The conference will include information about raising such animals as goats, chickens and beef.
- Courtesy of LSU AgCenter
This weekend's Louisiana Homesteader Conference will include about 20 talks about homesteading skills.
- Courtesy of LSU AgCenter
LSU AgCenter Assistant Nutritionist Jessica Salley strives for self-sufficiency for her family by canning food.
- Courtesy of LSU AgCenter Assistant Nutritionist Jessica Salley
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How long could your family live on food from your pantry if supermarkets were closed?
Jessica Salley, an LSU AgCenter assistant nutritionist who lives in DeSoto Parish, estimates her family could get by for half a year, "but I'm going to tell you right now, I've got friends that couldn't last two weeks."
Salley and husband Joshua, an LSU AgCenter agriculture agent, are homesteaders. They can fruits and vegetables and raise chickens, cattle and goats.
"I do all this to provide for my family, to have clean eating, but also to provide a safety net for us," Salley said. "When COVID hit, it was my moment to shine, because my husband calls me: ‘How long can we go without going to the grocery store?’ I said, ‘We’ve got six months before we have to plant something.’"
Salley preserves everything from jams and jellies to green beans to tomatoes to carrots and soup mix.
"We raise chickens for both eggs and meat, and then I process out our chickens here on the farm," said Salley, who has even canned chicken that can be stored without refrigeration, as long as it’s in a cool place.
But not everything she preserves comes from their land. She also takes advantage of good buys at the supermarket.
"I found carrots that were 50 cents a bag because they were going bad at Brookshire’s. I bought all of them, and I brought them home, and I washed them up and I canned them, and then we had sliced canned carrots."
Salley said she learned her skills first from her grandmother and later at school, but you can get a crash course on self-sufficiency this weekend at the free two-day Louisiana Homesteader Conference at Red River Research Station, 262 Research Station Drive, Bossier City.
This year’s schedule includes everything from basic beekeeping to backyard poultry to vegetable/fruit growing to canning basics to aquaponics.
Last year’s inaugural conference drew more than 600 people. LSU AgCenter Northwest Regional Director Ron Strahan believes pandemic shortages created a sense of alarm that has resulted in renewed interest in self-sufficiency.
"There's always been an element of people who've raised their own food, kind of lived off the land a little bit more, had backyard animals and eggs and all that, but I think it really took off during COVID," he said. "People saw grocery shelves a little bit less full."
Strahan said he and his wife got a little nervous and started growing food in their small backyard, to feel a bit more secure.
"I got some 5-gallon buckets, and I put some potting soil in them, and I raised a ton of vegetables that way," he said. "It was kind of spurred by COVID, just feeling more in charge."
Strahan said the conference will include information helpful to novices who want to try raising a few backyard chickens and a small garden as well as people who have acreage they want to use for food production.
"We have about 20 talks," he said. "We'll have the animal booths with our AgCenter people talking about backyard chickens. We'll have a lady that talks about rabbits. We'll have goats, sheep, a beef cow."
Strahan said the conference will even include real estate agents who can help locate property suitable for homesteading.
A hayride and other activities will keep children entertained.
Because there is so much about homesteading that is attractive to people – fresh air, fresh food, a sense of pride in providing for family – novices may romanticize what it takes to be successful.
"Maybe they think it's easy, and it's not easy, and maybe they don't have the knowledge level, and they don't know what they're getting into, so that's where we can help them," Strahan said. "They say, ‘I just want to live off the land,’ but it's not really that easy. You’ve got to have somebody helping you out, and that's where this conference will help you."
Louisiana Homesteader Conference
• When: Noon to 6 p.m. Friday and 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. Saturday. Schedule here.
• Where: Red River Research Station, 262 Research Station Drive, Bossier City.
• Admission: free.
• Info: dhaynes@agcenter.lsu.edu.