Local nonprofit Augusta Locally Grown held its first Homesteading Conference, Saturday, at the HUB for Community Innovation off Walton Way.
The sustainability-themed event pulled from lessons ALG regularly offers in a wide array of self-sufficiency skills to coordinate an all-day event with lectures, classes and demonstrations promoting a homesteader lifestyle.
From about 9:30 a.m. to 3:30 p.m., participants could attend presentations ranging from harvesting vegetables, home composting, growing fruit trees and meat processing to beekeeping, candle making and making one’s own deodorant.
Brandi Wallace of Wallace Farms, taught classes on raising livestock for meat, agritourism and preparedness, which touched on everything from what to do during a house fire “all the way to when the zombies attack.”
“Realistically, it’s about hazards in our area, including nuclear activity, that you should be prepared for,” said Wallace, addressing issues like financial planning, having a disaster kit and how to acquire and secure one’s own bunker.
Ashley Murphy, owner of North Augusta herb store ABĒCA Naturals, taught Foraging 101, giving attendees basic information on finding and harvesting locally grown medicinal plants.
“Flowers that are edible are food,” said Murphy to a crowd of prospective foragers. “So if there’s ever a time we get to a point where we can’t just go to the grocery store, that’s what these conference is here for.”
The event doubled as a one-day market, with vendors, many of whom are farmers market regulars, offering their wares, such as Barnhart’s Feed & Seed and Brandara Family Farm.
Honeyfeathers, a business based in Evans that already offers education in agricultural practices — like how to keep bees or raise chickens — set up a booth where passersby could purchase environmentally-friendly chicken tractors and learn about its classes.
“Augusta Locally Grown has done a great job of building a community of interest that is very interested in learning how to feed their family well, how to share knowledge and experience,” said owner John Popiak, calling the occasion to network and do business with other homesteaders a throwback opportunity.
“If you’re not necessarily into gardening, or homesteading, or raising a chicken, you come here you can get some introductory classes, you can meet people. We’ve been up about talking to people all throughout the afternoon, learning from them, sharing what we know, just having great conversations.”
Attendee Soveren Sage, of Broad Street holistic African culture store Sirius Sage, came to the conference to get information and got more than he bargained for.
“I think that this has been one of the most fulfilling, engaging and interactive means of learning about homesteading [and] preparedness,” said Sage. “What it means to be in a reflective space with acknowledging, respecting and producing from land.”
Tickets costing upwards of $70 were sold out, and vendors saw plenty of business. Janette Metz, experience coordinator with AGL, who planned the Homesteading Conference, notes that the smooth success of the inaugural symposium may set things up nicely for a two- or three-day version of the event in the future.
“We’re really just trying to teach the next generation of farmers, so they could they could replace the older generation farmers that are retiring,” said Metz. “That was the main goal, and I think we did it, so I feel very optimistic.”
For more information visit www.AugustaLocallyGrown.com.
Skyler Q. Andrews is a staff reporter for The Augusta Press. Reach him at skyler@theaugustapress.com.
