Alaskans who have an interest in learning traditional skills like raising and butchering livestock, food preservation, making and using natural fibers, living off-grid, feeding their family from a homegrown garden or orchard have a golden opportunity to gain or perfect these abilities during the first-ever Alaska Homestead Expo.
The two-day event, April 27-28, will take a deep dive into pig and chicken butchering and processing, including salt curing, smoke curing, and dry curing. For those interested in raising chickens for meat or eggs, the experts from Polaris Poultry will be on hand for processing demonstrations and to answer any and all chicken-raising questions.
There will be more than 30 other workshops, for both kids (5-12 years), youth (12 and up) and adults. These will cover subjects like: gardening, foraging wild Alaska food, raising livestock for meat and/or milk with separate workshops on milk cows, goats, rabbits, chickens, quail, yaks, and sheep, livestock guarding dog training, how to start an orchard, beekeeping, sourdough bread cultivation, soil health, food processing, worm composting, raising livestock for wool/fibers, HAM Radio and much more.
On Saturday evening, April 27, there will be an ice cream social (featuring homemade ice cream from Big Dipper).
“We’re going to dig deep into sustainability in Alaska, we’re going to learn new homestead skills, and we’re going to build community,” notice for the event states. It adds that all speakers will be seasoned Alaskans who are already “living this lifestyle” and filled with “old-fashioned Alaska smarts.”
A number of vendors will also be offering products and services that emphasize community building, sustainably living, and living the homestead way. lifestyle. Food trucks and coffee stands will also be on hand for both days.
ALASKA WATCHMAN DIRECT TO YOUR INBOX
Tickets are $65/per person and kids under 18 are free. The ticket covers the entire two-days expo, allowing participants to attend as many workshops and events as they like.
For more information, or to register, click here.
