FARMcurious Holiday Party called a "life-changer"
Posted on Wednesday, December 10, 2014 | By Jared Easterday |
We knew it would be a fun afternoon, but we were blown away at our Holiday Party on Saturday! What an amazing group of DIY experts, aficionados and newbies, and all of them swapping ideas, stories and homemade creations. Who knows what will come out of this?
Music Festival of DIY
We had 3 classrooms with simultaneous workshops going. Cheesemaking or beer brewing? Cocktails or canning? The choices were tough, and some jumped back and forth between rooms to grab a little of everything.
Chris Opela from Oakland’s Brewmaster not only taught a session on the basics of homebrewing but showed up with a couple of kegs of hoppy results for everyone to try.
Sean Timberlake of every food crafter’s favorite site Punk Domestics schooled attendees in how to make duck prosciutto and then shared some deliciously aged samples.
Leena Trivedi-Gardner of food blog Leena Eats taught hands-on basic canning, putting up mango chutney while putting some canning fears to rest.
Karen Diggs from Kraut Source talked about fermenting vegetables, right down to using the brine in cocktails, and our own big cheese Nicole Easterday of FARMcurious demonstrated making herbed chevre.
Melissa Lavrinc-Smith of Enotrias walked us through herb-infused cocktails from the garden and mixed up some samples.
Crafters and Conservers
Guests were invited to bring a homemade creation to trade at the party. An oatmeal chocolate pie, dog-foraged truffles, loquat jam and a handmade book were a few of the items that went fast. All of the swappers also got to take home a free gift from FARMcurious.
Meanwhile a silent auction was quietly taking place, offering great deals to bidders and donated proceeds to nonprofit Food Shift, who brought some fruits, veggies and pastries from a recent dumpster dive to illustrate food waste. Hanna Morris explained how Food Shift recovered 41,000 lbs of food from the Oakland Unified School District and redistributed it to needy families, among other feats of sustainability.
Cross Pollination
People came from as far away as Colorado and as nearby as 3 doors down. There were food craft entrepreneurs, aspiring makers, friends, families, people who had canned all their life but never fermented anything and people who thought they’d done it all (until they saw Sean’s demo!). New friendships were formed, urban homesteading tips were shared and plans were hatched for upcoming events. The FARMcurious pop-up shop had plenty of great ideas for gifts and future projects. One guest was overheard saying this event “was a life-changer!”. We hope everyone had a great time and look forward to seeing more of you next year!
