2025 Expo Speaker Bios

Joel Salatin calls himself a Christian libertarian environmentalist capitalist lunatic farmer. Others who like him call him the most famous farmer in the world, the high priest of the pasture, and the most eclectic thinker from Virginia since Thomas Jefferson. He co-owns, with his family, Polyface Farm in Swoope, Virginia. Featured in the New York Times bestseller Omnivore’s Dilemma and award-winning documentary Food Inc., the farm services more than 5,000 families, 50 restaurants, 10 retail outlets, and a farmers’ market with salad bar beef, pigaerator pork, pastured poultry, and forestry products. Salatin is the editor of The Stockman Grass Farmer, granddaddy catalyst for the grass farming movemen and is the author of many books including POLYFACE MICRO – Success with Livestock on a Homestead Scale . He is also the subject of an Angel Studios documentary streaming here:
Now Streaming: https://www.angel.com/lunaticfarmer 

Follow Joel at www.polyfacefarms.com 

Topics: Inspiring a New Generation of Farmers, Chicken Processing Demo, Rogue Food 

Kevin and Sarah left their high paying jobs in the corporate world and left their urban homestead in Arizona and moved to the Ozarks in 2016. They became debt free and work full-time from their homestead. They  have been sharing their journey and all of the homesteading skills they have learned through the years on their popular YouTube channel. They recently announced that they will no longer be sharing new content on their channel and as empty nesters plan to retire to a more quiet life on their homestead. The Ozarks Homesteading Expo may be their last public appearance so be sure to catch them this year. 

Topic: TBD

Shawn and Beth Dougherty have been farming together since the 1980’s, for the last twenty years in eastern Ohio, where they manage 90 acres, much of it designated by the state as ‘not suitable for agriculture’. Using intensive grazing as the primary source of food energy, they raise dairy and beef cows, sheep, farm-fed hogs, and a variety of poultry, producing most of the food, feed and fertility for humans and animals, on the farm. Concerned that farming is so often dependent upon multiple off-farm resources, from feed, fuel and fertilizer to water and electricity, their ongoing project is to identify and test the means by which farming was done for centuries with a minimum of off-farm inputs. Their research has led them to identify grass conversion, especially the daily conversion of grass into milk by dairy ruminants, as a key to whole-farm sustainability, combined with the integrated nutrient feed-backs that are possible with a community of diverse animal and plant species, domestic and native. They are the authors of The Independent Farmstead, 

Topics: One Cow Revolution and Feeding the Farm from the Farm

With more than two decades of experience behind him, Greg has learned how to make farming successful by mimicking nature with his grazing management, and building his operation on leased land. He's well-known in the grazing community for sharing his experience to help others be successful. Along with his wife, Jan, they raise cattle, sheep, mushrooms, pigs and chickens on 1620 acres of owned and leased land in Rucker, Missouri. He is the author of No Risk Ranching. 

Topic: Drought Management Practices That May Save Your Farm

Brandon will demonstrate the art of butchery and make it look and sound like poetry. Farmstead Meatsmith is the only abattoir, butchery and educational operation of our kind in the country. Brandon says: meatsmithery appeals particularly to small farmers, homesteaders, their interns and anyone enthused by localized agrarianism, which includes urbanites with zero agricultural experience and even vegetarians who object not to meat, but tormented livestock

Learn from Brandon as he dispatches, scalds and scrapes a butcher hog and then demonstrates various old world curing processes. No power tools needed.

Topic: Hog Butchering and Processing/curing  

The Moody family has been making traditional foods, including with grains, for decades. John Moody is the co-founder of Rogue Food and along with Joel Salatin the Rogue Food Conference. He is the founder of Whole Life Services and Whole Life Buying Club and the former executive director of the Farm-to-Consumer Legal Defense Fund. John discovered more than a decade ago that his diet was literally killing him with duodenal ulcers, seasonal allergies, and other health problems, so the family began to transition to real local foods and local food distribution. Involved with farming, food, and homesteading. He is the author of Frugal Homesteading, The Elderberry Book and co-author with his wife Jessica of DIY Sourdough. John is a well-known speaker at conferences, events, and media including Mother Earth News, Wise Traditions, and Hobby Farms/Chicken Magazine. The Moody family farms and homesteads on 35 acres in Kentucky.

