September 2, 2010 by Heather.

Here is a class from UNH Cooperative Extension that most of us can benefit from. Learn cooking skills to prepare your fresh, local foods. Check it out:

Have fun while learning and sharing food together! Join a hands-on cooking class and learn how to make healthy meals that can be prepared quickly with food enthusiast Peggy Evans, creator of ABC Foods website. Terri Schoppmeyer, educational program coordinator at UNH Cooperative Extension, and Diane Giese, director of the Seacoast Family Food Pantry, will join Evans in covering class topics such as cooking for one or two, comfort foods revisited, and trying something new. The four-class series will meet on Wednesdays, September 8, 15, 22, and 29, from 11:00 a.m. to 12:30 p.m. at the United Methodist Church, 129 Miller Avenue in Portsmouth.

Class preregistration is required. Contact Diane Giese, Seacoast Family Food Pantry, 603.436.6161 to register.

Healthy Weight Cooking Group is cosponsored by Seacoast Family Food Pantry, UNH Cooperative Extension, and Nutrition Connections.

Click here to download the Healthy Weight Cooking Class flyer.

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September 2, 2010 by Sara Zoe.

See below for some great and pretty inexpensive online course offerings on soil health, financial record-keeping and business planning from folks who know what they are talking about!:

Need some guidance on the development or expansion of a farm enterprise? Can’t find any trainings near you? If you’re comfortable enough with a computer to consider learning online, you’ll be glad to know that the Cornell Small Farms Program and Cornell Cooperative Extension are expanding offerings of their popular online courses for beginning farmers with two new online courses this Fall, in addition to our usual beginners Fall course, BF 101. Join experienced CCE and farmer instructors and 25 of your farmer peers in a dynamic learning experience that incorporates both self-paced readings and real-time virtual meetings with discussion forums, homework activities, guest presenters, and developing a customized plan for your next steps in farming.
The Cornell Small Farms Program and Cornell Cooperative Extension (CCE) present:
BF 110: Soil Health Basics: Investing in the Vitality of Your Farm
The health and productivity of our soils are the basis for a farm’s success and profitability, as well as its ecological sustainability. Farmers need a holistic approach to preserving and building soil health and fertility. Stewardship of the soil is arguably the most important job of any farmer or gardener.

NOTE: This course will incorporate a face-to-face field day hosted by the Northeast Organic Farming Association at instructor David Belding’s Cross Island Farms on Wellesley Island, NY, 4pm-7pm Oct 18th. This will be an amazing opportunity to meet your fellow coursemates and see firsthand how David has improved the soils on his farm over the past 5 years. The field day fee is covered by the course registration cost. Instructors: David Belding – Cross Island Farms, Wellesley Island, NY, and Dan Welch – CCE Cayuga

BF 104: Financial Record-keeping: A Cornerstone of Farm Profitability
To succeed in business, you need to understand financial management. The foundation of a sound financial management program for a farm is a good record keeping system. It does not matter what you produce, the service you provide, or how effective you are in marketing; the revenue you earn will disappear if you do not understand how to collect, monitor, save, spend, or invest that revenue. Current financial records from a good record keeping system are critical for making business decisions. This 6-week course will provide you with insight, understanding and the technological know-how to produce financial records and a beginning knowledge of analyzing financial statements. Instructors: Bonnie Collins – CCE Oneida County and Steve Hadcock - CCE Columbia County

BF 101: Taking Stock: Evaluating Your Land and Resources and Choosing an Enterprise
Evaluating what you want to do and what you have to work with are key elements to a successful new farm enterprise. This course will help you take the first steps toward setting goals, assessing the resources you have available for farming (physical, financial, and personal), and deciding what enterprises are the best fit for you and your land. NOTE: You will get the most out of this course if you already have access to land. Each participant will be gathering information about their own enterprise and will begin to create a Farm Plan. Instructors: Laura Biasillo - CCE Broome County and Dianne Olsen – CCE Putnam County

COURSE DATES: Thurs. Oct 14, 2010 to Wed. Nov 24, 2010. All courses incorporate live webinars featuring farmers, agency staff, and University faculty. See link below for webinar dates and details.

COST is $150 per course, except the Soil Health course, which is $165

TO REGISTER, or for more information on course format and requirements, please visit http://www.nybeginningfarmers.org/index.php?page=onlinecourse

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August 24, 2010 by Debra.

The Greater Seacoast Permaculture Group has just announced a new meet-up featuring a workshop on season extension and hoop house construction. This hands-on workshop should prove to be popular!

Season Extension and Hoop House Construction Workshop

Greater Seacoast Permaculture Group

Dover, NH

Sunday, September 19, 10 a.m.

