Do-It-Yourself Food Workshops

Food Day 2013 has come and gone, and those of us who were on the planning end of the events could hardly be happier with the results and turnout. Amongst other things, we were able to hold a series of DIY workshops based around different aspects of food, including growing, cooking, storing, and more. The day of the workshops was one of the most well received events we had for Food Day, and we planners were just as excited as those in attendance. We were particularly excited at the prospect of continuing these workshops throughout the year. Due to various time and budget constraints, we were only able to have one day with multiple classes, and were not able to do the publicity that such an event deserves. Needless to say, things were hectic with logistics for the day, and we felt overall attendance could have been helped by increased publicity. So now we have all of 2014. A whole year to spread out as many DIY Workshops as we can, over the seasons, months, maybe even weeks!

Like at every Food Day event, we had people fill out evaluation sheets after the DIY classes. I know some people think that those evaluations are pointless sometimes, but I assure you we read through every single one and took suggestions to heart! We are using those evaluation sheets to guide ideas for workshops in 2014 and we have already begun planning. Here is just a little taste of the types of workshops you can look forward to in 2014:

• Winter cooking (i.e. soups, bread, foods to warm the house!)
• Canning (a comprehensive, multi-day course on how to can everything from jam to smoked salmon)
• Smoking meat and fish
• Cheese making
• Seasonal foraging
• Tree pruning/grafting/orchard care
• Soil preparation and testing
• Seed starting

And that's just touching on the ideas for Winter and Spring. We now have plenty of time, and more funding, and we are going to work hard on making sure these classes are worthwhile for Del Norters. Keep your eyes and ears peeled in the near future and look for more info in the Triplicate, KCRE, this blog, and our Facebook page!