Instructors
We’re gathering an all-star cast of instructors to teach you homesteading skills
Dan Adams
(formerly) Earthineer
Dan was the founder of Earthineer. He has been has been a speaker at the Mother Earth News Fair. Dan lives with his family in KY, where they have had large garden, raised chickens, St. Croix sheep, kept bees, tapped trees for maple syrup, built solar panels, and a host of various other geeky homesteading projects.
Michael Bush
Author of The Practical Beekeeper
Michael Bush is one of the leading proponents of treatment free beekeeping. He has been keeping bees since the mid 70’s, usually from two to seven hives up until the year 2000. Varroa forced more experimentation which required more hives and the number has grown steadily over the years from then. By 2008 it was about 200 hives. He is active on many of the Beekeeping forums with last count at more than 50,000 posts between all of them.
Jackie Clay
Author of Growing and Canning Your Own Food, Jackie Clay's Pantry Cookbook, and Homesteading Simplified
Jackie has been a full time homesteader for over 55 years, gardening, canning and raising livestock as well as writing about what she does. A full time writer, she has written for many magazines including Backwoods Home, Self-Reliance, Mother Earth News, Rural Heritage and The Western Horseman. She also has spoken on canning, gardening and off-grid living at many expos all across the country. She and her husband, Will, live on an off-grid Northern Minnesota Homestead of 160 acres.
Jordan Green
J & L Green Farm
Jordan and his wife, Laura, started J & L Green Farm in 2009 to serve the families in their area with clean, healthy meats and bring healing to the farmland they are a blessed to manage. They have built their farm from the ground up and had success in an area many fail in: a first generation farm, direct retail oriented, based entirely on leased land.
Tim Hensley
ForestRetreats.net
Tim Hensley is a horselogger, farmer, mushroom enthusiast and woodsman who has been in Berea, KY since 1988. He has been marketing their home-grown and wildcrafted mushrooms and managing their well-diversified organic farming operation for around 15 years.
Irena Hollowell
Southern Exposure Seed Exchange
Irena lives at Acorn Community in Mineral, VA, and works at Southern Exposure Seed Exchange (SESE). SESE currently carries over 800 varieties of vegetables, herbs, cover crops, and other plants.
Meredith Leigh
Author of The Ethical Meat Handbook
Meredith has worked as a farmer, butcher, chef, teacher, non-profit executive director, and writer, all in pursuit of sustainable food. She is the author of The Ethical Meat Handbook: A Complete Guide to Home Butchery, Charcuterie, and Cooking for the Conscious Omnivore, and the forthcoming Pure Charcuterie: The Craft & Poetry of Curing Meats at Home.
John Moody
Whole Life Services and Some Small Farm
John is a farmer, homesteader, and leader in the local food movement. He started and has managed one of the largest food co-operatives in the nation. He previously served as the Executive Director of the Farm to Consumer Legal Defense Fund. He is a popular speaker at the Mother Earth News Fair and other events.
Annie Warmke
Blue Rock Station
Annie Warmke is a goat herder, social entrepreneur and writer. She is the author of Naturally Healthy Goat Guide and Journey Towards Nothing, the story of how she started Blue Rock Station, and how she spends the month of January without using energy from the grid or spending money - calling this annual experience “Thanks For Nothing.”
Jay Warmke
Blue Rock Station
Jay is co-owner of Blue Rock Station, a sustainable living center that features the first Earthship (a 2,200 square foot passive solar home constructed out of garbage) built east of the Mississippi. He is the author of numerous green technology books, including Green Technology: Principles and Practices and Solar Photovoltaic Installer Certification Guide.
Jereme Zimmerman
Author of Make Mead Like A Viking
Jereme blogs and speaks regularly on fermentation, mead-making, homesteading and good eating. He is a regular contributor to various publications and websites, including New Pioneer and Backwoods Home magazines. His book Make Mead Like a Viking was published by Chelsea Green Publishing in November 2015.