# Teaching people homesteading type skills



## FromScratchGirl (Sep 25, 2008)

I am hoping to begin teaching people how to do basic skills like bake bread, cook from scratch, make soap, garden, can, etc, etc. and offer inforational meetings once a month and whatnot. 

I just dont know where t begin, or even know if I need any licensing. I live in OH. has anyone done this? Could you tell me about your experiences and how you planned your classes? What types of classes did you offer, and how did you arrange prices?

Thanks,
Sarah


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## mammabooh (Sep 1, 2004)

Where in Ohio are you? I've been thinking about the same thing! Perhaps we could team up if you're close.


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## Kim_NC (Sep 5, 2007)

Start with your Cooperative Extention office or Dept of Agriculture. They should be able to tell you if a kitchen inspection or any licensing is required for the cooking type classes. Your county may require a business license...check with them.


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## garnetmoth (Oct 16, 2008)

ooh! anywhere near Cincinnati?

I want to claim I was looking into food selling at one point, it sounds familiar that youd have to cook in a commercial kitchen. You can sell jam and a few other things (cottage products) out of home because theyre less likely to be illness-causing if done incorrectly.

For free advertising once you get the details hammered out: There is a Yahoo! group Cincy Locavores (folks who eat food from close to home), see if your area has anything like that (or maybe post on farm/garden on Craigslist)


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## Nomad (Dec 19, 2002)

This sounds interesting. I have a good deal of experience working with wood and gardening. I also have made candles to sell, but they were soy not paraffin. I'm in Northeastern Ohio and would be happy to share any knowledge I have that might be useful. 


Nomad


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## katlupe (Nov 15, 2004)

I have friends who have taught homesteading classes for over 40 years. They teach cooking classes but I am sure they do not have commerical lisence for it and they are well known so if they needed it, they'd have one. They live on a homestead that is off the grid and they actually cook in a hearth and get their water from a spring, and I don't think that would go over real big with inspectors. 

What they do is teach a variety of classes and you can come for one class or stay overnight, camping on their land, provide your own food and take the whole week of homesteading classes which runs about $399. for a whole family or one person. A single class runs about $40. They get lots of customers so it must be a fair price and people keep coming back. 

There are alot of things you could teach people to do that they just have no idea how to do. Cooking on a wood cookstove is one that lots of people would probably sign up for. Building a fire in a woodstove. Canning, drying foods, even gardening. Lots of things. I think you could do pretty good teaching some of these things that we do every day. Have to have insurance though in case someone gets hurt. But you probably have that aleady. 

We have thought of doing it ourselves......but we are not too much into having lots of people around. 

katlupe


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## Madame (Jan 1, 2003)

katlupe said:


> I have friends who have taught homesteading classes for over 40 years. They teach cooking classes but I am sure they do not have commerical lisence for it and they are well known so if they needed it, they'd have one. They live on a homestead that is off the grid and they actually cook in a hearth and get their water from a spring, and I don't think that would go over real big with inspectors.
> 
> What they do is teach a variety of classes and you can come for one class or stay overnight, camping on their land, provide your own food and take the whole week of homesteading classes which runs about $399. for a whole family or one person. A single class runs about $40. They get lots of customers so it must be a fair price and people keep coming back.
> 
> ...



Does she have a website? I'd be interested in following up on this.


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## katlupe (Nov 15, 2004)

> Does she have a website? I'd be interested in following up on this.


No they do not. They do not even own a flashlight or a camera! You can contact them here:

The Catholic Homesteading Movement
Turner Road
Oxford, NY 13830

They used to be called the The Christian Homesteading Movement but changed the name a few years back. They do not push religion on anyone who comes there so don't let the name discourage you. They will send you a newsletter for some stamps but I'm not sure how many you'd need. Request info.

Richard & Anna Maria Fahey have raised 12 children on their homestead. They did it all. The classes are popular and do well. But their main income is selling heirloom apple trees to the nurseries. They have done that successfully, growing over 500 varieties that would have vanished if not for them bringing them back. They do all of this without a motor vehicle, no driver's lisences, no computers, no telephone, no typewriters or word processors......off the grid living. It is like stepping back in time. He knows it all! Have classes on grafting the trees. They train horses for logging or driving. Teach classes on that also.

All their children have gone on to a successful life. He likes to promote large families with the fathers staying home making a living from their homesteads and helping to raise the children.

katlupe


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## lasvegas8910362 (Jan 22, 2009)

These things I was going to assist pregnant teens in leon county florida with this but Im not that great with all the old stuff. Candles is another one, Where will you get all the flour and seeds for growing stuff the owner really wanted the old stuff and there were cabins to live in but no electricity . We would need sheep for the wool and other stuff. Everyone and anyone can teach this but I think the canning in glass need to learn about cooking it after it is open I have canned before 111 acre farm our aunt had. She boils the stuff had to learn at 500 degrees before eating it . Anyone can do this at all.


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## pinemead (Jan 18, 2003)

You might not need a commercial kitchen to teach a class since you are not selling the product. You didn't say if your students would actually be making food in class, or just watching you and learing how. That will make a difference. Check with your local Health Department.


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## MorrisonCorner (Jul 27, 2004)

Well hun.. I just put up a website for my community on this very thing: http://www.growstowe.com

So a few thoughts on this. My first thought is that I have a client who very successfully offers courses every spring in basic sheep care. The course is a weekend event, she charges over $200 a couple, and the couple has to find lodging in the area. Concurrently to her event she is coming up on the end of lambing season, so at the end of the course participants can choose from her ewe/lamb sales stock and in some cases leave with animals or have them delivered in a few weeks. Not only does she generate a good chunk of income in that weekend, she also moves stock that might not be sold as efficiently.

So i launched this website for my community. I have google analytics on every page so I can watch where people are going and what they are looking at. Number one page: CLASSES. Number two: CHICKENS so it would stand to reason that anyone offering a class on keeping a backyard flock of chickens might have something going for them.

Having said that, do you know what I think might really rock it? Having a class on building a portable coop. If you could work with a local lumber yard or shop and they could pre-cut the pieces and help people do the assembly, so at the end of the day they'd have the panels they need to assemble a backyard coop and the confidence to keep birds? I think you'd sell out.

Ok.. do you know what hasn't had a single, solitary, hit? The Victory Garden page. Which is a sincere disappointment to the organizers because they envisioned hundreds of little citizens calling them asking for help in getting gardens started this spring. No such luck. People, at least in this area, are either not interested, or are comfortable getting the information they need from other sources.

The other page with no hits? Recipes. Again, big disappointment to the organizers who were expecting some sort of happy commercial kitchen type thing come harvest season. Remember, I live in a tourist area with a host of small properties. Commercial, licensed, kitchens out the ying yang. Hypothetically we could commandeer the kitchen of the Italian restaurant, and their chef, and their lovely dishwasher... and jar up bazillions of jars of home made pasta from local ingredients.

Sounds great on paper... nobody interested. It could be a function of demographics: lots of retired people, second home owners, some young families but not the majority of the community.. but in very short order I have proof positive that people are looking for classes, are interested in chickens, and are not as interested in gardens as was assumed.


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## Crowish (Mar 6, 2009)

I've taken some Becoming an Outdoors Woman classes through our state wildlife resources agency. 
They had some people teaching dutch oven cooking, etc. Maybe that would be an option?


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## paintlady (May 10, 2007)

In MN you don't need a licenses if you don't feed them anything. It is then just an informational meeting.


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## rightathome (Feb 10, 2009)

In our area, the Parks & Recreation District offers lots of different classes and is always looking for people who have new topics to teach.


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