Experience Level: Beginner (ages 15+)

Learn about cheese-making at Making Fresh Mozzarella on Wednesday, June 11 from 6:30 to 8 p.m. in the Allerton Mansion Kitchen.

Instructor Lee Schuler will take students through the process of turning milk to curd and curd into fresh mozzarella. Students will be able to sample their cheese with some of Lee’s flavored olive oils and crostini and take the remainder home!

$75/person (ages 15+. Ages 15-17 should be accompanied by a registered adult). Register by June 4. All sales are final.

If you will need disability-related accommodations to participate, please email Olivia Bunting at owarren@illinois.edu.

By attending, you consent to your image being used in Allerton marketing, social media and publications. Please alert the photographer or videographer if you do not want your image taken.

About the instructor

Lee Schuler recently moved from Illinois from Pennsylvania, where she taught fungal identification and edibility at environmental education centers for the Pennsylvania Department of Conservation and Natural Resources and for private land owners. She is certified as a wild edible mushroom expert and licensed to harvest and sell to restaurants and markets in the State of Pennsylvania. Schuler is also a contributing culinary author for a wild mushroom trade journal.

A graduate of East Stroudsburg University in Pennsylvania, Lee has worked as a field biologist and environmental educator, and currently works in public health. She is an artist and cook and enjoys acquiring new and useful skills as much as she loves sharing them.

Experience Level: Beginner

Explore the botany, natural history and flavors of several local wild edible plants at Edible Midwest Natives on Wednesday, June 18 from 6 to 8:30 p.m. in the Mansion Carriage House.

Heidi Leuszler, the owner and head chef of Berries and Flour in Champaign, will focus on native plants that are harvestable at the time of class. Those could include spicebush, common milkweed, nettles, sweet Cicely, black raspberry, American persimmon, common prickly ash and violets.

Students will learn ethical and sustainable foraging practices, look at different types of harvesting gear, and take a short walk into the woods to find, identify and forage edible parts from selected species. Students will then clean, process and eat what was foraged, and will go home with a handful of recipes, samples and plants (resources permitting).

$65/person*. Register by June 4. All sales are final.

*Students should bring work gloves and snippers/clippers.

Learn more about the space where your course will take place here. If you will need disability-related accommodations in order to participate, please email owarren@illinois.edu.

By attending, you consent to your image being used in Allerton marketing, social media and publications. Please alert the photographer or videographer if you do not want your image taken.

About the instructor

Heidi Leuszler grew up harvesting and foraging wherever she lived: mangos in Florida, morels and mustang grapes from the back acre in Missouri, wild strawberries and holly grapes in the Colorado mountains and chokecherries in North Dakota. Those passions remained as she added culinary skills in addition to becoming a professor of environmental science, ecology and botany at Parkland College.

She started Berries and Flour in Champaign as the synergy of several passions: culinary, ecology, growing of plants, foraging and teaching people about the plentiful Midwest land. Berries and Flour teaches how to harvest, process and consume regional foods, collaborates with others to promote food accessibility and justice, and produces value-added products from its commercial kitchen.

Experience Level: Beginner

Learn how to decorate cookies for summer at Summer Cookie Decorating on Wednesday, June 18th from 6 to 9 p.m. in the Mansion Dining Room.

Learn to decorate spring-themed cookies with royal icing, crusting butter cream and rolled buttercream! Instructor Jennifer Holhubner will demonstrate and explain wet-on-wet technique, outlining and flooding and make flowers. Each participant will receive directions to decorate five cookies.

$65/person*. Register here by June 12th. All sales are final.

*Students should bring a take-home container.

If you will need disability-related accommodations to participate, please email Olivia Bunting at owarren@illinois.edu.

By attending, you consent to your image being used in Allerton marketing, social media and publications. Please alert the photographer or videographer if you do not want your image taken.

About the instructor

Champaign-Urbana native Jennifer Holhubner taught herself how to decorate cakes when she was 16 years old and took up cookie decorating in 2019.

“Although they intimidated me, I forged on and got better with each order. I still have room to grow as we all do in whatever task we take on,” she said. “But I love to share the aspects of baking and decorating. I can actually now say, I am cookier!”

