Food preservation and canning has seen a resurgence of popularity with the “cottagecore” aesthetic, Instagram influencers, and consumers’ increasing interest in being closer to food processing.
Practices once passed down generationally have skipped a generation (or two) in many families, leaving folks wanting to preserve their farm market finds or garden bounty, but with little solid instruction outside of YouTube.
Mecosta County Farm Bureau strove to bridge that knowledge gap with a recent 'Food Preservation 101' event, funded with a Connecting Communities grant from MFB.
Utilizing space at Hearty Harvest, the farm market run by active member Natalie Pennington, Mecosta welcomed 35 participants, including 28 non-members.
Partnering with Michigan State University Extension, attendees heard from Food Safety Educator Kara Lynch on how to safely preserve their food. Each attendee also received a canning starter kit.
“When we were discussing what to do with our Connecting Communities grant, we really focused in on the objective of educating our community,” said Mecosta County President Kate Wernette, who took an active role in planning the workshop.
“We live in a community where there’s a produce stand on every corner, so we wanted to help people utilize what they already have. It’s not that people don’t have an interest; they just need to know how to get started.”
Wernette underscored how helpful the grant funding was in putting wheels under their idea.
“We wouldn’t have done the program without Connecting Communities,” she said. “The grant opportunity really necessitated the invention of a creative, new program with a unique target audience. It gave us the motivation and now we have an event that was easy to execute, fits in the budget, and participants loved.
“We’ve already received feedback asking for another event and plans are already in the works for 2025!”
Wernette stated two-thirds of the participants had never preserved food before, and that everyone left with a newfound confidence for food preservation.
The 2024 Connecting Communities Grant program awarded 54 county Farm Bureaus $1,000 grants to meet the consumers where they are.
Northwest Michigan Farm Bureau also took advantage of the summertime activities and sponsored “Ag Night” with the Traverse City Pit Spitters, the region’s popular minor-league baseball club. The county showcased agriculture to more than 4,000 attendees by bringing in tractors, educational posters, ag-themed goodies for kids and a trivia wheel.
Looking to hold a similar event with your county Farm Bureau? Contact Mecosta or Northwest Michigan Farm Bureaus for more information.
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