Thursday, July 8, 2021
2:00 PM - 6:00 PM

Tuition: $40

July's Cheese of the Month is Asiago! 

Join Master Cheesemaker Gary Colles and the Ely Folk School as we make a new cheese from scratch each month. 

Fresh asiago is a fantastic cheese to have in your fridge. Asiago can be used to enhance almost any sandwich or pasta. 

Join us in the rewarding practice of making cheese from scratch under excellent tutelage with fine company. You will certainly learn something new and although you will not leave the Zoom class with a final product, the end results will wow you! 

You will receive the recipe and the supplies list in early July. Please be sure to fully read the ingredients list and reach out with questions on where to find any lesser-known ingredients. After class, your cheese will require additional care prior to consumption. 

About the Instructor: Gary Colles has been making artisan cheese for nineteen years. Beginning with teaching in Michigan where he and his wife live, he has added North Carolina, Alabama, Iowa, Florida and Minnesota. He has worked and trained with Glengarry Cheese Company in Canada, New England Cheese Making Company, and Farmstead Cheese Making. He is always reading more on cheese making, and his reference library now has fifty books on cheese.  

Please register for each person attending in your household to support both the instructors and the Ely Folk School. Thank you!

Thursday, July 22, 2021
6:00 PM - 8:00 PM

Tuition: $20 per household

These butter-crust hand pies can be made in bulk and frozen either before they've been baked or after. Prep ahead to have at the ready to bring as a shareable treat when you're called to an impromptu summer bonfire with friends. Join us in community via Zoom no matter how ripe the blueberries are in your hometown. 

The ingredient and supplies list will be sent to registrants two weeks prior to class. 

About the Instructor: Lacey Squier loves cooking food of all kinds. She is an amateur cook who spends much of her free time learning how to recreate dishes from her favorite restaurant and travel experiences. It is liberating to realize you can have anything you want for dinner ... as long as you're willing to make it yourself!

When not experimenting with food at home (and making a huge mess of her kitchen), Lacey likes to take walks or go on a hike with her spouse, Eric, and their dog Wendell. Lacey works at Ely Family Dental and serves as Chair of the Ely Folk School Board.  

Saturday, July 24, 2021
9:00 AM - 12:00 PM 

Tuition: $24  Materials: $10

These butter crust hand pies can be made in bulk and frozen either before they've been baked or after. Prep ahead to have at the ready to bring as a shareable treat when you're called to an impromptu summer bonfire with friends.

Participants will leave class with eight uncooked, ready to freeze hand pies! All ingredients and supplies are provided. 

This class will be held in person with limited seats available. 

About the Instructor: Lacey Squier loves cooking food of all kinds. She is an amateur cook who spends much of her free time learning how to recreate dishes from her favorite restaurant and travel experiences. It is liberating to realize you can have anything you want for dinner ... as long as you're willing to make it yourself!

When not experimenting with food at home (and making a huge mess of her kitchen), Lacey likes to take walks or go on a hike with her spouse, Eric, and their dog Wendell. Lacey works at Ely Family Dental and serves as Chair of the Ely Folk School Board.  

Wednesday, August 11, 2021
5:30 PM - 8:30 PM

Tuition: $35  Materials: $30

The materials fee covers ingredients you will use to learn best practices and take home to craft a master meal!

Calling all at-home cooks! Learn how to maximize your home kitchen possibilities with this entry-level fundamentals and tricks-of-the-trade cooking class. Students will get hands-on experience practicing simple, professional kitchen skills in order to elevate their home-cooked meals.

Topics learned will include knife skills, temperature control, timing, mise en place, proper use of fats and acids, working with a variety of herbs, spices, and seasonings, and how using seasonal ingredients contributes to your best meals! 

Class participants will use these skills to prep for an outstanding dish they will prepare in their home kitchen. Everything learned can be carried forward into all your everyday cooking. 

Students should bring: a sharpened kitchen knife you are comfortable working with; kitchen towel; apron; food-safe containers to bring your prepped ingredients home; questions! Please note that this class will involve handling meat products; however, many of the skills learned are applicable to vegan and vegetarian cooking, as well. 

About the Instructor: Hudson Ledeen left a celebrated career of twelve years in the culinary world, where he excelled in creating menus and recipes using locally sourced products, as well as teaching and mentoring fellow cooks and chefs new to the field. Passionate about conservation, public lands and natural resources, he went back to school and earned his Applied Science Degree in Natural-Resources Technology. Hudson has a vast background when it comes to outdoor experiences. He’s removed beaver dams, trapped and relocated bears, tagged migrating birds, worked as a fishing guide, canoe outfitter, fishery technician in Alaska, and is an avid hunter and angler. 

He is now working as the Community Coordinator for the Friends of the Boundary Waters Wilderness based out of Ely. At the heart of the Friends of the Boundary Waters Wilderness mission is the belief that the economic health and prosperity of the BWCA gateway communities are deeply connected with the future of clean water and the wilderness. Building partnerships and growing relationships throughout these communities is the focus of Hudson’s work.

Today, Hudson uses his culinary skills to prepare creative and inventive meals for friends, family and community.

Thursday, August 12, 2021
2:00 PM - 5:00 PM

Tuition: $40

August's Cheese of the Month is Monterey Jack! 

Join Master Cheesemaker Gary Colles and the Ely Folk School as we make a new cheese from scratch each month. 

Monterey Jack is truly a classic cheese. The finest for melty or creamy dishes, jack is a staple for many cult-favorite American dishes. According to the California Milk Advisory Board, monterey jack is the most popular cheese originating from the United States! 

Join us in the rewarding practice of making cheese from scratch under excellent tutelage with fine company. You will certainly learn something new and although you will not leave the Zoom class with a final product, the end results will wow you! 