Jennifer also teaches decorating classes at Parkland College.

Experience Level: Beginner

Save money by learning how to make several everyday condiments at Make Your Own Condiments on Tuesday, June 24 from 5:30 to 7:30 p.m. in the Mansion Carriage House.

In this class, instructor Leah Bodine will help students create the following homemade condiments: ketchup, stone-ground mustard, mayonnaise, butter, sour cream, buttermilk and buttermilk dressing. Please bring a take-home container.

$45/person. Register by June 10. All sales are final.

Learn more about the space where your course will take place here. If you will need disability-related accommodations in order to participate, please email owarren@illinois.edu.

By attending, you consent to your image being used in Allerton marketing, social media and publications. Please alert the photographer or videographer if you do not want your image taken.

About the instructor

Leah Bodine calls herself the ‘accidental chef’ with years of experience in the food industry. She started her catering company, Blue Dragonfly Catering, to express her creative mind in food preparation and cultivating recipes. She loves sharing her skills with others and seeing the fascination on students’ faces when they realize how creative they can be and how easy it is to do so.

Her experiences in the food industry have led her to live in Paris and cater for rock and country legends.

About The Farms

The Farms: An Allerton Folk School, offers classes, workshops, and gatherings focusing on art, outdoor education, science, storytelling, and wellness. All experiences value hands-on, experiential teaching and learning, and are facilitated by and for the members of the community.

Find the complete Summer Session schedule here.

Experience Level: Beginner

Learn about the process of making sourdough bread at Beginner Sourdough Breadmaking on Sunday, June 29 and Aug. 10 from 2 to 5 p.m. in the Mansion Kitchen and Carriage House. (Each class will cover the same material).

Instructor Hannah Fink will cover the basic biology of a ferment and what it means to a sourdough culture, how to mix sourdough, how to maintain a healthy starter in your home and the importance of baking with regionally grown grains. Students will also get hands-on experience as they learn to mix sourdough.

Prepared dough will be available to showcase baking and for students to prepare a snack toward the end of class. Students will take home their own jar of sourdough culture, a sample of gains from Janie’s Mill, as well as printouts of everything covered, simple recipes and a thorough list of resources.

$75/person. Register 10 days before each workshop. All sales are final.

Learn more about the space where your course will take place here. If you will need disability-related accommodations in order to participate, please email owarren@illinois.edu.

By attending, you consent to your image being used in Allerton marketing, social media and publications. Please alert the photographer or videographer if you do not want your image taken.

About the Instructor

Hannah Fink — a baker and local food enthusiast — started Tooth Butter Cottage Bakery in Urbana so she could be at home with her son and still keep her hands in dough. She revels in naturally leavened bread and quality pastries and focuses on organic whole grains, mostly stone milled from Janie’s Mill in Ashkum.

She is of the firm belief that a “toothy dose of good butter” is the best start, which led to the name of her business that bakes for special orders and pop-up collaborations with fellow creators.

Hannah started baking about 10 years ago while working in the music industry in Nashville and ended up falling in love with enough to change careers. She started as a bread delivery driver, then worked as a kitchen manager at Pear Tree Estate in Champaign and as a pastry manager in Michigan.

Fink is a member of the Artisan Grain Collaborative and is looking forward to passing on the knowledge she has gained on breads and grains.

About The Farms

The Farms: An Allerton Folk School, offers classes, workshops, and gatherings focusing on art, health & wellness, history, nature & outdoor education, or science. All experiences value hands-on, experiential teaching and learning, and are facilitated by and for the members of the community.

See the complete Spring Session schedule here.

Experience Level: Any

Learn how to use edible flowers in your cooking in this hands-on class on Tuesday, July 8th from 5:30-7:30pm in the Mansion Carriage House.

$45/person*, Register here by June 24th. All sales are final.

Learn more about the space where your course will take place here. 

If you will need disability-related accommodations in order to participate, please email owarren@illinois.edu.

By attending, you consent to your image being used in Allerton marketing, social media and publications. Please alert the photographer or videographer if you do not want your image taken.

