2026 Mitten Homesteaders Conference

Lake Odessa Fairgrounds

Lake Odessa, MI

Bringing Michigan homesteaders together to share in a vigorous movement of food abundance and freedom.

Get Your 2026 Tickets

Mark Your Calendars!

Our 2026 Mitten Homesteaders Conference is May 29-30!

Lake Odessa Fairgrounds, Lake Odessa, MI

Get Your 2025 Tickets

Experience Michigan Homesteading

Grab your farm boots and get inspired.

Learn & Share Ideas

Gain knowledge no matter your experience.

Build Network & Community

Meet like-minded people that are passionate about homesteading.

Dairy Goat Genetics: Breeding, Feeding, and Butchering Towards your Homestead Goals

Morgan Michaluk

Making Your Dreams Fit into the Reality of your Homestead

Carl Thompson

DIY Cattle Breeding: Artificial Insemination for the Homestead

Meagan Lintz

Deep Roots, Big Dreams: The Family Homestead Re-writing the Future

Chett and Melissa Clayton

Planning and Starting an Orchard

Paul Holcroft

An Overview of Raising Livestock on the Homestead

Luke Eising

Alternative Therapies: Stewarding on the Homestead

Matt Pekrul

Homestead Trapping 101

Adam Cameron

Michigan's Medicinal Mushrooms: Therapeutic Use & Foraging

Tyler Davidson, NTP, NBC-HWC, INHC

Raising the Wild Child: Holistic Living for Young Families

Makenzie Smit

Homeopathy for Beginners

Kelly the Kitchen Cop

5 Secrets of Successful Gardening

Tammy Lowe

Anyone Can Farm, A Memoir

Mark Baker

How to Keep Homesteading When You Want to Quit

Colleen Holcroft

2026 Conference Sessions

Take a look at the list of session topics and speakers we have for our 2026 Conference! Stay tuned for more details for our 2026 Conference.

Stress Reduction Tincture (Glycerite)

Rebecca Enright, Nurse Practitioner

Disinfect Smarter with Chlorine Dioxide!

Matt Pekrul

Fiber Processing: Harvest, Prepare and Use - Part 1: Felting

Kelly Brandt

Fiber Processing: Harvest, Prepare and Use - Part 2: Weaving

Kelly Brandt

Soapmaking From Start to Finish

Hannah Embury

Apple Tree Grafting

Paul Holcroft

Sourdough

Kristen Wood

Making Tallow

Stephanie Grinage

Updated! 2026 Workshops

Take a look at what our list of workshops are for our 2026 Conference!

Goat Butchering

Morgan Michaluk

Trapping

Adam Cameron

Canning (Both days)

Tammy McNeill

Chicken Processing

Cliff Byington

Goat Milking & Goat Care

Morgan Michaluk

Updated! 2026 Demonstrations

Take a look at the list of demonstrations we had for our 2025 Conference!

Painting Rocks for the Garden Craft

Kym Jessup

Kym and Joseph have been homesteading for several years in Southwest Michigan with their five children, ranging from 5 to 15 years old. She focuses on raising meat from a variety of animals and managing a small vegetable garden, while her husband runs a commercial blueberry farm. Kym has enjoyed balancing daily tasks efficiently over the years managing her household and homestead, and homeschooling some of her kids.

Making Chapstick

Nikki and Sada Shuptar

Gardening for Pollinators: Making Seed Bombs

Hannah Embury

Hannah lives in mid Michigan with her husband and three children. She writes for The Mamasteader Blog, her outlet for writing on topics she’s passionate about to encourage women in homeschooling and homesteading. She has a children’s picture book published called Chicken Math, and has developed a line of non-toxic products as a part of her innovative business pursuits.

Dying Fabric with natural dyes

Colleen McLemore

Colleen and her husband Randy have lived in their cozy Southeast Grand Rapids home for 30 years where they raised and homeschooled six kids. Colleen enjoys walking in the woods, foraging for plants and mushrooms, and crafting wild medicine, all while experimenting with herbs and veggies from her "urban homestead" garden.

2026 Children/Family Sessions

Take a look at the list of children/family sessions we had for our 2025 Conference!

Subscribe to Our Newsletter!

We will be sending out a newsletter once or twice a month to keep you informed about conference updates and Michigan homestead news.

View Past Newsletters

2026 Sponsors

Interested in becoming a sponsor for our 2026 Conference? Click the button below to learn more:

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Excited About the Movement?

We get it, we are too.

Click the button below to download a 8.5" x 11" flyer to share with friends or hang up in your local community!

