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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
Dairy goats are a wonderful addition to the homestead, providing both milk and meat in an easy-to-handle size. For them to meet their full potential as dairy animals, they need to be fed and managed intentionally while also being bred for traits that will help you meet your homestead goals. If you want to dive deeper into dairy goat genetics, management, and the practicality of butchering your culls, this is the talk for you!
Making Your Dreams Fit into the Reality of your Homestead
Carl Thompson
Carl wants to help people to have a practical relationship with their dreams. Ask questions and find tools to help make dreams possible from day one. Learn lessons from Carl’s story of many decades of homestead journeying
DIY Cattle Breeding: Artificial Insemination for the Homestead
Meagan Lintz
Meagan will show comparison between live cover and AI, detailing why AI can be such a valuable tool for a homesteader. Cow anatomy and what to feel for during AI. How to detect heat cycles, and when the best time to breed is. Equipment necessary for AI, and where to acquire it, and what the estimated cost is. Additionally, she'll bring some sire catalogs for both beef and dairy breeds, and explain how to read the information about each bull so you know how to decode all the acronyms and numbers.
Deep Roots, Big Dreams: The Family Homestead Re-writing the Future
Chett and Melissa Clayton
Build a homesteading family culture that raises confident, disciplined, resilient kids who think for themselves and face challenges with strength. Learn practical ways to clarify your family’s priorities, give children meaningful responsibilities, teach real work and money management, create character-building rhythms, and set the standard by living the example yourself.
Planning and Starting an Orchard
Paul Holcroft
To create a productive homestead orchard takes careful planning. We will discuss why you should consider planting an orchard on your homestead along with tree size, layout, when to plant and how to protect your trees. Speaking from experience, it is easier to plan ahead and then plant rather than just planting trees in the ground and hoping for the best.
An Overview of Raising Livestock on the Homestead
Luke Eising
The role of livestock on the family Homestead and how to care for the different kinds.
Alternative Therapies: Stewarding on the Homestead
Matt Pekrul
For beginners interested in homesteading and greater self-reliance, offering a clear and accessible foundation in both practical homesteading skills and selected alternative supportive therapies. Matt will explore core principles of homesteading, including the mindset and initial steps toward independence, along with responsible stewardship of land, food production, and livestock care. The talk also provides a high-level, educational overview of alternative therapies applicable to both people and animals—specifically highlighting DMSO, chlorine dioxide, and ascorbic acid—while strongly emphasizing responsible use, careful discernment, and the development of a solid foundational understanding rather than detailed technical protocols.
Homestead Trapping 101
Adam Cameron
Adam shows how to use different traps and different trapping techniques to address nuisance versus predatory animals, along with basic trapping safety. He will demonstrate how to set different kinds of traps and where and how to use them in different trapping scenarios.
Michigan's Medicinal Mushrooms: Therapeutic Use & Foraging
Tyler Davidson, NTP, NBC-HWC, INHC
Michigan's Medicinal Mushrooms is an interactive workshop guided by Certified Michigan Mushroom Expert Tyler Davidson exploring the healing power of fungi native to Michigan. You will dive into the high potential of fungi for our modern health epidemics, safe use, and research-backed medicinal benefits. Foraging guidance is given on each mushroom covered paired with field samples to enhance learning. Bonus topics include insights into traditional indigenous uses, survival, and bushcraft. Resources are provided for further study, and plenty of time is offered for Q&A. If you are wanting to begin your natural medicine journey with fungi and learn how to forage for your own needs, this is your perfect opportunity!
Raising the Wild Child: Holistic Living for Young Families
Makenzie Smit
In this session, we explore what happens when a modern family chooses to slow down, step outside, and embrace a more natural way of living. Through personal experience and research-backed insights, you’ll discover how outdoor play, intentional rhythms, and simple holistic practices can transform childhood and family life. This talk offers encouragement, practical ideas, and a renewed vision for raising resilient, grounded children in a fast-paced world
Homeopathy for Beginners
Kelly the Kitchen Kop
We all want to nourish our families well, but when illness strikes, we also need to know how to care for loved ones as much as possible instead of trusting others with their health. Homeopathy is a safe and traditional medicine without side effects that is still used throughout the world today. Learn the basics so you can care for your family without having to solely trust "the professionals".
5 Secrets of Successful Gardening
Tammy Lowe
This is an overview of the five most important stages of gardening. Go beyond plant purchasing, digging holes and watering and into what seasoned gardeners learn over many years.
Anyone Can Farm, A Memoir
Mark Baker
Mark takes you through the last 20+ years of his farmstead near Marion, Mi, where he and his family have joyfully thrived with ups and downs, wins and losses all combining to make a farm experience worth sharing.
How to Keep Homesteading When You Want to Quit
Colleen Holcroft
Homesteading is exciting and rewarding. It can also be discouraging!
Take some time to develop your “why” and equip yourself to endure in the good, bad, and ugly of homesteading.
2026 Conference Sessions
Take a look at the list of session topics and speakers we had for our 2026 Conference!
Stress Reduction Tincture (Glycerite)
Rebecca Enright, Nurse Practitioner
In this hands-on class, you’ll learn the basics of tincture making while crafting a gentle stress-support blend featuring chamomile and lemon balm. We’ll cover foundational techniques, ingredient selection, and simple methods you can use at home, all while exploring the calming properties of these classic herbs. Participants will leave with a handmade glycerite and a solid understanding of the tincture/glycerite-making process.
