As the days become shorter and the sun cooler, we wave goodbye to summer and prepare for winter. But you can still get a “taste” of your summer that you can pop open in the middle of the winter as Windham Raymond Adult Education (WRAE) will be holding a “Preserve the Harvest” canning class from 5:30 to 8 p.m. Thursday, Oct. 5.
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| Windham Raymond Adult Education is offering a 'Preserve the Harvest' canning class from 5:30 to 8 p.m.Thursday, Oct. 5 at Windham High School and will be led by Kate McCarty, a representative from the UMaine Cooperative Extension. COURTESY PHOTO |
Susan Garvin Colley is WRAE’s Enrichment Program and Marketing Coordinator and is tasked with creating high-value programming opportunities for adults in our local community. This includes seeking out instructors and class ideas and strategizing how to market those classes. The other significant portion of her job involves creating seasonal catalogs to promote these opportunities. She has been at Windham Raymond Adult Education for one year but has been doing this kind of work in other communities for 25-plus years.
“The class will focus on the basics of canning and freezing, including preserving foods,” says Colley. “Highlights will include the latest and safest recipes, equipment to ensure safety, and instruction on how to check for proper seals. Participants are welcome to bring their own pressure canner dial gauge to class for a free accuracy test.”
McCarty is a Food Systems Professional with University of Maine Cooperative Extension and will be leading this class. She teaches home food preservation to the public and manages the Master Food Preservers, a group of 60 volunteers who are trained to deliver home food preservation education in their community. More information on the Master Food Preserver training can be found here: https://extension.umaine.edu/food-health/food-preservation/master-food-preservers/
“I took the UMaine Extension Master Food Preserver training in 2009 and have been teaching community classes with UMaine Extension ever since,” says McCarty. “I also can at home. I like to make strawberry jam, dilly beans, (pickled green beans), and canned tomatoes. I also just made a delicious salted-caramel pear butter.”
She said that her goal for this class is to make sure anyone interested in home food preservation has the latest and greatest information in food safety, canning equipment, and research-based recipes and techniques.
“There are very real health risks if food is improperly canned, and so we want to make sure that anyone interested in preserving their own food at home knows how to do it safely and with confidence so they can enjoy what they make,” says McCarty.
For those who cannot make the Windham Raymond Adult Education canning class, there are many more offered around the state, so McCarty suggests that they schedule their hands-on workshop at https://extension.umaine.edu/food-health/food-preservation/hands-on-workshops/.
Anyone interested in attending this class in Windham should register online with the WRAE registration portal. The direct link for this class is: https://windham.maineadulted.org/course/preserving-the-harvest/
“Calling our office at 207-892-1819 during daytime hours from 8 a.m. to 4 p.m. is also an option, as is just stopping by to register in person by Friday, Sept. 29,” says Colley. “We are located in the white building behind Windham High School. We hope folks will enjoy this class, and welcome any and all to share ideas for classes and instructors.”
Ideas, suggestions, proposals, and requests for future WRAE classes should be directed to Colley by email at scolley@rsu14.org <
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