Seventeen participants, eight youth and nine adults, completed the Food Preservation Program in Grayson County.  They learned the water bath canning method of food preservation.  Seven of the participants (41%) were new to Cooperative Extension programming.  Over half (56%) of the adult participants reported using food preservation methods sometimes and 22% reported using food preservation methods quite often prior to the program.  The adult participants said that they learned about the program through Facebook, the Extension website and the Extension office.  Youth participants reported hearing about the program through their parents.  The reasons given by most adult participants for choosing to attend the program were because of a desire to learn (67%) and to improve skills (56%)*.

End of program evaluation results indicate an increase in food preservation skills.  Before and after the program, participants are asked to self-report their skill level for the method as either ‘beginner’, intermediate’ or ‘experienced’.  Over half (55%) of adult participants reported an increase in skills using the water bath method of food preservation.  All adult and youth participants (100%) strongly agreed or agreed they had better skills in home food preservation methods and could identify research-based methods of home food preservation after the program.   All adult participants (100%) also strongly agreed or agreed that they could identify the necessary equipment for home food preservation, understood the difference in and could identify the correct method of canning for low acid and high acid foods, could prepare foods and containers accurately for canning and could identify spoilage in home preserved products after the program.  Over half (67%) of the families reported growing a garden this year, and reported planting in a combined total of 110,100 square feet (a little over 2.5 acres) of garden area.

Comments from adult participants included praise for the instructor and appreciation for their children having the opportunity to learn life skills.  One youth participant said, “I learned a lot because I didn’t even know that there could be bacteria in food.”  A participant suggested offering a class about the drying food preservation method.

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