Disinfect Smarter with Chlorine Dioxide!
Matt Pekrul
Powerful, fast, and trusted for decades—even to neutralize anthrax—chlorine dioxide is your farm’s secret weapon. Learn two easy ways to make it and see how its oxidizing power keeps your homestead safe and ready for action.
Fiber Processing: Harvest, Prepare and Use - Option 1: Felting
Kelly Brandt
Learn easy hands-on ways to use wool, goat, rabbit, or dog hair in enrichment projects with your children. Whether you homeschool, volunteer at conventional school, or just want to add enrichment to your students' lives, there are many ways to introduce skills and relate them to experience. If you have fiber animals at home, you can integrate their care and their product in real life skill building. Each participant will receive a kit of materials and a list of ideas to enhance your children's understanding of science, reading, writing, math, and art skills. I will coach you in the hands-on skills you can teach your children and have fun at the same time!
Fiber Processing: Harvest, Prepare and Use - Option 2: Weaving
Kelly Brandt
Learn easy hands-on ways to use wool, goat, rabbit, or dog hair in enrichment projects with your children. Whether you homeschool, volunteer at conventional school, or just want to add enrichment to your students' lives, there are many ways to introduce skills and relate them to experience. If you have fiber animals at home, you can integrate their care and their product in real life skill building. Each participant will receive a kit of materials and a list of ideas to enhance your children's understanding of science, reading, writing, math, and art skills. I will coach you in the hands-on skills you can teach your children and have fun at the same time!
Soapmaking From Start to Finish
Hannah Embury
Learn how to confidently make natural soap from start to finish using simple, everyday oils you can easily find at home. This hands-on workshop will walk you through the basics of soap making, including lye safety, understanding recipes, and the full soapmaking process—from cold process fundamentals to pushing soap through saponification with hot process.
Apple Tree Grafting
Paul Holcroft
This workshop is both educational and hands on. We will discuss how apple trees naturally reproduce and why grafting is the preferred method for propagation. Participants will each graft an apple tree of their own to take home. All tools and supplies will be provided.
Sourdough
Kristen Wood
Learn to make sourdough bread! Each participant will learn to make sourdough bread and how to maintain a starter. You will mix up dough to bake a sourdough loaf at home. You will also leave with a starter so you can continue your baking at home. A packet of sourdough information and recipes and all materials are included in the class.
Making Tallow
Stephanie Grinage
Learn how to render beef suet into tallow you can use for cooking or skin care. Both wet and dry rendering methods will be discussed with pros and cons. Supplies provided.
2026 Workshops
Take a look at what our list of workshops were for our 2026 Conference!
Ask a Vet Tech about chickens
Jill Trullinger
Ask a Vet Tech about pets
Jill Trullinger
Goat Butchering
Morgan Michaluk
Trapping
Adam Cameron
Canning (Both days)
Tammy McNeill
Chicken Processing
Cliff Byington
Goat Milking & Goat Care
Morgan Michaluk
2026 Demonstrations
Take a look at the list of demonstrations we had for our 2026 Conference!
Keeping Chickens
Teresa and Ava Oakley
Ava Oakley lives with her parents and younger sister in southern Michigan. She cares for chickens, ducks, kune kune pigs and a rabbit on their homestead and has earned 4H honors for her chickens.
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
Nikki and Sada Shuptar are a mother/daughter duo with a love for the garden and all things natural. They have been making homemade skincare, soaps, tinctures and herbal teas for years and decided to start a farm stand last year to share their creations with the community. They are located in Mason, MI.
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 2026 Conference!
Videos
Photos
See our photos and videos from our previous conferences (swipe to scroll) to catch a glimpse below!
2024-2026 Conference Recap
Get Your Hands Dirty
Looking for a way to be involved in 2026 Mitten Homesteaders Conference? Find the inquiry forms below.
Vender Request Form
Our venders are FULL for 2026!
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
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.
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're surrounded by the Great Lakes and have a climate friendly to multitudes of livestock animals, as well as fruits, vegetables and grains.
In an online world where tutorials leave you stuck and overwhelmed, Mitten Homesteaders cuts through the digital noise and allows you to learn from and connect with experienced Michigan homesteaders in-person.
You'll walk away from the conference with a better understanding of what you need to do next in your homesteading journey with meaningful connections with other Michigan homesteaders.
And leave with practical skills and a local support network.
If you're overwhelmed trying to learn how to homestead online, attending the Mitten Homesteaders Conference is the right decision!
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!
History
Mina had a problem.
She had been praying for years and finally got a dream 25-acre homestead in Ionia County after maximizing her tight urban lot in Grand Rapids for years.
Mina recognized the profound value difference between reading a book alone and learning a skill alongside a community of talented peers. She realized that while there are homestead events across the country, there weren’t any that were tailored specifically to Michigan residents. Mina saw a need for an in-person event for Michigan homesteaders to be able to gather, learn, and build community, leading to the creation of Mitten Homesteaders.
The conference spent its first two years (2024-2025) establishing its foundational operations and evaluating audience feedback. Following a highly successful 2025 conference which introduced interactive workshops, collaborative social media takeovers, and robust vendor turnouts, the organization officially entered its 2026 season. The 2026 conference marked a vital evolution for the conference, establishing "hands-on experience" as the definitive structural theme, significantly expanding vendor spaces, launching children’s sessions, and prioritizing localized community over unreliable digital algorithms.
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