attendee emailed the following:

"It was great to meet you at the food preservation class last week! I’ve already successfully canned my first batch of salsa all on my own! ?? I would love to be signed up for all 4 newsletters and would actually love physical copies as well as emailed copies."