Online Food Storage Class Info
Sharon February 12th, 2008
Ok, folks, I’m putting together the online food storage class that there was so much interest in. I thought I’d offer it in four weeks, over the month of March.
There will be four components, and this class will go considerably beyond the talk I’m giving on Saturday, so you don’t need to feel bad if you live too far away to attend ;-).
-A weekly blog post, with discussion on my regular blogs. This will be open to everyone. I’ll also post some recipes from the weekly “how to eat it” section on my blog.
- A set of follow along readings. The list of readings for each week (not required for participation but helpful) will also be available on my blog to anyone who wants to participate.
- A group for registered participants to discuss food storage issues. I’ll be around to answer questions and facilitate discussion. This will also include recipes, additional materials, and suggestions.
-Help setting up an individualized food storage program based on your family, concerns and conditions.
The course will be divided into four week long sections.
Week 1: March 6 and 7: The Basics: Why store food? What kinds? How much? Where to Put it? How long to keep it? How to eat it? How to ensure a nutritious, balanced, good tasting food supply?
Week 2: March 13 and 14: Buying in bulk, finding sustainable sources, cooking with grains and legumes, adapting your diet to “store what you eat, eat what you store,” accoutrements (buckets, grain grinders, etc…), spices and seasonings, food storage on a budget.
Week 3: March 20 and 21: Food storage local - how to base your food storage on homegrown and local sources. Long term food preservation strategies, storing seeds, meat, milk and vegetables, staple produce as a grain substitute. How to eat seasonally from food storage.
Week 4: March 27 and 28: Special Circumstances, special diets, medical issues, appetite fatigue, infants and children. Community food storage ideas, and getting the idea of storing food out in your own community. Setting up your own plan and implementing it gradually.
The classes will be offered on Tuesdays and Wednesdays during March. That is, new posts will go up on Tuesday mornings on my blogs, and new discussion topics and materials on the class discussion group. I’ll be available to comment, offer help, answer questions and help set up plans during Tuesday and Wednesday each week - that way, no one has to be there at a specific time. On Thursday evenings, I’ll post the next week’s reading materials.
The cost for the class will $125 for the course, and for this first time, will be limited to 25 participants, so that everyone gets a fair share of my time. It is free to follow along on the blogs, but since this will represent a large investment of my time, and I hope to be able to offer participants help getting started and setting up their own goals, I do need to cover my costs. I don’t want to exclude anyone, however, so if you need a sliding scale, email me and we’ll talk. My goal is to make this as accessible to as many people as possible.
If you are interested in registering, email me at [email protected], and I’ll follow up with you this week, confirming registrations and sending more details. Please bear with me as I get this organized - I wasn’t expecting quite the enthusiastic response I got to my initial query, so I’m still pulling things together by the seat of my pants ;-).
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- Comments(11)
Sharon,
I probably won’t sign up because of the cost, but wanted to say thanks for doing this important work and for making the info on your blog available to everyone.
It wasn’t clear to me if the additional reading would be available to non-registered folks. If not, would you consider just listing the bibliographical references on your blog (i.e. and we hunt them down)?
Thanks again for all you do. Looking forward to the first book.
Sharon,
This is a GREAT idea! Because I am in the middle of the big push to get out of our apartment and into our cabin, I don’t have moolah at the moment, but maybe next time! My husband and I were just talking the other day about needing to do food storage (and we are LDS, so of course we should have it already), and we were at Costco and bought 3 25-lb bags of rice, a 25-lb bag of flour, and a 25-lb bag of sugar. At least it’s something.
Lori
Alaska
http://www.lifeonthelastfrontier.blogspot.com
Yeah. You totally rock, Sharon.
Thanks for your brilliant work.
Thanks for the kind words - I’ll definitely make as much of this as possible available online for free - I want anyone who wants to to be able to follow along.
Sharon
I would pay the fee but unfortunately we’re going to be offline for two of the weeks you’re offering this
Maybe I’ll catch you next time, if you repeat this. Thank you for pulling it together - the concept is awesome.
So great that you are doing this! I am saving for a permaculture course so maybe next time. I will be at your talk this weekend though, really looking forward to it.
1)might want to post your class info on homesteading today, including the survival and emergency prep subforum.
2)not related to the post, but your blog in general, thought you might find the following link of interest:
http://globaleconomicanalysis.blogspot.com/2008/02/where-is-all-oil-money-going.html
“Where is all the oil money going?”, which profiles the massive buildout of Dubai. I particularly like “Ski Dubai” with real (man made) snow! Ever hear of the “Skyscraper Index?” Also, I’m guessing that much of Dubai is not a heck of a lot above sea level, so a rise in sealevel from global warming just might put a huge part of this underwater.
Just thought it was something you might find of interest, and would probably have some interesting comments about it.
-sgl
I would be very interested in following the blog, though not actually enrolling in the class. I’m trying to do that kind of thing already and am curious as to what other options are out there that I don’t know about yet.
Sharon-
Holy cow - someone to walk me through a huge pile of research I though I was going to have to to myself! Sign me up! I’ll send you an e-mail..
Hi Sharon,
I’ll be totally honest. I was really interested until I saw the cost. It’s too much, and I’m another of the majority who are unwilling to pay for something over the net.
I understand that providing a service can be costly, but with a group of women I managed to provide an 8 week series of courses on pagan spirituality a few years ago on a donation-only basis (the classes were so well-received we ran a second course the following year due to high demand).
The classes included all materials and necessary items and practical tools, handouts on the classes (printed for students), everything required for the classes, and were very well received.
We then asked people to donate as they felt appropriate at the end of each class, and more than recovered our costs, including making over $450 one week which we donated to the Red Cross Tsunami appeal.
So although I’d like to be a part of the classes, I’ll say no. Its too much money for something I can’t guarantee will be worthwhile. If an afterwards donation system were offered, I’d involved, be honest and pay what I thought the classes were worth, but I think the rather deathly silence on this issue regarding the classes (where there was so much interest beforehand when you first raised the idea) makes me think I am not alone in my viewpoint.
I wish you all the best and hope the classes go well.
Sincerely,
Daharja.
Sharon,
I’m SO, SO, SO thankful that you are providing a lot of the information on your blog! If I were in a different place in life, I’d join in a heartbeat!
I love reading your blog. You say things in such an eloquent manner that I’m envious, jealous, and thankful that I stumbled across your blog.
Thanks again for sharing with all of us (on behalf of the rest of the lurkers, from whom I just departed!).
-Erika