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Thursday, January 01, 2015

NEW! HOMESTEADING WORKSHOPS AT LITTLE CITY FARM FOR 2015

WINTER/SPRING HOMESTEADING WORKSHOPS AT LITTLE CITY FARM!

Since 2007 we've been offering fun, interactive hands-on workshops geared toward adult education, to encourage the skills of homesteading, simple living and natural healing.  We have hosted more than 150 classes by now, with hundreds of participants taking part and learning new skills.   Read more about our past workshops and Little City Farm's approach here.

We've posted some of our upcoming workshop offerings for 2015 here.  More workshop topics will be confirmed shortly so please check back if there is a topic you are looking for that is not listed yet.

2015 HOMESTEADING WORKSHOPS AT LITTLE CITY FARM

Workshop Location: all workshops are at 508 Duke St W, Kitchener
Cancellation: if you cannot attend your workshop please kindly give us 24 hours notice so we can try to fill your place with someone on our waiting list.  Full refunds offered for cancellations of 24 hour notice or more.

* Once registered, you will receive a reminder email aprox. 1 week before your workshop date.  
* Please register by using paypal below to reserve your spot in our classes.   
* Please ensure your paypal email address is the correct one for us to reach you at.

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BEGINNER ORGANIC VEGAN COLD PROCESS SOAP MAKING CLASS

Dates:  Jan 24, Feb 14, Feb 21, March 7 
(please choose one)
Time: from 1-4 pm on each date
Facilitator: Karin Kliewer, Traditional Herbalist and Soap Maker

Description: Learn to make beautiful, long-lasting, natural soap that is free of additives, preservatives, sulphates and other nasty chemicals that can be found in commercial soaps.  In this busy hands-on workshop you will be walked through the entire process of making traditional all-natural cold process vegan soap using organic vegetable oils, lye, pure essential oils, natural clays and organic botanicals.  We will briefly cover the chemistry of soap making, plus lye safety, calculating recipes, properties of oils, measuring ingredients, preparing soap molds, cutting and curing soap, and sourcing ingredients.  Each participant will make their own 1 lb batch of organic vegan soap to take home (aprox. 5 large bars).   All ingredients, tools, instructions, handout notes and recipes will be provided.  Upon registration for this class, you will receive an email with further workshop details.  Participants will be asked to bring a few simple items from home (e.g. a small shoe box or basic soap mold).  OR feel free to purchase one of our custom handcrafted wooden soap molds here.  Wear old clothes and an apron as soap making can be messy.

Cost: $68 (includes all materials for making your own 1 lb batch of soap to take home)
Please note January 17 & 24 classes are now FULL.

Please choose one date:

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FELTED SOAP WORKSHOP

Date: Sunday, February 8 (note this is a Sunday workshop)

Time: from 1-3 pm
Facilitator: Karin Kliewer, soap maker & herbalist

Description:  Learn the art of wet-felting using all natural merino wool roving and handmade soap to create your own bars of lovely felted soap art for gifts or home.  This workshop is a great hands-on class for kids or adults - wool felting is easy to do, relaxing, creative and beautiful.  It is a simple satisfying project, perfect for a cold winter's afternoon!  In this class learn techniques for making your own felted soap, which combines a handmade wool felted "washcloth" with soap all in one.  Learn about natural dyes for wool, and also where to source quality materials.  Each participant will get to make 2 small bars of felted soap to take home, during this hands-on workshop.  Workshop fee includes instruction, hand-outs, wool roving, and all other tools/materials for making your 2 bars of soap.  Additional wool felting kits will be available for purchase after the class if you wish to make more at home!  Please wear old clothes that can get wet - wool felting can be a wet process.  Parents are welcome to sign up with a child aged 5+ for this class (1 parent + 1 child pay one registration fee - in this case you will share supplies and each make one bar of soap to take home).


Cost: $32 (includes all materials for your own take-home felted soaps)


Please choose one date:
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ORGANIC GOATS MILK SOAP MAKING CLASS

Date: Saturday February 28
Time: from 1-4 pm
Facilitator: Karin Kliewer, Traditional Herbalist and Soap Maker

Description: Why use goats milk soap?  Goats milk makes a lovely creamy soap that has long been used as a to effectively moisturize and rejuvinate the skin.  It naturally exfoliates the skin, and creates a mild soap that is ideal for sensitive skin including children, and those prone to dry skin, eczema and psoriasis.  Using goats milk in soap making has a few tricky challenges.  In this busy hands-on workshop you will learn to make your own organic goats milk soap using organic oils, lye, local organic goats milk, pure essential oils and organic botanicals.  We will briefly cover the basics of cold process soap making (soap chemistry, lye safety, measuring, molds) BUT in this class we do expect participants to already have made cold process soap before.  We highly recommend taking our Beginner Cold Process Soap Making Class before taking this workshop.  Each participant will make their own 1 lb batch of organic goat milk soap to take home (aprox. 5 large bars).   All ingredients, tools, instructions, handout notes and recipes will be provided.  Upon registration for this class, you will receive an email with further workshop details.  Participants will be asked to bring a few simple items from home (e.g. a small shoe box or basic soap mold).  OR feel free to purchase one of our custom handcrafted wooden soap molds here.  Wear old clothes and an apron as soap making can be messy.

