• Make sourdough bread
• Ferment vegetables
• Keep bees or chickens
• Compost kitchen and yard waste
• Grow better vegetables
• Start a small family orchard
• Participate in the barter economy

If you answered yes to even one of these questions, you may be interested in an upcoming series of workshops and programs that will teach you hands-on skills.

The University of Illinois Extension staff in Bloomington is excited to announce the launch of the “Modern Homesteading & Self-Sufficiency” workshop series. The series will kick off with a two-session program from 5 to 7:30 p.m. Wednesday, Aug. 21, at the McLean County Extension Office. This session will also be available in person or online for free.

• In the first session, Maggie Ray, Extension program coordinator in Murphysboro and a Southern Illinois homesteader, will guide program participants through three important ideas.
• Finding your “why” — why do you want to learn modern homesteading skills?
• Realistic goalsetting — how to begin this lifestyle without getting carried away
• Time management – how to incorporate these skills into already-busy lives

I, Nick Frillman, am an Extension educator in Bloomington, and will be teaching the second session. In this session, I’ll cover how to start new and productive garden beds for the 2025 growing season by using cover crops in late summer, fall and winter of 2024. This will include: 

• High-labor and low-labor options for creating new garden beds using cover crops
• Various cover crop species to use for different situations
• Methods for quickly establishing and easily terminating cover crops
• Common household and garden materials to aid the cover crop establishment process

In this series of programs, we will strive to have a hands-on component of the class, or a hands-on homework assignment to reinforce learning objectives. For this session, in-person participants will have the option to buy enough cover crop seed to sow a 12-by-12-foot garden patch, for a cost of $10 cash or check. Future workshops will occur in Bloomington-Normal, Fairbury, Eureka, Peoria, Pontiac, Champaign-Urbana, Atlanta, LaSalle-Peru and elsewhere. Contact me to be notified about future programs.

Our goal is to teach practical skills that can enhance household resilience and build a supportive community in Central Illinois for modern homesteaders. This community will provide a platform for sharing ideas, recipes, strategies, stories and experiences. Check out our first event to learn more.

To register for the first session, please contact me at 309-663-8306 or frillma2@illinois.edu