Classes and Workshops
I left Los Angeles in 2020 in the beginning of the pandemic and I'm currently living a
semi-nomadic lifestyle following the weather (and wild food) in an RV, however I still spend a considerable amount of time in my Art Studio located in the mountains of Valyermo (90 minutes from Los Angeles). My studio is located on my friend's property and goat farm of Angeles Crest Creamery. From time to time, I still do a couple of live classes in the Los Angeles area and, of course, I give public and private classes on the property where my studio is located. I also offer a considerable amount of zoom classes, mostly on the subject of traditional food preservation technique applied to regular and wild edibles.
Sunday - November 6
10AM to 12:30PM (PST)
Wildcrafted Vinegars
Making delicious vinegars directly from fruits and berries.
Join me in this fun webinar where you’ll learn how to make vinegars from scratch using fruits, berries or even fruits scraps. You can make such vinegars from apples, pears, cactus pears, blueberries and countless other store-bought or foraged ingredients.
All you need is fruits, a bit of sugar and some water. Through the magic fermentation, within a few weeks you’ll end up with some delicious and unique homemade vinegars which can be used to create sauces, salad dressings, quick pickling and even drinks (similar to kombucha).
Webinar will be RECORDED too so you can watch it later if you cannot attend the live webinar.
This webinar is perfect for home cooks, chefs, foragers, and anyone interested in natural flavors or food preservation. You’ll learn the basic of acetic acid fermentation and from there we will move on to more creative applications and methods.
In this webinar you will learn:
How acetic acid fermentation works
How to do an alcoholic fermentation using wild yeast
How to use an alcoholic ferment and turn it into vinegars
Methods and variations to make such vinegars
Tips for successful fermentation
How long vinegar last and how to store it.
Easy way to determine the acidity of your vinegar
What is a mother vinegar and how to use it to make more vinegars
Storing your culture for future uses
And much more!!!!
This webinar is HANDS ON, and we’ll make vinegar together. Check the link to see what you need to get.
Date: Sunday November 6 – 10 AM PST
Duration: Around 2 hours.
Cost: $30
Saturday November 19
10AM to 1PM (PST)
Eco-Friendly Foraging - Plants Walk / Food & Drinks – Local Forest
Want to learn about edible plants and help the environment in the process? Did you know what we are surrounded by wild edible plants and most of them are non-native to Los Angeles and actually invasive?
Very often the same plants are crops in some other countries and yet, locally, the solution is to spray them with chemicals or waste this incredible food resource by uprooting and throwing it away. So sad when you realize that a recent study from the University of California Berkeley identified 52 edible weeds growing in abundance in the poorest neighborhoods of San Francisco. At least six of them were found to be more nutritious than kale, according to that study.
In this class, you'll learn about the countless local plants that you can use for food, many of them can be found in your backyard and are considered weed.
We will walk in the local forest (private property in the Angeles Forest), identify and talk about the culinary and medical uses of those plants. In October, Los Angeles is turning into a desert, but you’ll be amazed at what you can still find, and we’ll even explore the “invisible” bounty of edible wild seeds and grains.
Sunday November 20
10AM to 12:30PM (PST)
Plants Identification Walk - Culinary and Medicinal
This is mostly a plant identification walk, not the usual class with a short walk and a lot of wild food samplings at the end. The idea is to learn about local edible and medicinal plants with a focus on identification. We had some rain recently so we should see a bunch of interesting plants.
We'll also discuss environmental issues with invasive plants and how (wild) food can be part of the solution.
It's a very slow walk for around 2 hours with lots of stops to talk about the plants, fruits, berries and mushrooms we'll encounter. You'll need to bring water and sun protection.
After the class we'll just have one drink and a wild food snack featuring plant(s) that we encountered during the walk.
Location:
We meet in front of a place called Reptacular
8828 Gold Creek Rd, Sylmar, CA 91342
Look for me (old dude with white hair) near the entrance and I’ll show you where to park. Don’t enter the ranch with your vehicle. We usually park on the side of the road a bit further
34°19'09.9"N 118°19'49.1"W
Time: From 10AM to 12:30 PM
More classes and workshops will be added in the next couple of days!
