Preserving the Season – Your Guide to Local “Canning Bees” this summer

“Never Can Alone” is the motto Barbara Kingsolver expressed in her ode to living seasonally and locally, Animal, Vegetable, Miracle- a year of food life (Harper-Collins, 2007).  If you have ever attempted preserving or canning and faced a mountain of tomatoes, pickling cukes or a garden over run with zucchini you’ll remember a certain sagging of the spirit if you were facing them alone.  This sagging feeling can become even more overwhelming if you are attempting the whole process without ever having received any mentoring.
I grew up helping my parents make jams and pickles.  I loved the steamy kitchen and sense of camaraderie that came from working long and hard to “put-up” those little jars of jewels from the garden.  I especially loved opening those jars all winter in the small remote town where we lived because the amount of fresh produce at the market was reduced to apples, oranges and a few root vegetables.  My parents didn’t can because it was fashionable, they canned because it added variety and enjoyment to our diet through the long, cold Canadian winter.

I am proud to be the coordinator of Slow Food Calgary’s Canning Bees for the 2010 Season.  I consider canning a great life skill and each year when we host our canning bees we are able to pass those skills onto a few more people who weren’t as fortunate to grow up surrounded by three generations of great cooks like I was.  I have witnessed in past years that the experience of being at one of these workshops can be life-changing.  Young people gain confidence, bonds are formed, connections are cemented and mentors are found at last.  People slice and peel and talk, we sip a little wine and have a great lunch and everyone leaves with new capabilities and comestibles in pint sized containers.
This summer Slow Food Calgary is proud to offer three opportunities to learn the heritage skill of preserving the best of the season.  The instructor for all three classes is Slow Food Calgary member, veteran teacher and chef Val Andrews. Come and join one of our Canning Bees to learn the process of preserving the bounty of summer.  Classes fill very quickly so sign up quickly for one of the most memorable events of the culinary year.  These are “hands-on” workshops and participants need to bring their own paring knife, cutting board and aprons.
July 24th (10am to 3pm)Cambrian Heights Community Centre, 600 Northmount Drive NW

August 22nd (2pm to 7pm), Cambrian Heights Community Centre, 600 Northmount Drive NW

September 25th (10am to 3pm) , The Cookbook Co. Cooks Basement Classroom, 722-11 Avenue SW ***please note the different times and places for these classes*** Call The Cookbook Co. Cooks to register , 403-265-6066  - Members: $85 / Not-yet-members $100
If you can’t make it to a Slow Food Calgary Workshop here are a few other ideas for you.  We really want you to have this opportunity and are thrilled there are so many options to share with you.
If you are willing to travel to the Innisfail area you can get in on some great classes at The Jungle Farm. Owner Leona Staples will be running “Field to Jar” Courses all summer.  These courses will be about two and a half hours and will include picking the produce in the fields, washing and preparing the produce, and then processing and preserving it. Each participant will take home a jar of homemade preserves with them plus the recipe and all sorts of other gardening and preserving tips.  The Staples’s commercial kitchen is small so each course has a maximum of 15 people.

The schedule at “The Jungle Farm”  is as follows:
Jam Making classes are July 27 and August 3

Dill Pickle Making is August 10 and August 17
Privately booked courses on different days are possible for groups of 10-15.
For more information, costs and times check out the website at www.thejunglefarm.com

Last but certainly not least, our friends at The Cookbook Co. Cooks are also featuring chef Val Andrews on two other dates this summer.
The dates for those classes are as follows:

Saturday July 10 at 10-3, $100
Sunday August 29 at 10-3, $100
Call The Cookbook Co. Cooks to register at 403-265-6066