Workshops

Spring & Summer 2013 Reskilling Opportunities in the State College Area

(Readers with information about other upcoming classes are encouraged to send the info to the blog for posting.)

• May 17 - Primitive Fire Making Skills Workshop - 6:00 to 8:00 p.m. at Shavers Creek Environmental Center. Practice the skill of bow drilling and other fire-making methods with this participatory workshop. Free for members/$5 for non-members. (Register at 814-863-2000)
• May 18 – Stunning Window Boxes Workshop with Gretchen Staff (Tait Farm, 466-3411)
• May 18 - Science of Soils Workshop in Millheim at the Penn’s Valley Learning Garden  11:00 a.m.  to 12:00 p.m. (For more information, contact Kat Alden.)
• May 18 – Backyard Chicken Workshop in Aaronsburg & Woodward. 1 p.m. to 3 p.m. Topics include nursery set-up, feeding, housing, pasturing and husbandry, with an optional chicken dinner to follow. More info at Penns Valley Conservation Association. (Register at 814-880-1228)
• May 25 – Creating Fabulous Floral Bouquets with Gretchen Staff (Tait Farm, 466-3411)
• June 1 – Planting a Pollinator Garden & Building a Bee Box with Justin Wheeler – Saturday, 10 a.m. to 12 p.m. at 301 South Garner Ave. (Call 237-0996 or email to sign up)
• July 6 – Building Rain Barrels with Justin Wheeler – Saturday, 10 a.m. to 12 p.m. at 301 South Garner Ave. (Call 237-0996 or email to sign up)

Spring Creek Homesteading is currently scheduling more summer workshops, possibly including Building Solar Food Driers with Lynne Heritage, Building Chicken Coops with Woody Wilson, Weed Identification & Management, Home-scale Aquaponics, and Building Bicycle-Powered Water Pumps for Garden Irrigation. Fall workshops may include  Home Weatherization Skills, Charcuterie with Steve Bookbinder and Home Soap-Making with Nellie Bhattarai.

Examples of workshop topics: cooking, baking, home food preservation, fermentation, beer-brewing, wine-making, cheese-making, butchering, sausage-making, smoking meat, home food storage system planning, gardening, herbalism and home health care, wool spinning, weaving, knitting, crocheting, sewing, quilting, rag rug braiding, pottery, chair-caning, basketry, soapmaking, candlemaking, composting, permaculture design, home-scale aquaculture, bicycle maintenance, home energy efficiency (weather stripping & insulation, small engine maintenance, basic plumbing, woodstove maintenance, metalwork/blacksmithing, woodworking, greenhouse building, furniture re-upholstery, raising backyard chickens, rabbits and bees, working with draft animals, leatherworking

Farming & Gardening Workshop Organizers

• PASA Farming Workshops
• PSU Master Gardeners Workshops
• Penn State Cooperative Extension Sustainable Agriculture Workshops
• Penn State Cooperative Extension Centre County  Workshops
• PA-Women’s Agricultural Network Workshops

Cooking Workshop Organizers

• The FoodShed at Village Acres Farm
• Grace Pilato – Italian, Spanish, Greek and Chinese Cooking. Inquire about classes by email.
  
• In Marie’s French Kitchen - Marie Rauturier
• State College Music Academy - Click and scroll down for “French Language and Cooking Class for Adults” with Jennifer Barton

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Information for Prospective Instructors:

The Reskilling workshops are modeled on the Whatcom Folk School in Bellingham, WA.

• Instructors may set and keep the course fees, or have Spring Creek Homesteading set the donation amount and pay the instructors up to $200 per class
• Instructors may set the maximum course size or have Spring Creek Homesteading set it.
• Spring Creek Homesteading Fund offers liability coverage if we help you organize your workshop with location scheduling, supply subsidies, student registration, etc.

