First SkillCycle Day

Our first SkillCycle Day went off without a hitch Saturday! Nine of us met at Kate's house to share our skills and learn new ones. Kate welcomed us wih tea and pumpkin cake and then we got to work.


We started with my easy no-knead bread (recipe to follow) which I made with very basic ingredients.


Hannah gave us a demo on her technique for cheat's 'ricotta' and yoghurt.



We took a break for lunch digging into some of our delicious fresh bread and cheese. Next up was a jam making with Mel. She spoke about the importance of sterilising your jars and equipment and the benefits of boiling water baths for making safe preserves.


Mel will post her recipe for the tasty mandarin marmalade soon. Kate's turn was next and she ran us through some basic sewing skills, talked about the differences between regular sewing machines and overlockers and then knocked up a quick produce bag. Kate will hopefully post about this at a later date.

Overall I think they day went very well. Everyone went home with something made on the day, leaving with either some marmalade or some bread and hopefully a head full of ideas and inspiration.

Preparing for the day...

Kate, Hannah and I (Lucy) sat down for a meeting over afternoon tea (where we debuted the balsamic onions made last week and ate the rest of a jar of the pickles) yesterday to make sure we had everything sorted for Saturday's SkillCycle day. We want to ensure the day runs smoothly so lists were made and plans were hatched. We have decided that it will go something like this: first a demo on how to make my lazy girl bread, then yoghurt and ricotta making with Hannah. Hopefully we'll then have some yummy fresh bread and homemade ricotta for lunch. Then back to work with jam making and water bath preserving by Mel, followed by basic sewing skills and how to make your own produce bags by Kate. It will be a full day with lots on hands-on activity and hopefully everyone will leave with something made on the day!

We'll take plenty of photos and post an update after the weekend.