National Heirloom Festival 2024: Review

-by Kristi Vasquez, SEMG 2024

The second week of September, I road tripped with the hubby to Ventura, California to the 2024 Heirloom Exposition. The event was hosted by Rare Seeds Baker Creek and included a vendor portion, educational series, fowl show case, live music, farmers market, food trucks, vegetable and flower show case as well as fruit carving! And I can’t forget – a daily seed swap!

There were 2 vendor halls with gardening supplies such as compost supplements, tools, plants, trees, seeds, natural skin care, organic drinking tea, potatoes and more! There were a lot of California companies, but I did happen to spot a local New Mexico farmer attending and learned that they are working on shipping out and selling their potatoes both for eating and planting.

The fowl barn hosted geese, chickens, ducks and turkeys that were all enjoying the cool ocean breeze at the Ventura Fairgrounds.

One of my favorite halls was the food exhibition. So many varieties of melon, squash, peppers, tomatoes and beans displayed on tables accompanied by vases of stunning flowers in an artistic show. They also had tables dedicated to different countries and I could not resist giving the durian, with a portion cut out a little sniff. It gave me spicy notes rather than what others were describing who had sniffed it before me. After walking through all the produce, I added a few more pepper varieties to my wish list that I want to grow this next year.

The other highlight of the Expo is the educational portion. There were talks on growing in drought stricken areas (with a focus on California): starting community gardens, soil testing and care with compost, growing herbs, food workshop with a focus on flavor, plant breeding, and starting a seed company were just a tiny portion of what was covered. I’m not going to lie – the educational portion was a little overwhelming with 4 different locations on the fairgrounds site hosting workshops and talks every 30 minutes at each of these sites.

My favorite workshops were the flavor and food ones taught by authors and friends for decades Tina Marie Wilcox and Susan Belsinger. The first one was titled The Perfect Bite: Focus on Flavor (culinary herbs workshop). My husband does all the cooking and I do all the gardening (and eating), so I wanted to identify which herbs I may be missing to create a flavorful bite.

The second workshop I took from Tina and Susan was called Hot, Hot, Hot: Growing and Using Chiles. Coming from New Mexico, I had to take this one. I learned preservation techniques, what the heat is doing to your body science-wise and how to control the heat (which every New Mexican knows honey is the key). They were engaging, funny, and explained scientific material in an easy to understand manner. I was able to stop by their table to chat with them about chiles and New Mexico chiles specifically after their workshops and picked up a few of their books, which they signed.

Another workshop I enjoyed was by Jill Santos on Food Recovery for Climate Resilience. Jill spoke on some of the studies being conducted by the University of California sites to lower food waste in landfills. She had recommendations at a residential level, a community level, as well as business level. Starting your own compost is the first step in reducing food waste and making a difference that each of us can make starting today.

I definitely want to attend the Heirloom Expo again and maybe do things a little differently. I will better map out which courses I want to take and attend with a few others I know so we can share notes and what we learned with each other.

Anyone up for a road trip?