Easy meat Curing on the Homestead | Pre-Conference Workshop

Description

• Please read the full course description below before purchasing your tickets. 
• ALL WORKSHOPS ARE NON-REFUNDABLE, so please make sure you can ATTEND! Workshops are RAIN OR SHINE!
• Send any questions to [email protected] 
• Please note that by purchasing tickets you are waiving all liability rights. Homesteaders of America LLC and Homesteaders of America Virginia LLC are not responsible for any liabilities or injuries that may occur during these workshops, on or off-site.

Easy Meat Curing on the homestead

with Andy Lane and Doug Wharton of Hand Hewn Farm

Join Andy and Doug from Hand Hewn Farm for this introduction to curing meat on the homestead. Before refrigeration, generations of people found ways to preserve valuable protein from animals with very simple methods of salting, drying, and smoking. This class will cover how to utilize these methods to easily preserve meat, enhance flavors, and improve how you prepare food in your home kitchen.

The workshop will cover:

• What meats are best for curing and why.
• The science behind meat curing.
• Curing salts, do you need to use them?
• Why some cured meats are aged for extended periods?
• Why cured meats are often smoked and simple ways to smoke them.
• The tools needed to cure meat at home.
• How to cure your own small slab of bacon.
• Introduction to fermented meats.

Students will receive:

• Printed handout that covers the class content (no need to worry about note-taking)
• A small slab of pork belly that we will turn into bacon during the class.

Students Should bring:

• A small cooler with ice to keep the cured meat cold until you can get it to a fridge. (Old-timers would wait to make bacon till the weather turned, we may not have that at the beginning of Oct.)

Max Students per class: 25

Location: Warren County Fairgrounds

Date: Thursday, October 9, 2025

Time: 9 AM-2 PM

Price – $165/person