Cost: $68 (includes all materials for making your own 1 lb batch of soap to take home)

Goats Milk Soap Workshop:


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HERBAL WINTER REMEDIES: COUGH SYRUPS, LOZENGES, TINCTURES

Date: Saturday February 7
Time: from 1-3 pm 
Facilitator: Karin Kliewer, Traditional Herbalist

Description: Create your own natural herbal remedies to boost your immune system, and keep your family healthy all winter long!  In this class you will learn to make three different winter herbal remedies, including herbal cough syrup, herbal lozenges, and herbal tinctures.  We will also cover guidelines for using herbal remedies internally, general dosage information for children and adults, 10 great herbs for building immunity against cold and flu.  During the class participants have the chance to make several winter remedies by hand, with take-home samples included.  Our focus herbs will be sage, elderberry, rosehip, slippery elm, fennel and echinacea.

Cost: $38 (includes all materials, instruction, handout notes, and take home samples)

Please note this class is now FULL.

Herbal Winter Remedies:


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HERBAL MEDICINAL SALVES & LIPBALMS WORKSHOP


Date: Sat March 14
Time: from 1-3 pm
Facilitator:  Karin Kliewer, Traditional Herbalist

Description: Learn to make all natural medicinal salves & balms to heal yourself and your family from minor cuts, scrapes, burns, bruises, insect bites, and other skin irritations.  Create soothing lipbalms that heal dry chapped lips and protect you from sun, wind and cold weather.  In this workshop we will cover a basic history of herbalism in the "simper tradition", where simple pure ingredients are used to make medicinal herbal salves and lipbalms using organic oils, butters, essential oils and botanicals.  We will talk about guidelines for using herbal remedies externally, introduce a selection of wonderful herbs that can be used for the skin, discuss herbal salves for children, demonstrate how to make herbal medicinal oils, salves and balms (using solar infusions and other methods), and where to source ingredients.  There will be a hands-on component where participants make their own sample medicinal salves and balms to take home.  Our focus herbs will be calendula, lavender, red clover, marshmallow root, comfrey and plantain.  

Cost: $38 (includes all materials, instruction, handout notes, and take home samples)


Herbal Salves & Lipbalms:

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ORGANIC SEEDLING STARTING WORKSHOP

Date: Sat February 21
Time: 10 am-12 noon
Facilitator: Angie Koch, local organic farmer, owner of Fertile Ground CSA

Description: Grow your own seedlings from seed this year!  It's not too late to get started.  During this informative workshop local organic farmer Angie will walk participants through all the basics in growing seedlings successfully - including using organic methods, grow lights, preparing proper soil mixes, where to source seeds and supplies, seed starting charts, germination guidelines, transplanting tips, and trouble shooting.  Take home samples you have planted, plus handout notes and charts.


Cost: $28 (includes all materials, instruction, handout notes, and take home samples)

Please choose one date:
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CHEESE MAKING WORKSHOP
 
Date: Sat April 4
Time: from 1-3 pm 
Facilitator: Bianca Azzoparde, local cheesemaker

Description: Learn the art of making simple healthful cheese at home using organic local milk and other natural ingredients.  In this busy hands-on class participants will discover the delicious joy of cheesemaking, and how easy it can be!  We will make a simple organic herbed yogurt cheese, as well as organic mozzarella from scratch.  This workshop includes all the tools, ingredients, instruction and handouts, as well as samples to take home of your very own cheese made during the class.


Cost: $38 (includes all materials, instruction, handout notes, and take home samples)

Please choose one date:
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MAKE SAUERKRAUT & KIMCHI!
INTRO TO LACTO-FERMENTATION WORKSHOP

Date: Saturday March 21
Time: from 1-3 pm 
Facilitator: with Jackie McMillan, local whole foods educator

Description: Lacto-fermented foods are all the rage, although these foods have actually been around for centuries in various cultural traditions.  There is good reason for the enthusiasm over these live cultured foods - from kimchi to sauerkraut to crock pickles to homemade mustards and more - these foods are brimming with nutrition, filled with digestive enzymes that are wonderful for our gut health, preserve well without canning, and are easy to make.  Attend this hands-on workshop to learn the secrets of how to make these irresistible and delicious live cultured foods at home.  We'll be making a lacto-fermented vegetable kraut, so come prepared for tasting and samples to take home.  Please bring an apron, cutting board, good knife for chopping vegetables, and a 1 litre mason jar to take samples. 

