IT’S OFFICIAL!!

We are planning a HUGE educational homesteading conference and fair for October 14, 2017 here in Virginia! The event will be held at the Fauquier County Fairgrounds.

This conference is a SELF-SUSTAINABLE event—no debt, whatsoever—and this is only possible through sponsors, ticket sales, and vendors. After all, this is what homesteading is all about. This conference was created BY homesteaders, FOR homesteaders.

I’m proud to say that this event will be unique and unlike any other.

This conference will include some incredible key speakers that you guys are going to enjoy and benefit from. We are currently working on finishing the booking process of Eustace Conway, from the History Channel’s hit TV series, Mountain Men.

We have officially booked:

  • Joel Salatin — author, lecturer, and American farmer of Polyface Farms
  • Lisa Steele — author of the book Fresh Eggs Daily, fifth generation holistic chicken keeper
  • Esther Emery — blogger, author, YouTuber, and daughter of the late Carla Emery (author of The Encyclopedia of Country Living), and an off grid homesteader

We planned it for October 2017 because we know that there are other conferences that happen (no matter how big or how small) through out the year, and we don’t want to interfere with any other events happening during those times. This also allows us to have demonstrations outside when it’s not 90 degrees outside, as 50+% of the conference will be outdoors. This also allows homesteaders and farmers to travel, as harvest season is just about over in October, and animals aren’t quite birthing yet.

The conference will have vendor spaces for those who are looking to sell product, educate, or just promote their business/homestead. We will also have demonstrations outside of the buildings — such as how to cook on wood heat, how to shoe your own horse, cooking apple butter, wild game preparing, canning, and other homestead demonstrations.

The facility where we will be having the event is huge and can accommodate thousands. There are multiple buildings where the key speakers will be placed, and in between lectures you’ll have time to watch the outside demonstrations, get some food from some amazing local food trucks, and mingle with other homesteaders and homestead vendors!

But the best part? And my favorite part….

It’s not just an event. There will be a website as well, that you can reference back to all year long. This website (the one you’re reading right now) will have clips of each speaker from the event, video demonstrations from the event, homesteading articles, and sponsor videos (products, businesses, how-to’s and more). This will allow homesteaders to reference back to the important information they’ve learned. And this will be a homesteading hub for years to come. Let’s leave a legacy for generations to come!

This is planned to be an annual event, so the website will serve as an informational resource for the following year’s homesteading event as well.

We are extremely excited to be partnering with a local media company to bring this to you. As details emerge and speakers are fully scheduled, we will update as frequently as possible. Ticket sales will have 3 tiers — general admission (to see vendors and demonstrations), speaker admission (general admission + lecture admission), and FREE admission tickets for children 12 and under.

We hope you’ll join on us this journey to making homesteading normal again.

If you are interested in donating, supporting, becoming a sponsor, or if you’re interested in a vendor space, please contact me VERY SOON.

I’m not going to lie, this is kind of all falling together without much effort. So I don’t foresee it taking long for spaces to fill up when it comes to sponsors/vendors.

THIS EVENT IS RAIN OR SHINE! All speakers and most vendors will be under covered buildings.

WE WILL NEED VOLUNTEERS — so if you are a homesteading friend that wants to volunteer, know that I will be seeking you out in the coming months!

Thanks for your continued support of this beautiful homesteading community. Without the constant growing of knowledge and people wanting to live more simply, this wouldn’t be possible. I hope that this event and website can bring even more awareness to taking back your life and living simply…right where you are….no matter how much land you own or where you live!!

xoxo

Amy Fewell, The Fewell Homestead

Founder of Homesteaders of America