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.
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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)
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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)
Please note this class is now FULL.
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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)
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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)
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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)
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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)
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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
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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)
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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)
