Regional Extension Agent for the Kentucky Nutrition Education Program and Family ans Consumer Sciences retiree partnered to teach a three-day food preservation workshop in Lee County.

Nine participants completed the 2018 Lee County Food Preservation Program including five participants new to Cooperative Extension programming.  They learned the pressure canning, water bath canning, freezing and drying methods of food preservation.  Almost half (40%) of the participants reported using food preservation methods never or rarely prior to the class.  Many of the Lee County participants said that they learned about the program through a friend, the Extension agent or at the Extension office.   Half (50%) of the participants chose to attend the program to interact with others.  Almost half (40%) of the participants also reported that they were attending because of a desire to learn and in order to improve skills.      

End of program evaluation results indicate an increase in food preservation skills.  All participants (100%) agreed they had better skills in home preservation methods, could identify research-based methods of home food preservation, could identify the necessary equipment for home food preservation methods, and could identify spoilage in home preserved products following the program.  Two participants reported growing gardens this year, planting in a combined total of 13,390 square feet (over a quarter acre) of garden area.