We are often asked what our best advice is for seeking nutrient dense foods. The single best thing you can do is raise your own. The second best thing you can do is know the farmer who does. These workshops are designed to let you do both. The homesteading workshops offer extremely practical guidelines in achieving your own sustainability and food independence on a small holding. They also create a very direct connection to local food, providing a framework for you in making future choices in the face of an array of confusing claims. Come to the farm to learn how to feed yourself, and come to understand the farmers who do. These workshops are taught by the folks who walk the walk, who live off of the land.
If you have a potential interest in any of the following workshops, please let us know.
Poultry Workshop: This workshop will focus on both meat (chicken, turkey and ducks) and egg laying birds. You will learn about the relationship of poultry to the farm as an organism and about their history. All of the stages of poultry production will be covered including breed selection, brooder basics, housing, feed, pasturing, egg production capacity, predator control, butchering and wintering. Lunch will be provided, using food from the farm of course.
Beef and Lamb Workshop: This course will teach you about cows and sheep. You will learn how to select them, house them, care for them, pasture them (how much land is needed) and choose a butcher. You will come to see the advantages of grass-fed meats and their vital link to the soil and the environment.
Dairy and Pork Workshop: This course will teach you about milking, how to select a breed, its longevity, how much land is needed. It will answer questions like, do I really need more than a bucket and a rope? What is the real scoop behind the feeding of grain? What do I do with the manure . . . and how do I do it? How do you milk an animal? You will also learn about the significant link between dairy and pork dating back to the 1500’s. You will explore how to choose a pig breed, how to feed it, raise it, house it, and, importantly, eat it.
Garden Workshop: This workshop teaches you how to garden in a simple, straight-forward way geared toward producing enough food for you and your family to see you through all four seasons. What soil amendments do you really need? What seeds should you select? How many? What about mulch, manure and irrigation? Should Brussels sprouts really go through one freeze? Can seeds be saved? (We’re on our eighth generation of garlic, our sixth of Forellenschuss lettuce.) What about pests? How do I tuck my garden in for the winter? All of the practices taught are organic in their approach.
Country Skills: This workshop covers three important skills in two hour segments: bread making using fermentation, soap making, and a milk class teaching the basics about making butter, yogurt, sour cream, ice cream and fresh cheeses (to mix with the herbs you raised in your garden).
