Friday, August 15, 2008

Free School is cool!


Yesterday, I took a course offered at the Burien Community Center called Food Preservation methods- it basically covered canning methods, but also got into freezing and dehydrating. It was most interesting. It was offered from the extension service of WSU, and facilitated through The Seattle Free School.The Seattle Free School is just that. It is for the community by the community. All are welcome. No money ever exchanges hands- the only exchange is skills, knowledge and experiences.
They have an interesting list of classes:


Knitting and Crochet with Plastic-take your plastic bags-grocery bags, bread bags, newspaper bags and turn them into a usable durable fiber. Students should have a basic understanding of knitting and/or crochet or a willingness to experiment. In addition students will get an overview of tote-bag, hat, and/or rug creation and pattern design.


Cheese Making- Mascarpone... eventually we'll have classes that teach other types of cheese but until we find a kitchen come learn to makethis wonderful cheese that is inexpensive to make an makes for the best tiramisu ever!


Soap Making- All bars of soap made in this class will be donated to local shelters at Christmas.


Sew Your Own Grocery Bag- Students will recycle and remake fabric remnants and clothing cast-offs into unique and durable shopping bags.Just in time for the plastic bag ban to be enacted!


I encourage anyone who lives in the Seattle Area to look into the Seattle Free School. I don’t know that it will be life changing, but I feel pretty confident in saying it will be life ENHANCING!

2 comments:

Tara said...

How great! My husband and I have been talking lately about starting something like this in our area. I think I will write to them and ask how they got it going, how they find locations (for free), etc. Very inspiring!

Anonymous said...

What an amazingly cool program. I'm going to tell my best friend, who lives on Whidby Island. Washington State rocks!