 

Imagine harvesting your own healthy salads right through the winter. What if you could move beyond the traditional New England growing season to “start earlier” and “harvest later?” Join us in learning the process of growing herbs and veggies beyond the standard growing season with cold tolerant / hardy plantings and using season extension structures.

 

Keeping with our Permaculture Permaculture Principle #2 to Catch and Store Energy (using the cold frame to extend the harvest), Principle #3 Obtain a yield (extended veggies!) and #9 Use Small and Slow Solutions (a simple, easily built structure)…

 

Please join David Homa, owner of Post Carbon Solutions and Kzeloumsen Permaculture Gardens, for a workshop on options for Season Extension and Hoop House construction. This session will focus on the what, why and how of season extension for the Seacoast gardener. We will discuss the suitable crops, planting strategies/schedules and types of structures that can help you with season extension. David has recently opened Urban Farm Fermentory in Portland, a place of demonstration and teaching about permaculture. You can read more about it here

 

Furthermore, we will have some hands-on experience in building a standard season-extension hoophouse for backyard/garden use that David has developed. The model we’re building is scalable and we will have hand-outs giving the directions for this size and suggested variations that you might want to consider if you build one yourself later (and teach your friends and neighbors). We can also discuss the option of starting a “hoop house raising” series of events, where we can help construct these for each other.

 

We’ll start with some background on season extension and plant selection, followed by a briefing on the hoophouse design and construction. Bring appropriate work clothes/shoes/gloves. Some power tools will be in use so please bring eye protection if you are comfortable using a saw, drill, etc.

 

After we are done, we can also take a look at what else Mary and Brock have done in their suburban setting, including sheet mulched gardens, fruit tree guilds, perennial plants, rain barrels, and more!

 

We are charging for this on a sliding scale of $5-20. Please bring an item for the potluck after we are done.

 

RSVP to this Meetup:

http://www.meetup.com/GreaterSeacoastPermaculture/calendar/14523017/

 

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August 23, 2010 by Debra.

As part of NOFA-NH’s 2010 Summer Organic Garden & Farm Tours, a workshop on bread baking in an outdoor clay oven will be offered on Saturday, August 28: 

Bread Baking in an Outdoor Clay Oven Workshop

Bible Hill Farm, Bradford, NH

Saturday, August 28, 11 a.m.

 

This will be a great opportunity to participate in the process of baking organic bread in an outdoor wood-fired “Quebec” oven made of clay and brick. Tom Dunne of Bible Hill Farm got into outdoor bread baking after he saw a clay oven built by master builder Dale Hissler. Tom then learned about the process of baking bread in this kind of oven from a breadmaker/cheesmaker in Norwich, VT, who continues to bake bread under the sky using a community clay oven. Participants will shape up to 50 small loaves, and baking will occur in three separate batches. Everyone will take home a loaf of their making. Flavors on the list will include cheddar-serrano (chile), walnut, raisin-cinnamon, French and garlic herb breads. Participants can bring other ingredients to incorporate into their dough.

 

Tom said if you want to learn how to do the process from start, you can arrive at the farm at 6 AM when he will fire up the oven and mix the dough. Tom Dunne has been raising certified organic fruits and vegetables for 9 years, and has been baking bread for 3 years. If it rains, there is plenty of porch space and an awning to continue this workshop.

 

Directions: From South, take I 89 N. Take exit 9 for NH-103 toward Warner/Bradford. Turn right at NH-103 W. Turn left at Melvin Mills Rd. Take the 2nd left onto Melvin Rd. Continue onto Bible Hill Rd. Destination will be on the right.

 

Workshop is $10 for NOFA members, $15 for non-members (children under 18 no charge). To pre-register, or if you have questions or financial need, please contact Barbara Sullivan, Business Manager NOFA-NH (Northeast Organic Farming Association of NH) 4 Park Street, Suite 208 Concord, NH 03301 Ph: 603-224-5022 Fax: 603-228-6492 Email: barbara@nofanh.org.

 

Details at http://www.nofanh.org/node/140. Tours are held rain or shine (extreme weather will cancel).

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August 21, 2010 by Debra.

Come and learn more about how to can foods properly — the UNH Cooperative Extension is holding another canning demonstration and program on Wednesday, August 25, at the Rockingham County Complex in Brentwood. This program is free and open to the public, with 60 people attending the most recent workshop there!

Yes You Can! Food Preservation Program

Wednesday, August 25, 6:30 – 8 p.m.

Location: Hilton Auditorium, Rockingham County Nursing Home, 117 North Road, Brentwood, NH, 03833

 

Drop by for a FREE Canning Demonstration and Program by Claudia Boozer-Blasco, UNH Cooperative Extension Educator

 

Learn about…

• Use of proper canning equipment

• Techniques for canning acidic fruits and vegetables safely in a water-bath canner

• Using up-to-date canning recipes

 

Open to the public and handicap accessible

 

Click here to view flyer

 

Also, an additional workshop is scheduled for Thursday, September 2, at Massabesic Audubon Center in Auburn, NH. To register or for more information, call Lynn Harrison at (603) 679-5616 or email lynn.harrison@unh.edu.

