Living The Dream Farm

• Soap making 
• Duck harvesting
• Goat harvesting
• Turkey harvesting
• Cheesemaking
• Canning and preserving

I’m so happy to offer my 2010 workshops! 2011 will be even more full of hands-on goodness!

The idea behind offering workshops here is simple- spread the knowledge and share the experiences. Much of what I do here on my farm currently, I read about obsessively before I ever tried to do it. At first, I never had the chance to learn from someone, in person, how to do these things hands-on. I would have loved to have these workshops to attend as I was getting going…..so I offer them to you. Let me know what kinds of skills you want to learn or maybe you want me to come teach a class at your location? I am open to all ideas.

 

Soapmaking 101

Come learn how I make my old fashioned recipe milk soap. There are some tricks I can teach you, and I’ll give out my basic recipe. Learn some cool ideas for adding in natural textures, colors and aromas.

NEXT CLASS  @ Unity Community Education

Sunday, Aug 29th

2:30-4pm

Learn to make milk-based, old-fashioned soaps that are very gentle-on-the-skin. These soaps make a great gift and take soap off your home shopping list.  They aren’t hard to make- You just need some time and hands-on experience. I’ll show all the steps involved, what ingredients to use and send you home with a bar of my homemade soap. You’ll also get instructions and recipe ideas!

 

Turkey Harvest

The Thanksgiving Harvest will be the Sunday before Thanksgiving.

$10 per participant – I am sold out of turkeys, but if you want to come learn how to harvest and process turkeys, I’d be happy to teach you!

I raise turkeys for eating in the summer, as well as birds for Thanksgiving. Harvesting a turkey is bit different from a chicken or a duck, as they are monstrous muscle machines. However, I have a way with my birds, and can be gentle and respectful with them as they are harvested. When an animal feels no fear before their death, they don’t secrete adrenaline into their muscles (the meat you are going to eat.) Come learn how to do this with me, hands on as much as you choose.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 Duckling Harvest

-to be announced-

$10 per participant, $30 if you want to take home a duck for roasting

This workshop will be a chance to learn an old time skill, hand harvesting poultry. My friend John and I learned this skill from a couple last year when we butchered their chickens with them. You’ll be shown each step of a humane harvest, and the process following. A very important part of humanely raising animals, for me, is on-farm processing- so they are not transported and scared out of their minds before they are harvested. Here they will travel maybe 20 feet from where they grew up, not hundreds of miles. With a swift killing cut, held in my hands, on to plucking and then eviscerating, you will get to experience each aspect of what it takes to turn a bird into a meal. You can be as hands-on as you are comfortable with.

 

 

The ducks harvested for meat will be the males. There will be both Black Cayugas (on the Slow Food  heritage breed list as an exceptionally tasty duck) and Khaki Campbells, a heritage breed I raise for egg production. Part of the responisibility of raising a heritage breed is to continue the breed in each form they come in; male and female. While the females are kept to lay eggs, the males are harvested as meat. And what a meat it is! Succulent, rich and just scrumptious. This workshop may or may not be canceled due to weather. This workshop will last several hours. Dress in layers, and wear footwear you don’t mind getting dirty or wet in.  If you want to bring home fresh duckling, bring a cooler, ice and a big ziplock bag.

 

 

“Milky ” Classes

Check out the  series of “milky” classes being offered in August, up in my neck of the woods, near Balsam Lake….they’ll be each Sunday in August, a different one each Sunday. !st one is Fresh Paneer, then on to Queso Fresco, 3rd week is Homemade Yogurt making, Making Fresh mozzarella is Aug 22nd, and closing with Old Fashioned Goatmilk Soap Making on August 29th.

 http://www.myteacherpages.com/webpages/communityed/

 presented through the Unity, WI Community Education Program

 

See my Various Classes offered through Amery Community Ed here:

Fresh Mozzarella  Sept 20th 5:30-7pm

Canning Homemade Salsa October 4th 5:30-7pm

Old Fashioned Soap Making 5:30-7pm

https://ssl.dwebsite.com/secure2/ce_sda/php/public.php?action=listClasses&categoryId=15&programId=7&from=listCategories

Goat Harvest

Saturday, October 30th $25 per participant

This workshop will fill quickly, as I only have a small number of goats, and many people wanting to learn. Please let me know ASAP if you are committed and wanting to reserve one of my kid goats for this workshop. The goat is $75, the workshop is taught by my friend Donald Slinger for $25. You can come learn from the workshop without buying a goat. There are only 5 spots remaining.

These are the kid goats that are born in the spring, raised out on pasture all summer, and then brought back to my farm a month before the workshop to get fattened up a bit on organic grain. Most of the kids born on my farm are half Boer goat, a meat type known for good muscling and bulky growth. Last year the kids ranged from 45-90 pounds, which yields 25-50 pounds of meat, delicious organs and bones to use. If you want to be sure to have a place in this workshop, I’d recommend prepaying me for your goat. Then you can have your pick as well on workshop day. I had a lot of people who said they wanted to come, but it was a logistical nightmare to not know who was going to actually show up. Contact me directly:     goatmilkw (at) yahoo.com     Thanks!