FOOD FOR LIFE SCHEDULE 2004

THURSDAY, JULY 8

ALL DAY ARRIVALS AND TENT SET-UP

1:00-3:00 * TOO MUCH FOOD?? (Carol Kimmons) - Safe and Healthy Food Preservation. This hands-on workshop will cover fun and easy methods of canning, pickling, freezing, and drying your surplus from the garden or market. Materials and instruction booklets included.

3:15-6:30 * WINE, BEER AND TEMPEH (Ashley and Patrick Ironwood) - We plan to illustrate the art of fermentation by making 30 gallons of beer, 10 gallons of wine and 10 pounds of tempeh!

7:00-8:15 DINNER

8:30 WELCOME CIRCLE

FRIDAY, JULY 9

8:00-9:00 BREAKFAST

9:00 MORNING CIRCLE

9:30-11:30 * EDIBLE LANDSCAPING AND THE PRINCIPLES OF PERMACULTURE (Patrick and Ashley Ironwood and Jake Fulmer) We will tour Moonshadow’s edible landscape while learning the basic ideas and terminology of Permaculture.

12:00-1:15 LUNCH

1:30-3:30 * FERMENTATION SHOW AND TELL (Sandorkraut) - An eclectic introduction to the magic of fermentation. We’ll learn about the health benefits and illustrious history of fermented foods, and see and taste many different ferments (including sauerkraut, kimchi, kefir, kombucha, miso, goat cheese, and kishk). We'll also start a batch of sauerkraut, some idli (south Indian steam breads we'll prepare later in the weekend), and start catching wild yeasts for sourdough and mead. Bring along any ferments you have for this participatory show and tell.

3:45-4:45 * HOW SMALL OR SKINNY PEOPLE CAN DO HEAVY WORK AND ENJOY IT (Sandy Hepler) This workshop will include lessons on basic tool use plus a few principles of physical work and how to make it fun. We'll learn to love the mattock, dig the shovel, sling the spud bar and maybe even split a few chunks of wood. We will provide participants with info on sources of unique high quality and antique tools.

5:00-6:45 * FOOD POLITICS: The Ethics of Eating (Dee Dee and Natalie) This workshop will begin with a comprehensive presentation of the social, economic, and ecological problems associated with our current food systems, including an overview of responses and community-based alternatives to those problems. A discussion of ideas for raising awareness among the general public about these alternatives will provide an opportunity for sharing visions and experiences among participants.

7:00 DINNER

8:30 TBA

SATURDAY, JULY 10

8:00-9:00 BREAKFAST

9:00 MORNING CIRCLE AND FERMENTATION CHECK-IN

9:30-11:30 * ECONUTRITION (Joel Kimmons) - Diet, health, and ecology a participatory paradigm. The world out there and the world inside are separated by only the façade of culture and the delusions of self. Our survival as a species is dependent on the recognition that we are one part of a vast cosmos of interaction. As a species we must recover from the amnesia of square buildings and concrete parking lots and remember our interactive place in the web of life. The roots of illness and the ecological crisis lie our detachment from our evolutionary heritage. I will cover everything I can about diet and nutrition and food and ecology.

11:45-1:00 LUNCH

1:15-2:15 * PLAY WITH YER FOOD: KITCHEN CRAFTS FOR KIDS (Michelle Kimmons) - This kids' (of all ages) workshop explores other things you can do with your food besides eat it. Projects will include papier mache, finger paint, play dough, and more. Recipes will be available for folks to take home. Kids can continue to craft all afternoon, if they'd like...

2:30-3:45 * FOOD CHOICES CHARING CIRCLE (Ashley Ironwood and you) Are you a vegan? carnivore? ovo- vegetarian? omnivore? freegan? We'll talk about why we eat what we eat.

4:00-5:30 * WORDS FROM A VEGAN PEDIATRICIAN (Jerome Sherard) Dr Sherard, who runs a pediatric practice in Chattanooga, doesn't simply treat his patients - he teaches them and their parents about how their whole lifestyles are affecting their health. As a faithful vegan, Dr. Sherard's views on diet and health are very strong. He will speak on topics such as breastfeeding, cow’s milk, the deadly poison and meat eaters and disease.

5:45 TWO WORKSHOPS (making dinner):

* BREAD-BUILDING (Patrick) - We'll explore the wild world of yeasts, the baker's friend. Learn how you can "grow your own" natural leaven to completely liberate you from prepackaged yeast. We’ll bake natural-leavened whole grain bread in our wood-fired masonry/cob oven.

* GOAT CHEESE AND VEGAN CHEEZE (Sandorkraut and Ashley) This workshop will demonstrate the basic techniques of simple cheesemaking and discuss how varying the process changes the resulting cheese. Using fresh raw goat milk from Short Mountain Sanctuary, we will make and enjoy a batch of cheese. We will also explore vegan alternatives to cheese, making a few different types of gourmet "cheeZe."

DINNER - COB OVEN PIZZA PARTY!

MUSIC AND MORE! The evening program will begin with a performance by Steve Cheseborough and will then become an open mike - come prepared to strut your stuff.

* A consummate performer and a respected authority, musician/speaker Steve Cheseborough takes the acoustic country blues off of old 78s and brings it to life. He presents lecture/performances on early blues at museums, schools, festivals and riverboats, as well as straight music performances at clubs, restaurants and parties. At our conference, Steve will present a program of saucy food-related songs from the traditional blues and gospel of the 1920s and '30s, including "Shortnin' Bread," "Polly Put Your Kettle On" and "Your Biscuits are Big Enough For Me."

SUNDAY, JULY 11

8:00-9:00 BREAKFAST

9:00 MORNING CIRCLE AND FERMENTATION CHECK-IN

9:30-11:30 * ANIMAL AGRICULTURE: ETHICS AND ENVIRONMENTAL CONSIDERATIONS - (Shana Kresmer-Harris) Shana has raised animals for meat and milk and for the love of her deep connection with them for more than 20 years. Travel with her from being vegetarian for seven years to raising meat animals on pasture and explore possible ways of thinking about the choices involved. Shana lives and works at Demeter’s Circle Farm in Virginia.

12:00-1:15 LUNCH

1:30-2:15 * RAW MILK SALES IN TN: An Expose and what can be done (Shawn Dady) - This is a workshop that will expose the practices of the modern milk industry, the dangers of pasteurization, and the health benefits of the raw milk. The sustainable family farm will also be looked at and how the cow and her raw milk is central to that successful business model. And lastly, the legal issues surrounding raw milk in TN will be examined, including the new raw milk bill in TN that has been proposed and what the consumer can do to get this law passed.

2:30-4:30 * BIODYNAMIC AGRICULTURE (Jeff Poppen) - This will be a hands-on learning experience where we will stir a biodynamic preparation of "horn manure" to spray in the garden.

5:00 CLOSING CIRCLE