Posted in author: Debra, learning, putting food by | Print | 1 Comment »

August 17, 2010 by Debra.

If you’ve always wanted to learn to bake bread or use a wood-fired oven, the Stone Turtle Baking & Cooking School has posted their new schedule of Fall classes. Two new instructors are joining them this season: Melissa Hodroff, former Pastry Chef at Portland’s Uffa and Five Fifty-Five, is doing a Pies and Tarts class; and Ciril Hitz, Department Chair of the International Baking and Pastry Institute at Johnson & Wales University, is doing a two-day workshop on Breakfast Breads and Pastries. Of special note is Stone Turtle’s Wood-Fired Oven Intensive — the 2-day workshop is full for October 2010, however, there are still spaces available for the intensive scheduled for April 2011.

Stone Turtle Baking and Cooking School

173 Howitt Road

Lyman, Maine 04002

 

We are a small baking and cooking school in the town of Lyman in southwestern Maine. We focus on bread, particularly artisan style breads. Our students have ranged from “yeast challenged” to professionals looking to expand their skill set. We feature a Le Panyol wood-fired oven and show how to adapt the home, gas and electric ovens to produce excellent artisan breads.

We are members of Slow Food and MOFGA, and participate in the efforts to establish sustainable grain growing for human consumption in New England.

Our current schedule is on posted on our website or can be reached directly at

http://www.stoneturtlebaking.com/webdocs/Sep-Dec_2010_Schedule-web.pdf.

For more information, please contact Michael and Sandy Jubinsky at (207) 324-7558 or michael@stoneturtlebaking.com. Other sources for cooking classes may be found through our Wiki page >

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August 5, 2010 by Debra.

Holistic health counselor Tracey Miller has teamed up with Willow Pond Farm to offer an upcoming class on food preservation:  

If your refrigerator is overflowing, learn some ways to preserve your food and don’t let it go to waste. Join us at a “food preservation” class to support Willow Pond Farm on August 19th in Brentwood.

Food Preservation: How to preserve the summer and fall harvest — A Cooking & Wellness Class supporting Willow Pond Farm

Date & Time: August 19, 7:00 pm - 9:00 pm

Location: 8 Wendell Drive, Brentwood, NH

Fee: $25 (all proceeds go to Willow Pond Farm)

With Tracey Miller, health coach and cooking instructor, Joanie Pratt, Apple Annie, Leslie Haslam, Director, Exeter Adult Education, and Sheryl Rome, Willow Pond Willow Pond Volunteer Coordinator.

For more  information or to register, contact Tracey Miller at tracey@traceymillerwellness.com or 603-380-1080.

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July 22, 2010 by Heather.

On Tuesday, August 10, 2010, from 4:30 to 6:30 p.m. UNH Cooperative Extension will be holding a class along with J&F Farms in Derry. The class will be at J&F, 124 Chester Road, and will be free and open to the public. For more information download the flyer for this class: Yes You Can! at J&F Farms.

On Wednesday, August 25, 2010, from 6:30 to 8:00 p.m. the Yes You Can! workshop will be held at the Rockingham County Nursing Home, 117 North Road, Brentwood, in the Hilton Auditorium. For more information you can download the flyer for this class: Yes You Can! Aug. 25, 2010.

You can also read our blog about the June workshop and don’t forget to check out the calendar on UNH Cooperative Extension’s website for details about this event and many more.

Posted in author: Heather, learning, events | Print | 1 Comment »

July 21, 2010 by Sara Zoe.

Next up in the Dover Cassily Community Garden’s Children’s Summer Activity Series

Fall Plantings and Pressed Flowers July 24 at 10:00am, free and open to the public!

This week we will be planting fall seeds and collecting flowers to press as well as harvesting and caring for existing plantings.

Children of all ages are welcome to participate in DCCG’s children’s program. No preregistration is necessary.  We will meet at the DCCG shed at 10:00am and walk out to the garden together. It is a good idea to wear sunscreen and a hat and bring bug spray, water and a snack.

Much more information (including directions) is available at dovergarden.org or email Traci, Youth Outreach Coordinator at the.mogget@yahoo.com.

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July 6, 2010 by Sara Zoe.

The Northeast Organic Farming Association (which includes NOFA-NH, NOFA-MA, etc.) is hosting their annual summer conference August 13-15. Amazing learning opportunities, combined with the ability to camp and/or volunteer, make this an inexpensive way to learn a lot, with programs for kids and teens, too!

List of workshops

Creative financing info

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