Regional Homestead Conference a Huge Success

Because of the urban location on Northern Kentucky many of our farms are small operations and they present several unique opportunities for the Cooperative Extension Service.   Many of these small operations fit the USDA’ s definition of a homestead. The USDA defines a subsistence homestead as a plot of land with a simple, inexpensive house and outbuildings where a family can grow a large portion of their food.  Boone and Kenton County ANR agents met in January 2024 to discuss some cooperative programs, and the homesteading audience was discussed at length and how we could best serve this group and how do we find this audience. It was decided that a regional conference could be a way of outreach and be a cooperative program between our sister land grant universities of Purdue and The Ohio State University.  After reaching out to agents in Indiana, and Ohio a planning committee was formed all three states.  UK agents involved in the planning committee were from Boone, Kenton and Pendleton counties. The Tri State Homesteading Conference consisted of 18 sessions and topics were taught by Extension educators and other homesteaders.

Social marketing was the primary form of outreach.  Facebook, online newspaper, and boosted Facebook posts, along with a Facebook landing page.   Reservations and fees were gathered online.  As part of gathering what level our participants were we asked a few questions on the registration form. When registrants were asked what their goal was for their homestead, 17% wanted to contribute to their family’s food supply, 47% wanted to sell any cultivated products if they produced more than they could consume, and 25% wanted to sell farm raised products as a secondary revenue source to their family’s income. Seventy-five percent of participants had less than 2 years of experience.  Further, 42% have less than 2 acres on their homestead.  

A conference evaluation was shared with the 80 participants.  The top seven topics that rated extremely satisfied with the coverage of the topic, poultry, small ruminant, pollinators, soil health, mushroom production, marketing home raised products and vegetable garden production were chosen. Food preservation and on-farm demonstrations were the ideas to add to future Tri State Homesteading Conferences.  Nearly all those that attended said they would like the conference to be extended to a two-day educational event.

The planning committee met and considered the responses from the participants and discussed how to proceed from this first conference.  It was decided that a 2025 Tri State Homesteading Conference would be a good idea and preliminary work has begun.