Five days straight–and we’re back!
Throughout the five days, Maia flitted around in her superhero cape, darting into the studio at any opportunity.
In the two days of cheesemaking workshops, we milked Glory Bee, made two hard cheeses, mozzarella, queso fresco, lactic cheese, panir (pan-fried, that was an experience I’ll have to go into another time), ricotta, yogurt, and butter.
There was a lot of milk involved, and it went fast as we started working.
Pan-fried panir:
On the baking day, Saturday, we made biscuits, Grandmother Bread, herb bread, whole grain bread, and apple pies.
LauraP, who was teaching the workshops with me all five days, demonstrated grinding grain. And here is proof I was actually there–that’s me in the boots. (Photo taken by Jerry Waters, who stopped by.)
There was also a lot of playing with dough, braiding, shaping, twisting, and some attendees even made dough into bunny rabbits.
I somehow didn’t manage to get a pic of the bunny breads. (Sorry!) We ate a LOT of pie, every day, with homemade ice cream.
Raisin bread:
Apple bread with lactic cheese made during the cheesemaking workshops:
Several attendees brought their aprons with them, and this one ended up on Maia.
In the two days of herbals and soap, attendees took a nature walk to collect wild edibles and herbs, made soap, sugar scrub cubes, lotion, tinctures, teas, salves, and lozenges, propagated rosemary, and discussed medicinal herbs.
Nature walking:
Chicks in the road!
Preparing to dehydrate rose petals and mint collected from my garden. (LOVE that pink hat!!)
Making soap:
All the pretty soaps:
And more pretty soaps:
We had so much fun. It was exhausting, and I think the attendees were as tired as we were. We certainly made them work hard enough! Thank you so much to every attendee who was here–we had a packed house every day and it was an incredible, vivacious bunch. Extra thanks to LauraP, who came from Missouri to teach with me and share her amazing knowledge.
Stay tuned for an announcement about upcoming workshops.
Maia would love to see you!
Suzanne McMinn says:
No! I’m not having any workshops in October because of the book release and needing to be available for media during that time. (I had previously had workshops scheduled for October that I cancelled because of the book.)
On July 17, 2013 at 9:23 am
lattelady says:
Is the owner of the beautiful pink hat a breast cancer survivor?
On July 17, 2013 at 9:57 am
Faith says:
Bumps in the road for Chickens in the road. All blips on the radar and gone now…you did good! Since I am new here, I have been playing catch up, reading your older post. Have mercy girl, what a ride it’s been and you know how to live life with meaning and purpose, you should be proud!
Was wondering will your book chronicle all your moves since moving to WV? I find all the places you have lived a little confusing as I move through the old post kind of randomly.
I hope you get a chance to catch your breath this week and weekend, you are such a busy gal!
On July 17, 2013 at 10:04 am
Taryn says:
I can’t wait until next year! I want to do all of the things you are teaching, and so do my daughters! We will definitely be attending the 5 day course.
On July 17, 2013 at 10:05 am
crannynanny says:
Congratulations of having hopped over those bumps without falling! The best of all is that every one who attended learned and enjoyed themselves. That is a very nice accomplishment for all involved. The workshop had a lot of meaning for me as I’ve done many of the same making and baking activities in the past and am delighted that the “old ways” will be carried on.
On July 17, 2013 at 10:53 am
TracyT says:
My goodness. The week-o-workshops sounds like fun. I remember hosting and teaching a simple day long (horseback riding) dressage clinic years ago, in the dead of winter, but in a glorious partially heated barn with huge indoor arena. I spent days carefully dragging the sand/peat/soil mixture that filled the arena, setting up the viewing rooms with high quality refreshments, seating and stuffed binders of critical information. The day before the event, we suffered a significant snowstorm, but after much much phone work, were able to close the barn doors that night with every horse that had been trucked in safely unloaded and in their assigned stall.
The following morning, I arrived extra early to see all of the horses happily munching their morning hay in the separate stall area…but the massive roof of the glorious indoor riding arena completely collapsed due to the massive snow load. In short, I feel your pain.
I hope you have a week or so of absolutely nothing planned but tottering around the farm doing regular chores, putting life back where it belongs and recovering!
On July 17, 2013 at 11:24 am
4jsMOM says:
I don’t know how you kept your cool with all the temporary setbacks. Thanks for all the pictures to let us see the fun and learning going on at the workshop. My favorite picture was “CHICKS IN THE ROAD”.
On July 17, 2013 at 12:17 pm
lesliedgray says:
It sounds like it was SO much fun! PLEASE do another workshop just like it (hopefully without all of your NOTS..LOL!) .. I will set aside the $ and the time to attend.. Every single thing i am interested in was covered in this last one… I would have loved to attend, but had 2 family birthdays, a family drama, and 2 days of a (medical) certification course and test to keep me occupied…
On July 17, 2013 at 1:13 pm
holstein woman says:
There is always lots of work and I am so glad you’ll came out alright and had a blast.
On July 17, 2013 at 9:34 pm
NancyL says:
Wow! It sounds like all of you had a fabulous time and accomplished so very many things, regardless of the outages. You’re a trooper, Suzanne, and I know your followers are as well. But it’s your ever-present upbeat attitude that had to keep them going! Now that it’s over, I do hope you can rest a while and maybe let Maia inside for a little while?
Nancy in Iowa
On July 18, 2013 at 3:36 am
emmachisett says:
I get such a kick out of Maia’s little stubby tail poking out from under her “super hero” cape! What a darling.
You mentioned something about propagating rosemary. Could you perhaps explain further? I love the stuff but continuing to buy it in little plastic bubble packs at the store just seems wrong. I have a great little planted pot of it right now but would like a) to know how to make more pots and b) the best way to preserve it for use during the winter. Advice on other techniques to have “fresh” tasting herbs throughout the winter would be welcome too. I was astounded to see that in places like Palm Springs they make gigantic hedges out of the stuff! We here in central Alberta (Canada) can only dream of such luxury!
On July 25, 2013 at 1:58 pm