While there are eight courses being offered, I chose not to sign up for all of them. But there were five that I thought I could benefit from.
Courses I Chose & Why
- Introduction To Home Food Preservation- While I have been canning for quite a few years already, I thought a refresher course would be good for me. Sometimes as we do our regular tasks and chores we may become lazy, forget certain steps and try to cut corners. I figured this intro course would be perfect to remind me of my errors and shortcuts and how they could/would possibly put my canned goods in a risk factor to our health.
- Blanching And Freezing- This is one preservation category that I have used in the past, but would like a more formal training. I usually just Google what I want to blanch and freeze (ie. fresh green beans) and there are times when you look at different websites or forums and get conflicting information.
- Pressure Canning- While I am fairly new to this type of preservation method, I want to know all the safety risks. I want to learn the do's-and-don't's. And perhaps this class will help stifle some of my fears of the pressure canner.
- Dehydrating- Yes I have three dehydrators. Yes I use them almost non-stop from May through November, but I figure it can't hurt to have some more knowledge. Perhaps knowing more will be a gateway for me to dehydrate more food items and build my dry pantry even more.
- Preserving Meat- Yes, I have dehydrated meat (jerky) and we have a smoker in which I will make spareribs, smoked salmon and even full pork butts for pulled-pork sandwiches and more, but I figured it would be nice to learn other techniques (ie. curing, salting).
Under normal circumstances, these courses cost money (anywhere from $10 and up), but when I saw they were free, I knew I had to take advantage of them.
There's also some gardening courses that I have been watching for years, but never wanted to spend the money to attend them. The classes are still listed in the MSU Extension website (for a small fee) and don't start until late summer and into early autumn, but perhaps with the way we are under shelter-in-place orders (now extended until June 12 as of yesterday), the extension office will offer these as well for a much reduced cost or even free.
Make sure to check your own state's extension office to see if they are offering any classes or courses similar to what I have here in Michigan.
