Grill: Open Tue-Sun 11am-8:30pm (Closed Mon), Market: Open Daily 9am-7pm
Teaching essential skills for living a seasonal, self-reliant life.
Our adult classes are designed for those who want a deeper connection to their food, their land, and the traditional skills that foster independence and resilience. Whether you're taking your first steps toward homesteading or looking to expand your existing knowledge, these hands-on classes will give you the resources to feel confident in any and all of these skills.
Topics will include:
We use high-quality, nourishing ingredients sourced from our own gardens, local farmers, and regenerative producers globally. These classes are not only about learning techniques, but also about understanding where our food comes from and how to use it well.
Classes:
Courses:
Switch up your weeknight with hands-on cooking, open-fire techniques, seasonal ingredients, and a fun evening of learning at James Ranch.
Cooking classes will be held two evenings per week, on Monday and Thursday evenings.
Classes are limited to four stations, as individuals or couples, so we can give you the best experience.
Each evening will feature three to four dishes, cooked from scratch over open-fire, featuring seasonal produce, wild edibles, learning some food science, and experiencing cultural cuisines from around the world.
You will learn practical recipes and techniques to take home, while enjoying a relaxed and memorable evening on the ranch.
Facilitators:
Gunther, Archana
Come ready for hands-on learning.
This course is designed for those who wish to learn how to keep small farm animals and harvest them for family consumption, as well as those who simply want to learn a new skill, understand where their meat comes from, and stock their freezer with delicious pasture-raised pork!
You will gain practical home-butchery skills and take home the meat from your course.
Our course is fully customizable. Before class, we will discuss preferred cuts and goals for the course. For the sausage-making add-on, you may choose two types of sausages you would like to prepare during class.
The Butchery Course takes place over two or three Saturdays, depending on whether you choose the optional add-on course.
Class is limited to two families.
Register For Butchery Course
Butchery Basics - $1,500
Includes a half pig.
Week 1: Humane slaughter, skinning, and hanging
Week 2: Cutting & wrapping
You can take your meat home at this point!
Or brine and prepare your cuts for...
Week 3: Sausage making and smoked meats
The course includes a half pig, you will take all the meat home! If you attend our optional 3rd week, we will prepare and store your meat on week 2.
You may attend as an individual or couple. You may bring your child to participate for an additional $150 per child, with a maximum of four people per family.
Private Lesson - Full Pig
Butchery Basics - $2,500
Sausage Making and Smoked Meats - $750
For families who would like to take home a full pig, you may attend our private course with up to four family members with no additional charge and a discounted rate for the Sausage making and smoking class.
Register For Butchery Course
Gunther is a homegrown, third-generation James Ranch family member who grew up hunting, foraging, gardening, preserving food, and working with animals in this region. He has been teaching homesteading skills to youth for over five years and has dedicated efforts to refining and perfecting these skills. He is excited to share that knowledge with adult students in a hands-on setting.
Archana grew up around the world and was exposed to a wide variety of cuisines from a young age, including Indian, Middle Eastern, Australian, and many Asian culinary traditions. She spent eight years in Hong Kong, where she learned a range of Asian cooking styles, including Chinese regional cuisines, Japanese, Korean, Vietnamese, Singaporean, and more.
During that time, she also ran a private kitchen dining experience, sharing food and stories from Kerala, her family's home region in India. Archana brings a global perspective to seasonal cooking, with an emphasis on flavor, technique, and the stories behind food.
