Purdue Extension will offer the Southwest Indiana Homesteading Conference to help current, beginning, and prospective small farmers in the Tri-State area improve and diversify their small farm and homestead operations.
Friday’s sessions focus on food preservation, with topics such as boiling water baths, jams and jellies, pressure canning, and fermenting and pickling with hands-on practice in the kitchen.
Saturday sessions involve an array of small farm presentations, with topics including vegetable production, fruit production, soil fertility, composting, beekeeping, backyard poultry, urban agriculture, cover crops, organic systems, food storage panel discussion, small business resources, rain harvesting and storage, tools for the farm, and mushroom cultivation.
Conference participants will receive information on production methods and processes from a variety of experts to plan for new ventures, improve current production and profitability, and diversify current operations. The event will also feature vendor booths with products and services geared toward small farm and homestead operations.
The conference will be held on Friday and Saturday, March 8 & 9, at the Friedman Park Event Center, 2700 Park Blvd., Newburgh, IN. Friday registration begins at 11:00 AM, with sessions from 12:00 PM – 5:00 PM. Saturday registration begins at 7:00 AM CDT, with presentations running from 8:00 AM – 3:00 PM CDT. On Saturday, childcare will be available for a fee.
Fees for this event are $35.00 per person (Friday), $40 per person (Saturday), and $20.00 for childcare (Saturday only), with registration available online at https://bit.ly/SWIHC2024 .
Registrations are due by March 1.
For more information contact the Purdue Extension – Gibson County office at (812) 385-3491 or visit your local county Extension Office.
