The Jefferson County Agent for Horticulture Education, partnered with the Jefferson County Soil & Water Conservation District, Louisville Grows and the University of Kentucky Nutrition Education Program to host three one-day food preservation classes for residents in Jefferson County during September. Forty-four participants completed the 2018 Jefferson County Food Preservation Program including thirty-one participants (66%) new to Cooperative Extension programming. They learned the water bath canning and drying methods of food preservation. About half (52%) of the participants reported never or rarely using food preservation methods prior to the class. Most of the Jefferson County participants said that they learned about the program through friends, family or other programs they were involved with such as the Urban Homesteading Program and the Americana Garden Meeting. The reasons given by most participants for choosing to attend the program were because of a desire to learn (92%), to use the skills to save money (62%), to interact with others (55%) and for personal accomplishment (53%).

End of program evaluation results indicate an increase in food preservation skills. At the beginning of the program, most (82%) participants self-reported their skill level in the food preservation methods taught as ‘beginner’. At the end of the program, that percentage had decreased by 19% and those participants now reported their skill level as either ‘intermediate’ or ‘experienced’. All participants (100%) agreed they had better skills in home preservation methods, understood the difference between low acid and high acid foods, could identify the necessary equipment for home food preservation methods, and could accurately prepare foods and containers for home food preservation. Almost three-fourths (71%) of the participants reported growing gardens this year, and reported planting in a combined total of 39,179 square feet (over 3/4 of an acre) of garden area. One month after the program, 15% of the participants reported using skills learned in the food preservation class to preserve food through water bath canning or dehydrating in their homes.

Comments from participants indicated that they thought the program was great, very educational and the nice hosting space was also mentioned. Suggestions for improvements included adding more visuals, changing the class time to 6 p.m. and including tips on how to preserve food without purchasing expensive equipment.