2nd Annual EWHE held April 24-26, 2026 - Okanogan County Fairgrounds. Our goal: Bring together people in eastern Washington and beyond to learn and share homesteading skills while finding other like-minded individuals to support community-sufficiency.

How we came to be:

The Eastern Washington Homesteading Expo, fondly referred to as EWHE, was founded in 2025 by Susan Cooksey.  Susan grew up at Palmer Lake, Washington, on her family’s farm with cattle, horses, a commercial apple orchard, chickens, and the occasional pig.  Growing up with parents who were born in the Depression Era made for a mastery class of homesteading skills of preserving food, processing meat, sewing, cooking, baking and frugality.  Susan has been a classroom teacher and continues to educate others with her foundational homesteading skills as well as any new ones she learns along the way.

Susan had participated in other homesteading events: the Modern Homesteading Conference in Coeur d’Alene, Idaho, and the Alaska Homestead Expo in Big Lake, Alaska.  After seeing the informational homesteading skills and topics that were presented at these events, Susan said to herself, “I can do this in Okanogan County!”

With a huge desire to share homesteading skills and network with other homesteaders in eastern Washington region, the EWHE was born.  In 2025, Karla Stucker helped to plan and organize our event.  With a short time to advertise, they felt it was a great success.  There were 26 vendors and over 25 different presentations by 19 presenters.  We estimate that there were over 350 adult participants their kids.

The success of the first EWHE created a core group of people who wanted to help plan and organize the 2nd Annual Eastern Washington Homesteading Expo.  A BIG THANK YOU to the following businesses and Individuals for all their hard work!

Susan Cooksey from Palmer Lake Homestead

Steep Hill Farm

Hillside Catering & Party Rentals

Yolanda Leffler

Karla Stucker

Jerian Ashley

Rebecca Cummins of Rizn Ranch