You will receive the recipe and the supplies list two - three weeks prior to class. Please be sure to fully read the ingredients list and reach out with questions on where to find any lesser-known ingredients. After class, your cheese will require additional care prior to consumption. 

About the Instructor: Gary Colles has been making artisan cheese for nineteen years. Beginning with teaching in Michigan where he and his wife live, he has added North Carolina, Alabama, Iowa, Florida and Minnesota. He has worked and trained with Glengarry Cheese Company in Canada, New England Cheese Making Company, and Farmstead Cheese Making. He is always reading more on cheese making, and his reference library now has fifty books on cheese.  

Please register for each person attending in your household to support both the instructors and the Ely Folk School. Thank you!

Saturday, August 14, 2021
9:00 AM - 1:00 PM 

Tuition: $54

In this course, you will learn the basic skills needed to safely identify and collect wild mushrooms. 

An initial hour-long classroom discussion will include a Mycology overview, identification, ethics, safety, storage, and preparation. We will cover top edible mushroom species to know and learn top poisonous species to avoid. In addition, we will discuss the best tools and techniques for efficient and environmentally-conscious mushroom hunting – including weather watching, trip planning, land surveys and mapping, mushroom hunting outfits, reference materials, new mushroom ID documentation, and mushroom preservation. We will have a Q&A session following the presentation. 

Weather permitting, we will reconvene in the State forest for two hours of mushroom hunting where we will apply newly learned knowledge. 

After you participate, you will receive a copy of the class presentation for your reference.

Who This Course is For:

This course is ideal for anyone interested in learning and improving skills of efficient and safe mushroom hunting, whether in a wilderness, rural, or urban setting. This course will be great for:

• Beginning mushroom foragers seeking an introduction to mushroom hunting
• Experienced mushroom hunters wishing to add new skills and insights to their existing foraging practices
• Outdoor enthusiasts desiring better familiarity with the wild mushrooms they encounter in the field
• Parents who wish to teach children the safest ways of interacting with wild mushrooms
• Any mushroom-curious folks who want to identify the mushrooms they encounter!

Mushrooms are out there! Let’s go and get them!

About the Instructor: Olena Johnson is a certified wild mushroom harvester living in Chanhassen and Sturgeon Lake, Minnesota. She says the following of her foraging story: 

“I grew up in Ukraine and have been mushroom hunting for as long as I can remember. Back in Ukraine, every fall my family frequented forests near the Belarussian border to hunt for mushrooms. 

This annual tradition ceased after a Chernobyl nuclear accident when approximately 2,000,000 acres of forests were contaminated by radiation fallout and gathering of wild berries and mushroom foraging were prohibited. 

I rediscovered my mushroom hobby 15 years ago while hiking in Banning State park. Big clusters of Honey mushroom (Armillaria Sp.) brought back childhood memories and I was back in familiar territory. 

The rest is history; I was hooked on mushroom hunting again. Every summer and fall, I have been trekking to woods up north in search of the elusive ‘forest gold’. I knew my mushrooms but wanted to confirm North American species and learn English common names. I bought heaps of mushroom guides, read a multitude of internet posts, and watched an insane amount of YouTube videos. I took mushroom classes and got certified. Lo and behold, I started noticing mushrooms everywhere and began sharing my knowledge with curious folks seeing me with baskets full of mushrooms. The challenge now is to find as many or more than the year before and learn new species along the way.

Most of the time I go alone for my ‘quiet hunt’. I guard my ‘forest gold’ spots and do not share them even with my close friends. On very rare occasions, I will guide small groups of mushroom hunters. But I am always open to help ID mushrooms I know well and frequently share my mushroom bounty.”

Friday, August 20, 2021
4:00 PM - 6:00 PM 

Tuition: $24  Materials: $10

Participants are welcomed to eat pupusas with classmates at the Ely Folk School at 6:00, after the class officially ends. 

Pupusas are a filled masa griddle cake that originate in El Salvador. We'll make a bulk batch of vegetarian pupusas -- some to freeze for a rainy day, and some to eat with homemade salsa and slaw.

Participants will take home 8 uncooked and ready to freeze pupusas. All ingredients and supplies will be provided. 

This class will be held in person with limited seats available. 

About the Instructor: Lacey Squier loves cooking food of all kinds. She is an amateur cook who spends much of her free time learning how to recreate dishes from her favorite restaurant and travel experiences. It is liberating to realize you can have anything you want for dinner ... as long as you're willing to make it yourself!

When not experimenting with food at home (and making a huge mess of her kitchen), Lacey likes to take walks or go on a hike with her spouse, Eric, and their dog Wendell. Lacey works at Ely Family Dental and serves as Chair of the Ely Folk School Board.  

Friday, August 20, 2021
4:00 PM - 6:00 PM 

Tuition: $24 

Participants are welcomed to stay on Zoom and eat pupusas while in community with classmates at 6:00, after the class officially ends. 

Pupusas are a filled masa griddle cake that originate in El Salvador. We'll make a bulk batch of vegetarian pupusas -- some to freeze for a rainy day, and some to eat with homemade salsa and slaw.

Ingredient lists will be sent to registrants via email two weeks prior to class. 

About the Instructor: Lacey Squier loves cooking food of all kinds. She is an amateur cook who spends much of her free time learning how to recreate dishes from her favorite restaurant and travel experiences. It is liberating to realize you can have anything you want for dinner ... as long as you're willing to make it yourself!

When not experimenting with food at home (and making a huge mess of her kitchen), Lacey likes to take walks or go on a hike with her spouse, Eric, and their dog Wendell. Lacey works at Ely Family Dental and serves as Chair of the Ely Folk School Board.