Back to your roots

Self-reliance has been the Wyoming way since its beginnings. After all, this state’s original settlers wouldn’t have lasted long without the know-how to create, mend and maintain.

UW Extension Educator Sara Fleenor will be introducing a series of classes this spring to revive many of those traditional skills and bring them to new generations and arrivals – starting on May 8 with container gardens.

Once a month for the foreseeable future, anyone who’d like to expand their homesteading repertoire is invited to join in. From sewing and beekeeping to jelly making and canning, the classes will introduce the basics of self-sufficiency through hands-on learning.

“There are so many of our traditional ways of life that have not been continued through the generations. It just got easier to run to the store and pick up stuff than it did to know how to do things on your own,” says Fleenor.

“With prices going up and the back-to-basics way of life that a lot of people want to establish, some of these classes just make sense – especially when things are actually not that hard once you learn how to do them. It isn’t as daunting as you think it’s going to be when you haven’t tried it.”

For many natives of Crook County, these skills remain a way of life, and that’s an opportunity Fleenor would like to open to anyone and everyone.

“How many of our people still harvest their own meat, whether it’s wild game or beef or the pigs they have just for bacon? A lot of our families are still doing those things, they’re going out and picking chokecherries to make jelly, but not everybody knows how to do that,” she says.

“If we’re not teaching the classes, then it’s just going to be a dying art and I just think that would be a shame.”

The first class is scheduled for May 8 and will be on the topic of container gardens. Learn to grow vegetables, fruits and flowers in limited spaces.

“We want people to bring a container – preferably a small, manageable one because you’re going to leave with it,” she says.

“Our Master Gardener coordinator for UW Extension is going to be teaching the class.”

Topics to be covered include the planting itself; which plants to best combine to get the most bang for your buck; and how to ensure good growth dependent on your specific containers and the conditions you’ll be placing them in.

Everyone will go home with a planted container – or, if you are unable to bring a pot or would prefer to just listen, the seeds to use at home.

The class will run from 4 to 6 p.m. in the basement of the courthouse. Fleenor asks that you rsvp to [email protected] or [email protected] to ensure that enough potting and starting soil is available for all participants.

Additional topics that Fleenor plans to cover in future homesteading classes include growing fruit trees, simple sewing, egg hatching, produce canning, pickling, making bread and butter, mozzarella cheese making, beekeeping, soap making, wild game processing, making bone broth, composting, chicken processing and jelly making.

If you have requests or ideas for additional topics that you would like to see added to the list, Fleenor would welcome your input.

Some classes will require a $10 charge to cover the supplies needed. Participant numbers will sometimes be limited due to the amount of equipment available but, says Fleenor, if there’s enough interest, additional class times may be scheduled.

Classes will take place on the second Wednesday of the month and all age groups are welcome.

Follow the Crook County Extension Facebook page for upcoming class details.