1 male and 14 female participants attended the 2019 Lawrence County Food Preservation Program. Participants had very little food preservation experience and expressed an interest to learn all methods of food preservation and gain skills to be able to safely preserve fresh produce from their home gardens and local farms. Over half (56%) of the participants reported never or rarely using food preservation methods prior to the program.

Alivia Faris, Family and Consumer Sciences Agent, promoted the workshop, distributed helpful food preservation tools, conducted evaluations, provided lunches, and helped conduct a successful workshop. Participants said that they learned about the program through Facebook, friends, the Extension office and the Extension website. The reasons given by most participants for choosing to attend the program were because of a desire to learn (89%), to interact with others (67%), for personal accomplishment (44%) and to improve their skills (44%)*.

Participants were taught the most up-to-date research based methods for canning, drying, freezing, pickling, and fermenting from the University of Kentucky SNAP Food Preservation booklet; conducted hands-on activities to help participants "learn by doing"; and discussed scary foodborne illness statistics to reinforce the importance of always using USDA research based methods and recipes.

Participants followed the step-by-step methods and recipes from the Food Preservation Workshop booklet (5th edition) as they canned green beans in the pressure canner; canned tomatoes and salsa in the boiling water canner; dried apples, bananas and tomatoes in the dehydrator; blanched corn and prepared blackberry low-sugar freezer jam for the freezer.  Participants also participated in a "Is it High Acid or Low Acid?" activity "Show Me the Freezer Container!" activity to further develop their skills to preserve foods correctly and safely.

Participants thoroughly enjoyed the hands-on food preservation activities and commented on how well it helps them to build confidence and skills:  "It's so much fun to learn in a group - to interact and learn what not to do as well as what to do based on experiences of others.  The information stays with me."  "This workshop has taught me not to be scared of the pressure canner."  "This is the first Extension class I've attended and I love it!  I've learned so much helpful information."

By the end of the workshop participants had gained the knowledge and skills along with confidence to preserve foods in their canners, dehydrators, freezers, and fermenting crocks.  Participants were proud to know the skills necessary to enable them to stock their pantries with safe, well preserved delicious foods to feed their families tasty fruits and vegetables throughout the cold winter months.

End of program evaluation results indicate an increase in food preservation skills. All participants (100%) agreed or strongly agreed they had better skills in home food preservation methods, could identify research-based methods of home food preservation, could identify the necessary equipment for home food preservation methods, could accurately prepare foods and containers for home food preservation, understood the difference in and could identify the correct method for canning low acid and high acid foods and could identify spoilage in home preserved products after the program.

Over half of the participants (56%) reported growing a garden this year, and are planting in a total of over 93,185 square feet (2.14 acres) of garden area. Participants commented that they found the class instruction very informative and learned a lot. There were no suggestions for improvement.

*These items accepted multiple responses, so total percent may exceed 100%.

One month following the 2019 Lawrence County Food Preservation Program, five participants completed a Food Preservation Follow-Up Survey to determine if and how they had used the skills they acquired in the class. All (100%) reported using the foods they had prepared during the program and also reported that they had used their food preservation skills to preserve food at home from their own garden, others’ gardens and the farmer’s market. Using their food preservation skills, participants reported freezing and canning 66 quarts and 65 pints of fruit, freezing, canning and drying 168 quarts and 18 pints of vegetables, and canning and freezing 66 pints of jam this year. Almost all participants (80%) reported sharing what they had learned with others.

A month following the end of the program, all participants (100%) still strongly agreed or agreed that they have better skills in home preservation methods, could identify research-based methods of home food preservation, understood the difference between low 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. Suggestions for future programs included cake and cookie decorating, stained glass crafts, wreath making and ‘Grandma Hacks’. Other comments included appreciation for the high quality of the classes, and one participant wrote that the class had made her more confident about using the pressure canner. There were no suggestions for program improvement.