Cooking Floyd: Winter Squash, Spinach & Goat Cheese Lasagna

A little of both, please! A bit of winter and a bit of spring.

 Winter squash and leafy, green Spring spinach!

It's cold enough to crave a bit of winter comfort food yet we are impatient with our slow spring and want new fresh greens.  There were a couple of containers of winter squash puree left in the freezer, odds and ends of cheese in the fridge needing to be used, and... a whole bag of new spinach!

Preserving Floyd: Make Your Own Vinegar Class

Please join me on May 15 to learn how to

Make Your Own Wine Vinegars

It’s easy to save money and make your own red and white wine vinegars at home.  Don’t throw out that unused portion of wine- turn it into a tasty vinegar!  Learn how to flavor vinegars with herbs, fruits, and spices.  Find out how to pasteurize vinegar and bottle it for gifting.  Various home made vinegars will be available for sampling.  As an added bonus find out how to make my in-demand Maple Vinegar!  Participants will take home their own “vinegar mothers”.  Please wear comfortable closed toe shoes.  An apron is suggested but optional.  Class size is limited so please register early.

Location: Farm Bureau, 335 E. Oxford St., Floyd, VA  24091

Date: Wednesday, May 15, 2013

Time: 6:30pm-8:30pm

Fee: $20 in advance, $25 at the door, space providing.

To register contact: Rebecca Shannon at 540-745-8514

Payment may be mailed to or dropped off at 153 Gracie Lane NW, Floyd, VA, 24091

Please remember, the only reservation is a paid reservation.

Preserving Floyd: Home Food Preservation Safety Class

In case you missed it the first time around, the Home Food Preservation Safety Class (which is a prerequisite for all Master Food Volunteer/VA Cooperative Extension canning classes in Floyd and Montgomery Counties) is being held again.  This will set you up for all future canning and food preservation classes.

The class is free, runs about an hour and a half, and is painless.  Details are below.

May 18: Home Food Preservation Safety - This is a prerequisite course for all MFV home food preservation classes.  Topics to be covered are: Common food-borne pathogens; Basic sanitation and safeguards against bacterial and cross-contamination; Proper temperatures for food preservation and the role altitude plays. A receipt will be handed out to those in attendance at the close of the class and must be presented upon future registration for home food preservation classes.
Location: Montgomery Co.: St. Michael's Lutheran Church, 2803 Merrimac Road, Blacksburg, VA
Time: 10am - 12 pm
Fee: Free

Husbanding Floyd: New Girls in Town

Anita was moving to her new home around the same time that our flock got decimated.  Since our girls were gone and she couldn't take hers with her a few of her hens (she had around 60!) moved to our coop!

Anita's hens are truly free range.  They've been out foraging and flying all their lives although they do know what a coop is for and come back to it at night.  "Born Free" is they're theme song.  Other descriptives might be "wild" or "feral".

Preserving Floyd: New Classes Added to the Schedule!

Eating Floyd is now sponsoring preservation and culinary classes in addition to those offered by the Master Food Volunteers program.  There have been requests for classes that fall outside of the MFV program and after brainstorming with some folks I've decided to jump in feet first and begin a curriculum for the Home Food Preservation and Culinary Arts Center.  This first year I (and others) will be teaching out of local Floyd venues but the plan is to (hopefully) be housed in a place of our own by the fall of 2014.  At which time it will officially become the Home Food Preservation and Culinary Arts Center @ ShannonCroft (our little piece of Floyd heaven)!

See the list of added classes after the jump.  For the full schedule click on the Preservation Classes tab at the top of the page.

Serving Floyd: New Master Food Volunteer Training Class

Love to cook?  Want to learn about nutrition and wellness?  Looking for a way to make a difference in your community?  Becoming a Master Food Volunteer for Floyd and Montgomery Counties may be for you!

Trained MFVs work with adults and kids on such topics as nutritional awareness, label reading, food safety, basic principals of cooking and canning and lots more.  Venues include farmers markets, school classrooms, community organization and club meetings, churches, health fairs, as well as classes directly sponsored by your local Cooperative Extension office.

Training for a new class of Master Food Volunteers begins on May 11th and continues with three more classes on the 15th, 23rd, and 25th from 9am - 4:45pm for a total of 30 hours of education.  Class fee is $45.  Application deadline is May 2, 2013.  Class size is limited so sign up early!

For more information or to sign up contact:
Dawn Barnes, Sr. Extension Agent
Family & Consumer Sciences
lbarnes@vt.edu
540-745-9307

Preserving Floyd: Class Reminder

Home Food Preservation Safety Class This Saturday

April 27: Home Food Preservation Safety - This is a prerequisite course for all home food preservation classes.  Topics to be covered are: Common food-borne pathogens; Basic sanitation and safeguards against bacterial and cross-contamination; Proper temperatures for food preservation and the role altitude plays. A receipt will be handed out to those in attendance at the close of the class and must be presented upon future registration for home food preservation classes.
Location: Jessie Peterman Library, 321 W. Main St., Floyd, Va
Time: 10am - 12 pm
Fee: Free

This class is designed for amateur home cooks, canners, and food preservationists.  It is not a commercial food safety course, Serve-Safe certification, acidified foods certification, or any other professional level food safety course or continuing education. It is solely intended to educate home cooks, canners, and preservationists in the basics of home food safety.