After the COVID-19 pandemic, Kentucky saw a 0.8% increase of population in 2020, Breathitt County especially saw an increase in population of 5.9% from 2019 to 2022. Many of these individuals have moved into rural areas in Kentucky to “learn to live off the land” and start a homestead. The Family and Consumer Science and Agriculture and Natural Resource Agents saw a need in Breathitt and Jackson county and decided to work together to address it. A series of classes called “Harvesting Harmony” was created to act as an Introduction to Homesteading class- using full days of programming matched in both Breathitt and Jackson counties to teach aspects of homesteading using hands-on and real life approaches.

A series of four classes, repeated in Breathitt County and Jackson County (for a total of eight classes) following the seasons, as homesteading follows the weather and seasons. Each class was a full day of education separated by lunch. Family and Consumer Science topics were taught in the morning before lunch and Agriculture and Natural Resource topics were taught in the afternoon after lunch. The topics related to livestock management, food safety and preservation (water bath canning, pressure canning, dehydration, freeze-drying, freezing), farm record keeping, brain health, mushroom inoculation, and meat curing. 

A total of fifty-seven community members, agriculture workers, farmers, and entrepreneurs attended all four lessons in both Breathitt and Jackson Counties. 

Comprehension assessments, matching activities, and verbal evaluations were used to see how participants will change their behavior at home to accommodate what they have learned in our classes. One participant, after learning how to make jam in our water bath canning class, has since bought a Ball Jam Maker and now makes and preserves jams and jellies. All fifty-seven participants said they learned something new and would use the information they learned when making choices about their homestead in the future.