Give a man a fish, and he’ll eat for a day. Teach him to fish, and he’ll smell funny for the rest of his life – or something like that.
Less jocularly, later this winter, Slow Food St. Louis embraces the do-it-yourself credo with its new Urban Homesteading series of classes and films intended to make you more of a provider and less of a consumer.
First up, the family-friendly Vermicompost 101 leads students through the construction of their own worm bins (Jan. 16, 10 a.m., Schlafly Bottleworks). Next comes a screening of the short film Sister Bee, “a lyrical documentary about six beekeepers who find beauty and wonderment in their work with honeybees”; that evening concludes with a Q&A with Bob Sears, president of Eastern Missouri Beekeepers Association (Jan. 26, 7 p.m., Bottleworks). But wait, there’s beer! Home Brewing With STL Hops‘ Mike Sweeney is a one-day workshop on making your own beer, presented by the owner of that popular St. Louis beer blog/forum, who’s also the beer consultant for Niche and its sister restaurants (Jan. 30, 10:30 a.m., Sweeney’s home). Finally, the Urban Homesteading events wind up with Urban Livestock Raising. Merryl Winstein invites you to her Webster Groves farm, where you can check out goats, plus chickens and turkeys, and learn about urban animal husbandry, goat milk and goat cheese (March 6, 10 a.m., Winstein farm).
Attendance to each event is limited, and admission fees or suggested donations vary – so for reservations and additional details, potential participants should e-mail shannon.connelly@slowfoodstl.org by this Sunday, Jan. 10.
– Byron Kerman
This article appears in Jan 1-31, 2010.