Hands-On Food Literacy Rooted in Tradition

Here’s what our workshops focus on:

• Ancestral preservation methods like salting meats, jellying fruits, and root cellaring for beginners

• How to make butter and cheese at home, without needing a churn or a cow

• Cultural food traditions passed down through intergenerational culinary workshops

• Tree care for the long haul: pruning for yield, grafting and propagation, and apple maggot control

• Creative, practical sessions on vacuum sealing, freeze-drying, and zero-waste preservation

• Crowd-favourites like chocolate making with dehydrated local berries—haskaps, cranberries, sea buckthorns, and more

Community-Built, Knowledge-Rich

Each class is more than a lesson—it’s a hands-on community initiative. We blend local history with modern frugality to help Edmontonians:

• Rescue surplus produce from yards, farms, and gardens

• Preserve seasonal abundance without waste

• Learn self-sufficiency skills that are affordable, approachable, and built to last

• Pass down techniques that stretch food budgets and reconnect families with food’s full journey

Whether you’re prepping for winter or just want to stop crying over wasted tomatoes, there’s a food skill here with your name on it.

Honouring Old Skills with Fresh Purpose

When we teach someone to braid garlic, we’re not just preserving food—we’re preserving stories.

Each OFRE workshop is a chance to carry forward traditional food preservation methods while adapting them for today’s kitchens, climates, and communities.

These aren’t museum pieces—they’re active, evolving tools for resilient, zero-waste living in Edmonton. It matters not if you’re a first-time fermenter or a seasoned canning wizard, there’s always something new (or very old) to learn.

Ready to Learn, Share, and Stir Something Up?

We offer workshops all season long.

Sign up for one, or volunteer to support hands-on food education in Edmonton.