Download Flyer!

Get Your Hands Dirty

Looking for a way to be involved in 2026 Mitten Homesteaders Conference? Find the inquiry forms below.

Vender Request Form

Want to be a vendor for our 2025 Mitten Homesteaders Conference?

Visit Form

Volunteer Request Form

Are you interested on being a mitten homesteader volunteer for our 2025 Mitten Homesteaders Conference?

Visit Form

Speaker Questionnaire Form

Are you a knowledgeable Homesteader from Michigan or have passion to share what you know? Tell us what you would like to speak on at the Mitten Homesteaders Conference next May.

Visit Form

Vew Conference Schedule

Plan your time at the conference

Click the button below to download the 2025 conference schedule.

View Schedule

Videos

2025 Photos

Our 2025 Conference was a huge success! See our photos and videos (swipe to scroll) to catch a glimpse below!

2025 Conference Recap

Mina Postman

Founder & Conference Director

Mina Postman has been homesteading on 25 acres in Ionia county since 2012 and before that in an urban setting in Grand Rapids worked in a community garden as well as her own. She and her husband have dairy goats, laying hens, a small herd of beef cattle, ducks, and dogs and cats. They raise chicken and turkey for meat each summer and produce maple syrup from their sugar bush each spring, and tend a garden and orchard.

Jami Manszewski

Organizer

Jami is an entrepreneur, homesteader, 4H leader, and community advocate. She, her husband Kyle, and their 2 children use their acreage in southwest Michigan to grow hogs, rabbits, chickens, vegetables, and a small herd of Dexter cattle. She loves to learn from books, lectures, peers, and experience. Jami is passionate about living simply and sustainably and teaching others how to do the same.

Jenna Postman

Social Media Manager

Jenna focuses on city homesteading in Kentwood, Michigan with her husband, Judah, and their dogs and cats. She has a background in 4H, livestock showing, FFA, and dog training. Jenna is an advocate for incorporating holistic practices into health and self-sufficiency, specifically in the realm of autoimmune diseases and chronic illness. She’s passionate about combining Western Medicine with holistic approaches to get to the root cause, instead of just treating symptoms. She enjoys baking sourdough, creating anti-inflammatory recipes, writing poetry, and hiking with her husband and dogs. Jenna and Judah hope to be able to get some land to start their own homestead soon!

Hannah Embury

Sponsorship Coordinator

Lorah Cameron

Vendor Coordinator

Lorah Cameron lives in the thumb of the Mitten with her husband, Adam, and their two youngest children. They have three grown children, all married to wonderful spouses, and two of those couples have children of their own. Her family raises meat birds, maintains a seasonal garden, and makes their own maple syrup. While both Lorah and Adam work outside of the home, they also have extracurricular activities to supplement their income. Adam operates a sawmill and laser engraver, creating custom orders for people and participating in a few craft or homesteader events each year. Lorah also runs an Airbnb.

Tiffany Doolittle

Organizer

Tiffany Doolittle and her husband, Eric, understand the importance of growing and sourcing quality food locally for health and sustainability purposes. The more people that grow food and raise livestock animals, the greater availability of food for the greater community. Let us make Michigan a place that grows and thrives through homesteading! The Doolittles do a lot on their acreage in Mason, Mi. Both Eric and Tiffany have full-time careers, along with a permaculture garden, a vegetable garden, and three cats.

Meet The Team

We Are Mitten Homesteaders

Homesteading in Michigan is unique and exciting! We are surrounded by the Great Lakes and have a climate friendly to multitudes of livestock animals, as well as fruits, vegetables and grains.

We want to bring homesteaders together to share in a vigorous movement of food freedom and abundance. We know there are hundreds of folks in Michigan with skills and knowledge who can share what they know with more hundreds who are thirsty for that knowledge. Whether you have a large following on social media, or you are just doing your thing in relative obscurity, we want to meet you face to face and learn from you.

We would love to see traditional skills like wild crafting, foraging, food preservation and animal processing become much more mainstream; to see herbal remedies and canning and local food systems become common. Since family homesteads are the place where these traditions most thrive and are passed down, we will place a high value on them and do our utmost to promote them.

Mission Statement

Mitten Homesteaders promotes a Michigan based community that cares about families raising, processing and growing food as well as cultivating and customizing their own home cultures. We aim to provide platforms and venues where individuals are able to learn and share ideas with other homesteaders.

Our perspective is informed by the Biblical command to fill and care for the earth. We are directed by standards of Judeo-Christian principals, giving glory to God through His singing creation!