Cost: $38 (includes all materials, instruction, handout notes, and take home samples)

Please choose one date:

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WILD FORAGING FOR SPRING EDIBLES

Date: Saturday April 18
Time: from 1-3 pm 
Facilitator: with Jackie McMillan, local wild foods educator

Description: Discover the world of wild spring foods readily available in your own backyard and around the city.  Wild harvested foods provide many benefits, including being nutrient dense, healthful, toning and medicinal for our system (especially after the winter months), and free!  During this workshop learn how to properly identify wild edible foods in our area, and how to carefully and safely wild harvest and prepare them.  Come prepared for some delicious and surprising tasting!

Cost: $28 (includes all materials, instruction, handout notes, and take home samples)

Please choose one date:

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PERMACULTURE DESIGN FOR YARD & GARDEN

Date: Sat April 11  
Time: from 1-3 pm  
Facilitator: with Tracie Seedhouse, local permaculture educator

Description: Permaculture is a thoughtful ecological system of design that takes into consideration the longterm health of the planet, community, and homestead.  Using lessons, patterns and examples found in nature, permaculture can create a sustainable healthful productive landscape that requires minimal maintenance.  Come to this introductory workshop prepared to dream, sketch and create on paper a beautiful sustainable yard for yourself using the permaculture principles we will discuss in this class.  Large sketching paper and art supplies will be provided, but please feel free to bring your favourite drawing materials to use for your design (pencils, pencil crayons, etc).


Cost: $28 (includes all materials, instruction, handout notes, and take home samples)

Please choose one date:
 

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PLANT COMMUNICATION: OPENING OUR HEARTS TO NATURE

 
Date: Sat, Aug 22
Time: from 10 am-12 noon
Facilitator: Heather Cain, local herbalist

Description: Plants have been evolving with and supporting humans ever since we took our first steps on earth. Scientists are now discovering what indigenous people have known for thousands of years - plants are sentient, intelligent beings that communicate and make decisions; and humans are hard-wired to bond with nature. We have the capacity to relate directly with the trees and plants around us; in this workshop we will learn how. Communicating with plants is a step to living in better harmony with ourselves, each other, and nature. It is a path of healing that helps us attune to our true essential nature and inner wisdom, and to what our hearts deeply desire.
In this workshop we will:
  • explore opening our hearts to receive from the plants
  • touch on scientific and indigenous perspectives of plant intelligence
  • learn simple techniques to boost intuitive awareness and plant/nature connection
  • create sacred space to anchor our learning journey
Take home a plant elixir. Bring a notebook if you like. Please dress for the weather - this is an outdoor workshop (rain or shine) so bring sunhat, sunscreen, water bottle as needed.
Cost: $35 (includes all materials, instruction, handout notes, and take home samples)

Please choose one date:
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BREWING BEER FROM START TO FINISH

Date: Sat, Aug 29
Time: from 1-5 pm (note this will be a 3.5-4 hour class)
Facilitator: Jon Spee, local brewer and educator

Description: This all-afternoon workshop will prepare you for making your own home-brewed beer, from beginning to end.  Jon will walk participants through all the stages of making beer, with hands-on components at every step.  From a short history of homebrewing, to steeping grains, mashing, straining grains, boiling wort, adding malt and hops, cooling wort, and transferring to primary fermentor, to preparing and bottling another batch of homebrew to take home.  Learn the use of hops for bittering, flavour and aroma, and the role of yeast in creating unique flavours.  Finally using a hydrometer and monitoring your beer at home.  Each participant will take home aprox. 1.5 litres of homebrewed beer that we have bottled during the workshop.
Please note - this is a limited space workshop so register early to reserve your spot!

Cost: $65 per person (includes all materials, instruction, handout notes, and take home samples)


Please choose one date:

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SEED SAVING WORKSHOP

Date: Sat, Sept 12
Time: from 1-3 pm
Facilitator: Taarini Chopra, from Seeds of Diversity (www.seeds.ca)

Description: During this workshop we will learn all the steps of seed saving: from planning your planting and isolating varieties, to collecting seeds from plants in your garden, to cleaning and rogueing seeds, and storing your seeds to plant the next year. The workshop will be hands-on, and we will collect and clean seeds from a variety of garden vegetables, as well as tour the Little City Farm property to observe the diversity of vegetable, flower and herb seeds ready for harvest in the gardens.

Optional: Bring an extra $15 to the workshop day, to take home a copy of Seeds of Diversity's book, "How to Save Your Own Seeds" home with you!

Cost: $25 (includes all materials, instruction, hand-out notes) 


Please choose one date:

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