He will be talking about Food Freedom, Food Sovereignty and included on a panel with Joel Salatin and others 

Our farm offers a variety of organic fruits and vegetables, all grown without the use of synthetic pesticides and fertilizers. We pride ourselves on providing fresh and healthy produce to our customers year-round. Jill's book  The Tiny But Mighty Farm leads the beginner gardener into everything you need to make your gardening venture successful. 

Topic: The Self Sufficient Garden: How to grow all the food your family needs. 

 Zac left his job in the big city to start an off-grid homestead and has educated thousands through the years on his popular YouTube Channel, An American Homestead. If you live off-grid or think you want to live off-grid or you want to know how to plan for the worst, you won't want to miss listening to Zac sharing his experience and acquired wisdom. 

Christian farmer, homesteader, and author of Born-Again Dirt: Farming to the Glory of God, Noah is passionate about connecting faith and agriculture. On his YouTube channel and podcasts and his Redeeming the Dirt Academy he explores how to live for Jesus, excel in land stewardship, and serve others through farming, gardening, and homesteading. 

Cyndi, former CEO and Founder of the National Ladies Homestead Gathering says: 

After thirty-four years of marriage, raising 6 children, homeschooling, 30 years of homesteading, growing a successful educational homestead business, and founding a national organization for homesteading women…

My Comfort Zone Eviction was handed to me in March of 2020. At the age of 58, I felt I had lost everything. My 34 year marriage, my family as I had known it, my home and homestead, and my homesteading business career. I was devastated.

For the past 5 years, I have been on a journey of healing and getting out of my comfort zone.

Today, I can tell you, without equivocation, I am the most fulfilled and peaceful I’ve been in decades.  I have found my purpose and I have overcome the fears of stepping out of my comfort zone to be who I am meant to be.  I am surrounded by a healthy supportive community and I want you to experience the same! 

If you are just starting homesteading, young or not so young, or if you have burned out or dropped out, come listen to Cyndi, she will inspire you and share her wisdom. 

David Stelzer is an organic food and healthy soil pioneer. His family has farmed in the Pacific Northwest for more than 100 years, and he is the founder and CEO of Azure Farm and Azure Standard, a leading producer and nationwide distributor of natural, organic, and non-GMO food. 

Topic: Food Security

Jeannette Beranger is the Senior Program Manager for The Livestock Conservancy and has nearly four decades of experience working as an animal professional in zoological and agricultural institutions. She has worked with a wide array of species and domestic breeds, using the hands on experience to plan and implement breed conservation programs for The Conservancy. Jeannette is an active lecturer, writer, and photographer. She is co-author on the best-selling books An Introduction to Heritage Breeds and Managing Breeds for a Secure Future. Recently she was named one of Country Women Magazine's "45 Amazing Country Women" for her work in conserving endangered breeds, and as one of the Grow Network’s “Top 14 Women Leading the Natural Food Movement.” At home she practices what she preaches and maintains a heritage breeds farm with a focus on critically endangered poultry. 

Topic: Heritage Poultry,  Heritage Breed Livestock 

 Monty is an organic gardener and natural beekeeper, turning his suburban backyard from lawn to an oasis for food production. He keeps honey bees, using natural, treatment-free methods, primarily in Layens hives and makes and sells hives. He shares his progress and lessons learned with the world via YouTube, Facebook and Instagram.

Mike Snyder is a myco-educator who has been studying and foraging for mushrooms for over a decade and loves nothing more than to share what he has learned with anyone who will listen. He and his wife Cara are the owners of WildWise Botanicals. They built a straw bale house, are a homeschooling family, and grow a variety of herbs and mushrooms on their South-Central Missouri homestead. He is on the Board of the Missouri Mycological Society and heads up both the Speaking Engagement and the Research committees for that organization. He is a certified mushroom identification expert in three states and serves on the Cultivation Committee of the North American Mycological Association. He stays busy with speaking engagements, forays, workshops and classes he provides around the region and has been fortunate enough to teach a large number of people about foraging and cultivating mushrooms in recent years.

