Since 2020, there has been a steady increase of the amount of people wanting to learn heritage techniques of living, preservation techniques, and other ways they can live off the land. One of those techniques is curing country ham. In the winter, the Agriculture and Natural Resources (ANR) agent was approached by a local producer and extension supporter about learning how to cure country ham. Kentucky is known for their country ham curing, so naturally there are a lot of ways and techniques. However, the ANR agent utilized the University of Kentucky’s 4-H Ham Curing guidelines to do an adult project. Grayson County does not currently have a ham house, so the ANR agent worked with the Breckinridge County Extension office to allow the 10 hams to be cured in their ham house. The ANR Agent opened it up for 10 people to attend for this year due to spacing, and within one day the class was full with a significant waiting list. Using the UK Meat Extension Specialists videos and resources, the agent was able to teach the class and the participants were able to cure their own ham. They were hung in the ham house where they were washed in May and re-hung to be taken out in the fall for their use. Everyone that attended really enjoyed the class and indicated that they could successfully do this on their own (if they had location to hang the hams).  “Thank you for putting this on. The information was interesting, and I can’t wait to see how my ham turns out.”

With the success of the first class, there has been interest in doing another larger class in winter next year. The extension service is currently surveying to see if there would be interest in a 4-H country ham project. With enough interest, it may benefit purchasing a ham house. This will be discussed in the fall.