Canning chicken, making cheese, soap, salves, sauerkraut and bows, and eating our hearts out

This year's homesteading and wilderness weekend retreat at our place was awesome. I know I say this every year, but every year there's such a different array of people. This time, we had two couples who celebrated their wedding anniversaries (we're talking decades of being married here!).

We also had a family of three fly in all the way from Texas, with their teenage daughter who's one of the brightest, most delightful kids I've ever met.

Here are all the "girls" after a weekend of working together in the kitchen and garden.

I can't tell you how rewarding it is to teach a group of really motivated people the stuff we know. They all soaked it up and jumped in with both feet (and hands).

Although our curriculum is pre-determined, there's a lot of wriggle room depending on what people want to learn. One participant wanted to know how to pressure can, so I taught them how to cut up and can several whole chickens (our own that we raised and slaughtered a couple of weeks ago). 

We canned several quarts of chicken meat, and since this is my newest obsession (canning meat, that is), I will write a tutorial about it soon so you you can do it, too. Talk about quick and easy meals!!!

Also not planned was teaching people how to peel chicken feet and use them for stock. They had fun, and the photo opts were priceless.

A big part of this weekend revolves around food. Making it, eating it, talking about it...

I taught them how to make Gouda cheese, which involves sampling all the different cheese I make, of course.

I'm telling you, nobody goes hungry at our house!

There are so many surprising elements that crop up during the weekend - things I take for granted, but mean so much to others.

Seeing the Dad and his daughter picking tomatoes and cucumbers from the garden for our dinner (Greek salad, baby!)....

Witnessing people's excitement about digging potatoes from the warm soil and acting like they found treasure...

Hearing shrieks of excitement when participants collected calendula and other flower seeds from our garden to take home with them...

I hate to admit it, but this time around, tasks were split pretty much down the gender line: women in the kitchen and garden, and guys out in the wood shop or forest.  

I have many guys take my food classes, and many women take Steve's wilderness courses, but this time, it just worked out to be more split along gender lines.

Since my dear husband sucks at remembering to take pictures, we don't have many photos of the guys making fire and shelter in the woods... but I did manage to snap some pictures of the bow making and archery segment.

Here's another lovely surprise: to see my kids stepping up with spontaneous teaching, like when our 13-year-old Luke explained at dinner (in graphic detail) how to slaughter and eviscerate chickens.

He had everyone's attention.

I LOOOOOVE feeding everyone. We do make massive amounts of fresh food for our retreats. Gotta keep the learners happy, you know. On that note, we also let people try our different kinds of home-made wines...

Okay, let's wrap this up and tell you other stuff we did. 

We made sauerkraut with cabbage people picked from the garden.

Unfortunately, I don't have any pictures of our soap making and calendula salve brewing, but man, did we get a lot of those made!

People also learned basic goat raising skills, with my caprine friends living up to their reputation of eating everything in sight, namely note pads and coat zippers. Sorry for the badly lit photo in the barn.

Also: a spinning yearn lesson!

There you have it. Fun, fun, fun.

I think some lasting friendships have been forged on this weekend, some seeds have been sown in various brains and hearts, and lots of laughter was shared.

We love doing these retreats, and our participants love them as well!

If you want to get on the wait list for next year's retreat, sign up by clicking ---> HERE <---

Here's what one of this year's participants said:

"We, my husband and I, recently attended the 2018 Marblemount Homestead Retreat hosted by Steve & Corina Sahlin.  

What a pleasure it was to meet them and their children. It was also a novel way for us to celebrate our anniversary! 

We enjoyed ourselves immensely and they were impeccable hosts. 

The classes were fun, full of information and hands on instruction. What a blast!

The food, absolutely DELICIOUS!  Homemade, garden fresh food and the conversations shared throughout the weekend were so enjoyable. Making memories and forging new friendships ... priceless. 

All this in some of the most beautiful surroundings you’ll ever experience.  Should you decide to attend a Marblemount Homestead Retreat in the future I’m sure  you will not be disappointed.”

Harvey & Rhonda WelkerWashington State

If you want to get on the wait list for next year's retreat, sign up by clicking ---> HERE <---

Water and shade, and tons and tons of food from the garden

By the time you read this, I'll be teaching people how to make Gouda cheese. Or if you read this in the afternoon, I'll show how to make goat milk soaps and lotions. Eight people are signed up for our homesteading and wilderness retreat, and today, we spent all day cleaning, pre-cooking and getting ready. We're excited to welcome these eager people to our homestead.

I thought I'd write this blog post in between cleaning, because I have to take a break sometime, right?