If you’d like to teach a workshop, please send the following information to Program Director Katherine Watt:

1. What skill do you want to teach?
2. What specific project will you use to teach the skill?
3. What tools and supplies are needed?
4. What’s the estimated tools/supplies cost per person?
5. How much space do you need? Indoor or outdoor?
6. How long (length of time) do you estimate it will take to set up, teach & clean up after the proposed workshop? (So we know how long to rent the facility).
7. Are you interested in co-teaching the workshop with another instructor?
8. A short description of the proposed course, a short bio statement, your contact information and a headshot.

OUR FIRST YEAR:

Autumn 2011 Schedule & Handouts

• Autumn 2011 Workshop Schedule
• Basic Bread Recipe - Ruth Sauder
• Indian Cooking Basics - Sunil Patel
• Composting Basics - Alexa Schriempf

Winter 2012 Schedule & Handouts

• Winter 2012 Workshop Schedule
• Cooking Winter Soups and Stews – LaCreta Holland
• Yogurt & Granola – Nynke Vanderburg
• Mittens & Scarf Instructions – Cindy Grosso
• Basic Homebrewing – Ryan Elias
• Making Lip Balms & Salves – Stephanie Hertel (not yet posted)
• Making Cold Frames – Joshua Lambert (not yet posted)
• Lactofermentation (Sauerkraut etc.) - Scott Diloreto and Matt Sullenberger
• Fruit Tree Pruning - Jackie Bonomo
• Worm Composting – Justin Eleazer - Red Worm Composting  - Overall resource site; Northwest Red Worms  - Great site with information about red worm systems. Owner produced the castings harvester we used in class, and sells systems and harvesters online; Worms Etc. - Another similar system that works like the old “pair of jeans” system I described, only more fancy; Worm Power – Worms on a factory level scale. Castings for sale by the pound, crate, or truckload; Soil Secret  - Located nearby, they also have decent scale, and sell their product through tons of local garden centers; How to setup a bin (slide show); How to set up a bin  (video)

Spring 2012 Schedule & Handouts

• Workshops Spring 2012
• Seedsaving: Hybrid v. Heirloom (Brian Burger); Intro to Seedsaving (University of Maine); Seed Saving – Reading List; Seedsaving Book (Fedco).
• Raised Beds: Layered (Lasagna) Mulching (Jackie Bonomo)
• Backyard Chickens: Chicken Care & Feeding (Sarah Potter’s list); Raising Fowl in Urban Areas (PSU); Management Requirements for Laying Flocks (PSU)
• Beekeeping Resources: Brushy Mountain Bee Farm, near Lewisburg.

Summer 2012 Schedule & Handouts

• Workshops Summer 2012
• Recipes from LaCreta Holland’s Summer 2012 Spring Creek Homesteading workshops are online here: Fruits, Berries & Herbs (August 4); Everything Tomatoes! (August 25)

Fall 2012 Workshops:

• October 13 – Home Cheese-Making with Adam Seitz
• November 10 – Home Sausage-Making with Steve Bookbinder
• December 1 – Intro to Meditation with Dorian Kondas

Winter 2013 Workshops

• January 12 - Healing Herbs for Topical Use/Making Homemade Lotions with Stephanie Hertel
• January 19 AND February 2 - Beginner Beer Brewing, Racking and Bottling, with Josh Lambert
• January 19 - Creating Herbal Concoctions: Honeys, Elixirs, and Syrups, with Stephanie Hertel
• January 26 – Building a Top Bar Bee Hive with Matt Poese and Josh Lambert.
• February 9 - Making Sauerkraut – Intro to Vegetable Lactofermentation, with Scott DiLoreto and Matt Sullenberger
• February 16 – Milk Jug Greenhouses with Justin Wheeler
• February 17 – Basic Bicycle Maintenance with Justin Wagner
• March 23 – Heritage Seed Saving with Ingrid Fowles, Matt Sullenberger & Ian Gardner
• April 6 – From Science to Salsa: Tomatoes with Matt Sullenberger
• April 20 - Planting Backyard Fruit & Nut Trees & Shrubs with Scott Diloreto, Emily Zink and Jennie Diehl

Online Community Calendars

• StateCollege.com
• WPSU
• Voices of Central PA
• State College Magazine
• Centre Daily Times