Start with a bright October sun and a blanket of blue sky. Add nearly 150 vendors and their wares, 50 speakers, and more than 5,000 participants, including several hundred children.
Throw in a few dogs, some chickens and goats, enthusiastic volunteers, lots of smiles and laughter, the scent of popcorn, freshly brewed coffee, and handmade soap, and you have a picture of the 2022 Homesteaders of America (HOA) Conference at the Warren County Fairgrounds in Front Royal, Virginia.
Once you make your way past the grassy parking areas jammed with hundreds of cars, vans, and pickup trucks, you enter a wide, flat expanse covered with the tents of vendors, pathways teeming with veteran and amateur homesteaders, and picnic table pavilions for taking a load off your feet, eating, and conversing with friends and strangers….