Slow Food USA Responds to Quarantines with the Digital Skillshare Series

In the midst of a global pandemic that is having a very real but uncertain impact on people all over the world, Slow Food USA has launched a free, digital skillshare series Slow Food Live. Anyone, anywhere with a digital device is invited to tune in to the sessions led by experts on skills and topics that range from beekeeping to making pizza, mental health to growing cool-weather plants. The goal of the series is to offer the global community a way to engage in Slow Food at home and learn new skills, at a time when we are unexpectedly finding ourselves at home and the tenets of Slow Food values have become as relevant as ever.

Slow Food Live divides its webinars into different categories: Food & Cooking, Gardening & Animals, and Health & Wellness. Here are some of the most popular skill-sharing sessions.

Food & Cooking

• Making Pizza

A simple recipe to make at home, demonstrated by Chef Facchini and his daughter

• Making a Sourdough Starter

Ever wanted to keep a sourdough starter for baking delicious bread? Slow Food USA goes over the basics of “capturing” your own wild culture, and how to feed and care for it. They also cover basic use in recipes and long term storage options.

Gardening & Animals

• Beekeeping Basics

Beekeeping Basics and other fun Bee and Honey information to satisfy your curiosity and give you a place to start if you are interested in becoming a beekeeper, or just love Bees! Beekeeper Jennifer gives us a very close look at a healthy swarm doing their good work in her backyard hives and answers questions for first-time beekeepers.

• Starting Seeds

Slow Food USA School Garden Leaders Neha Shah (Michigan), Cynthia Buckingham-Walters (Ohio) and Kim Aman (Texas) share their garden wisdom. This session covers starting seeds three ways: (1) in flats, indoors, (2) low tunnels and (3) direct seeding into your garden bed, with tips on how to prep that bed!

Health & Wellness

• Plant Magic Spa Day

Turn chamomile tea bags into calming eye packs and thyme into a soothing lung and facial steam. Together we can practice routines that help us rest and rejuvenate with the help of tea and spices found in our kitchens.

• Intuitive Eating

Alkemia Earth teaches intuitive and plant-based eating and, in this session, walks us through some a few ways to get in tune with our bodies and improve digestion and health.

Check out the Slow Food Live schedule, here