Mike will cover in-detail how and why mushrooms can be a powerful addition to your health regimen and how to effectively craft your own extracts using wild-harvested or cultivated mushrooms. Several species will be covered, including Reishi, Lion’s Mane, Turkey Tail, and more. He will go over how to forage your own medicinals as well as provide tips on how to purchase quality mushrooms online and elsewhere. This will be the perfect opportunity to discover ways of collaborating with fungi to improve the lives of you and your loved ones!

Topic: Mushrooms, a powerful addition to your health regimen. 

 Dewayne is a national speaker on all things homesteading from wildcrafting to animal husbandry. He has studied microbiology and has a degree in agriculture. Dewayne is a Cherokee citizen and as a child he spent much of his time in the Dine and Navajo Indian reservations. Dewayne can teach on so many topics from meat goats to herbalism to emergency preparedness, rainwater collection and so much more but we will have to pin him down to one or two, one will be raising meat goats for profit. 

 Lana Stenner is an author of the Grace Filled Homestead and the Grace Filled Cookbook, Grace Filled Grit podcast host, college professor, and backyard farmer. Twenty years ago, Lana and her husband, CJ, decided to ditch their fast-paced hustle for the simple life. They found a small farm on the edge of town, moved their four little children into a 100-year-old fixer-upper, and began to focus on God, goats, and gardens at the Grace-Filled Homestead

 Joyce and her husband Gene are a home school family of eleven, with six boys and three girls and they share their life and expertise with home preservation and much more on their YouTube Channel Morris Patch of Heaven Homestead.  They have been living in an RV for the past year while they renovated an abandoned farmhouse and building their own barndominium on their new homestead. 

Topic: Easy Fermenting for Your Health

 Lissa lives in far Southwest Missouri and owns the Vintage Tomato and Busy Bee where she also lovingly houses a seed bank, caring, sharing and preserving seed from all over the world. She has great stories to tell about starting a seed bank and how you can be involved in preserving heirloom seed that could have been lost forever. She will share her knowledge of best practices of saving your own seed and storing it. If you have some rare varieties or heirloom seed passed down from your family bring them with you to show or share

Topic: Seed Saving Techniques for Home Gardeners

 Bob Rider, has more than 15 years of experience in Aquaponics, he is excited to share his knowledge with you.Olive Branch believes that our aquaponics system is the beating heart of our farm, generating beneficial “byproducts” that are used in place of store-bought options. Join Bob and his team as they unveil how these byproducts, such as fertilizer, pesticides, fungicides, and soil amendments, are repurposed to enhance every aspect of our farm's ecosystem. Discover how we close the loop.

Topic: Aquaponics 

 Karson’s passion for agriculture started at a young age. As a boy, he would spend every possible moment helping his grandpa on the family ranch. He also spent his teenage years working for a local hay farmer. Karson has over 9 years of experience helping agriculture producers, and has worked in both the feed and agronomy industries. Karson’s real passion is beef cows. He and his family have a small ranch where you can find them running their cows in Utah's high desert. Recently, they got involved with raising purebred Angus bulls. Karson loves working with producers to help them simplify their mineral program and improve the health of their soil and livestock.

Allen “horntagger” Morris - “Worst thing you can do for wildlife is the failure to manage it!” 

Allen Morris from North American Wildlife and Habitat will be giving a presentation on predator management, predator populations, predator history and the renewable, sustainable, eco-friendly resource of fur.  – Allen is an Outdoor Writer, Author, Photographer, and Inventor who has certificates in Predator Management, Master Wildlifer, Deer Steward 1, Deer Steward 2 and the first in the State of Missouri with Deer Steward 3.

Topic: Predator Managment