Homesteader Fest in Manitoba

The European pioneers, also called homesteaders, who first began to settle Canada, had to learn a lot of entirely new skills to survive the harsh conditions.  Just some of those skills included for example, learning to make their own soap, how to raise and slaughter animals, and how to preserve their food to sustain themselves through the long harsh winters

They also had to make a lot of things they needed as they simply weren’t available in remote areas.  But as communities grew into town,s and towns to our huge cities, and as transportation of goods from distant places is now completely commonplace, most of those skills have been lost at least for city dwellers.

However, this past weekend, the community of Fraserwood, Manitoba, took the first step in reviving some of those skills.  They organized the first ever Homesteader do it yourself (DIY) festival.

Organizer Adrienne Percy says, “kids today don’t know where their food comes from. People don’t often don’t know how to preserve or cook their own food”

She had moved her own family last year from the city to a 320 acre property near Fraserwood, which is about 85 km north of Winnipeg.

She said she found many of these almost forgotten skills in the community and with friend Kris Antonius, decided to create Homesteader Fest to pass along some of the skills and knowledge to urbanites and their children.

Adrienne Percy offered her own workshop on fermenting. She says, “Anywhere you look in the world, there is fermented food that is indigenous to that region. A lot of us remember a crock of sauerkraut,” said Percy, adding the simpler method of preserving food was a precursor to canning.”

This past weekend the event offered 27 workshops on everything from soap making, beekeeping, raising goats and chickens, planting and growing asparagus, and proper tool maintenance among others