Ready to grow your skills, build your farm, and connect with a vibrant homesteading community?
Join us for the 2026 Country Living & Modern Homesteading Expo — the Northwest’s premier hands-on learning event for farmers, gardeners, homesteaders, and rural dreamers alike!
The Country Living & Modern Homesteading Expo is a full-day event offering 100+ hands-on workshops, expert-led classes, demonstrations, and community panels covering every aspect of rural life.
Presenters from Snohomish Conservation District will be there! Check out:
Session 1- 9:00 am- 10:00 am
#155 Noxious Weeds on Your Property: How to Manage Difficult and Undesirable Plants
Noxious weeds are invasive plants officially designated as harmful because they impact agricultural production, outcompete native species, degrade wildlife habitat, damage infrastructure, and alter land use. Learn how to identify these plants, understand how they spread, and discover effective ways to manage them.
#157 Beyond Monoculture: Science and Practice of Diverse Forests
Many landowners are interested in growing a diverse forest, not just a monoculture. This talk will provide you with helpful guidelines and tips for choosing and combining species, along with management considerations when planting them. Participants will also take part in a group exercise on species selection and learn about techniques that support healthy mixed forests.
Session 4 - 12:45 pm – 1:45 pm
#477 Forest Resilience for Wildfire and Climate Change
Resilience is a forest's ability to recover from disturbances like fire, drought, and disease. In this session, you’ll be introduced to concrete tools you can use to bolster your property's resilience against the mounting pressures of wildfire and climate change. We will also introduce cost-share programs that are available to landowners to help them manage their property.
Session 6 - 3:15 pm – 4:15 pm
#624 Practical Manure Management for Healthy Animals, Productive Pastures, and Clean Water
Having a plan for managing manure can directly improve your animals’ health, save you money on fertilizer, dramatically increase chore efficiency, and help keep nearby waterways clean. In this session, we’ll explore practical strategies for turning manure into a valuable resource for your farm. Learn how to safely store, compost, and apply manure to build healthier pastures, reduce odors, and make the most of the nutrients already available on your property.
#664 Cover Crops that Work: Building Soil and Boosting Production
Cover crops do more than fill space between cash crops—they build healthier soil, reduce fertilizer costs, and protect your fields from erosion. By choosing the right species or mixes, you can add nitrogen, improve water retention, and keep nutrients working for your crops instead of washing away. In this session, we’ll discuss the science of cover cropping and share recommendations for managing them effectively.
