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.
Saturday January 21
10AM to 12:30PM (PST)
WEBINAR
Learn how to make gourmet vinegars from homemade alcoholic ferments and juices (wildcrafted or store-bought)
This webinar will be RECORDED too so you can watch it later. Recording will be available for 6 months. If you are new to making vinegar, I will also quickly review how to easily make vinegar from any alcoholic beverages such as wines or beers.
This is the last webinar about vinegars and this time we will use more advanced methods of vinegar creations using homemade alcoholic fermentation of juices (wildcrafted or store-bought) and similar concoctions such as herbal drinks.
You’ll learn how to make your own alcoholic ferments from scratch and turn them into vinegar. This will open the door to a lot of creative culinary possibilities for making unique salad dressings, vinaigrettes, marinades, drinks, hot sauces and much more!
In fact, I think that any vinegar you make at home will be far superior to vinegars you can purchase at the store. Heck, maybe after this webinar, you can even start a new home business making gourmet vinegars.
This webinar is perfect for home cooks, chefs, foragers, and anyone interested in natural flavors or food preservation.
Saturday January 28
10AM to 1PM (PST)
Sylmar, California
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. With the recent rain, we should find plenty.
The walk is around 1 1/2 to 2 hours, very slow with lots of stops to talk about and collect the plants. It usually not a long distance at all, something we just cover a couple of hundred yards.
Wild food is gourmet food! After the class you will be served delicious snacks and drinks featuring some the plants we saw during our walk.
Sunday January 29
10AM to 12:30PM (PST)
Sylmar, California
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.
Sunday February 5
10:30AM to 3PM (PST)
Valyermo, California
Learn fermentation, spend a day in the mountains and mingle with baby goats
Want to add healthy probiotic food to your diet and learn how to make sauerkraut, kimchi and similar lacto ferments?
Learn from one of the top forager and fermentation expert in North America! Author of 4 bestselling books related to fermentation: The Wildcrafting Brewer, Wildcrafted Fermentation, The New Wildcrafted Cuisine and Wildcrafted Vinegars
In this introduction to basic lacto-Fermentation, you’ll learn how to make simple, delicious ferments and have fun in the process!
This workshop is HANDS-ON and for a LIMITED number of participants (only 8 people). Here is what you’ll learn:
How lacto fermentation works and the principles behind it.
Making ferments with basic equipment you already have at home.
Food safety - Best way to avoid mold or other spoilages.
Creative sauerkraut-types ferments – how to put together tasty little side dishes
How to make your guests or family enjoy fermentation.
And much more!
Saturday February 11
10AM to 1PM (PST)
Sylmar, California
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?
See description above (Class January 28)
Sunday February 12
10AM to 1PM (PST)
Sylmar, California
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.
See description above (Class January 29)