Before I show you all the fruits of our labor in the garden, let me take you to Larrabee State Park close to Bellingham, where we camped, hiked, kayaked and mountain biked last week. It's beautiful there, but I wouldn't recommend spending the night since trains blow their whistles by there all night long. I didn't get much sleep.

Aside from going to Puget Sound, we also sought out water in other places.  It has been soooooo hot, and for a while, there was lots of haze from the wild fires.  The smoke has lifted, thank goodness.   

Below is a picture of Baker Lake, where we found a rope swing, which promptly hurt Kai's friend when she got some pretty serious rope burn.  Also, we've been floating on the Skagit River, which is much colder than Baker Lake or the Puget Sound.

And of course, we are seeking shade below the beautiful, huge cedars that thrive in our climate.

So now after showing you all our play pictures, let me show you work pictures.  There's lots of that going on at our homestead, of course, and all of it centers around food production and preservation.

First, the garden: It's thriving and cranking out lots of food.

We harvested our red onions, and if you want to watch my tutorials on how to harvest and cure them, you can go to my youtube channel and learn for free.

Eva likes harvesting zucchini.  She makes them into dolls.  Seriously.  She draws faces and clothes on them, and she gives them names.  I have to take a picture of this one of these days...

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I'm harvesting herbs as well, to use in making medicine and teas, soaps and salves.

Also: fig jam.  I'll make a tutorial on how I make jam with the many figs our tree is cranking out soon.  Nothing gets wasted around here: if fruit turns overripe, the chickens get to eat it.

I'm going nuts with the cookbook I told you about in another post.  Below are millet maple syrup muffins I made from its recipe.  They are to die for, and really healthy, so technically, they won't make you die but live longer, I guess.

Lastly, I'm making lots of sauerkraut, beet kvass and yogurt.  I teach how to do all this in my online fermentation course.  You should totally check it out, because this is the season to learn how to ferment food and drink.  It's all so, so good for you, and much easier than you might think...

I'll leave you with two special images: One if of impending winter, so firewood has to be chopped and stored.

The other is of the newly born baby ducks our duck hatched.  They deserve a separate blog post, but for now, you'll get one picture.

Okay, I'm off to clean some more.  And then I'll make lasagne and quiche for our retreat.  Bye!

Our very exciting announcement

As you probably know, we live in one of the most beautiful places in the world.

And I'm not just saying that.  It's true.  

When we started offering homesteading and wilderness summer-campy kind of events for kids, many adults asked if we ever offer retreats for adults.

We have taught many adult classes at our homestead before, but never done it in a retreat-style, where people spend the night and get fed meals.

But now, we do!!!

We will offer one weekend retreat this year, October 15 and 16, at our beautiful homestead in the Upper Skagit Valley at the edge of the North Cascades wilderness.

This will be a time to...

• slow down

• connect with nature

• unwind in gorgeous scenery

• learn homesteading skills

• learn wilderness survival skills 

• eat healthy, farm-grown food

• connect with like-minded, earth-conscious people

• ask us questions about homesteading and wilderness skills

We are offering our homesteading and wilderness skills weekend camp to teach you new skills and empower and inspire you to live a more self-reliant, wholesome, simpler and healthier life.

To some extend, this retreat will be flexible and can be customized to what people most want to learn.

On the agenda this time around: 

Saturday, October 15:

10 am: Tour of our homestead, Orientation of sleeping quarters and accommodations

11 am - 2 pm: Choose between Gouda Cheese Making or Primitive Wilderness Skills (shelter, fire, cordage)

2 pm - 5 pm: Choose between Soap Making or Tracking and Wild Edibles in the Forest

6 pm: Home-cooked dinner

7 - 9: Campfire gathering, at the homestead or one of our wild creeks



Sunday, October 16:

8:30 am: Milking goats

9 am: Farm-fresh breakfast

10 am - 3 pm: Choose between Goat Raising Course or other topic of choice or Bow Making Course

3 pm - 5 pm: Choose between Canning or Sauerkraut Making or Archery

Students have several options for accommodations at our homestead:

Tipi

Studio

Fort

RV

Camping

... and in hotels, motels, air B and B and campgrounds very close by.

Click here for a list.

We are located at the edge of the North Cascades Mountain wilderness in the Upper Skagit Valley, Washington State, where the scenery is mind-blowingly beautiful!

We are 2 hours Northeast of Seattle, 1 1/2 hours Southeast of Bellingham, and easily accessible by scenic Highway 20.

You could fly into Seatac Airport and be at our homestead in two and a half hours, spend the weekend with us, and then extend your vacation hiking, sightseeing, or exploring!

For more info or to sign up, please fill out this form, and we'll be in touch!

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