About the instructor

Leah Bodine calls herself the ‘accidental chef’ with years of experience in the food industry. She started her catering company, Blue Dragonfly Catering, to express her creative mind in food preparation and cultivating recipes. She loves sharing her skills with others and seeing the fascination on students’ faces when they realize how creative they can be and how easy it is to do so.Her experiences in the food industry have led her to live in Paris and cater for rock and country legends.

About The Farms

The Farms: An Allerton Folk School, offers classes, workshops, and gatherings focusing on art, health & wellness, history, nature & outdoor education, or science. All experiences value hands-on, experiential teaching and learning, and are facilitated by and for the members of the community.

See the complete Summer Session schedule here.

Experience Level: Beginner

Learn how to grow herbs in the Central Illinois climate and then taste how they are used in a meal at Cooking with Herbs from 10 a.m. to 12 p.m. Saturday, Aug. 9 in the Herb Garden and Mansion Carriage House.

Join Kay Karnes, Master Gardener and Mid-America Gardener panelist in the Herb Garden to begin this workshop, where you will receive a tour of the garden, which is certified by the Illinois Herb Association. You will learn how to grow herbs and receive cooking tips using herbs and spices in various recipes.

Then, sit down in the Mansion Dining Room for an Italian-themed lunch prepared by Leah Bodine of the Greenhouse Cafè.

$45/person. Register here by Aug. 2. All sales are final.

If you will need disability-related accommodations to participate, please email owarren@illinois.edu.

About the Instructor

Kay Karnes’ love of gardening began at an early age “helping” her father in his vegetable garden and has continued throughout her life.

Kay is a Champaign County Master Gardener, a member and past president of the Illinois Herb Association and has been a panelist on MidAmerican Gardener since 1995. She and her husband, Dave, live on 2.5 acres outside of Monticello. This has given her ample space to pursue her passion and retirement from the University has given her the time. Her areas of expertise are herbs, vegetables and seed saving.

About The Farms

The Farms: An Allerton Folk School, offers classes, workshops, and gatherings focusing on art, outdoor education, science, storytelling, and wellness. All experiences value hands-on, experiential teaching and learning, and are facilitated by and for the members of the community.

Find the complete Summer Session schedule here.

Experience Level: Beginner

Learn about the process of making sourdough bread at Beginner Sourdough Breadmaking on Sunday, June 29 and Aug. 10 from 2 to 5 p.m. in the Mansion Kitchen and Carriage House. (Each class will cover the same material).

Instructor Hannah Fink will cover the basic biology of a ferment and what it means to a sourdough culture, how to mix sourdough, how to maintain a healthy starter in your home and the importance of baking with regionally grown grains. Students will also get hands-on experience as they learn to mix sourdough.

Prepared dough will be available to showcase baking and for students to prepare a snack toward the end of class. Students will take home their own jar of sourdough culture, a sample of gains from Janie’s Mill, as well as printouts of everything covered, simple recipes and a thorough list of resources.

$75/person. Register 10 days before each workshop. All sales are final.

Learn more about the space where your course will take place here. If you will need disability-related accommodations in order to participate, please email owarren@illinois.edu.

By attending, you consent to your image being used in Allerton marketing, social media and publications. Please alert the photographer or videographer if you do not want your image taken.

About the Instructor

Hannah Fink — a baker and local food enthusiast — started Tooth Butter Cottage Bakery in Urbana so she could be at home with her son and still keep her hands in dough. She revels in naturally leavened bread and quality pastries and focuses on organic whole grains, mostly stone milled from Janie’s Mill in Ashkum.

She is of the firm belief that a “toothy dose of good butter” is the best start, which led to the name of her business that bakes for special orders and pop-up collaborations with fellow creators.

Hannah started baking about 10 years ago while working in the music industry in Nashville and ended up falling in love with enough to change careers. She started as a bread delivery driver, then worked as a kitchen manager at Pear Tree Estate in Champaign and as a pastry manager in Michigan.

Fink is a member of the Artisan Grain Collaborative and is looking forward to passing on the knowledge she has gained on breads and grains.

About The Farms

The Farms: An Allerton Folk School, offers classes, workshops, and gatherings focusing on art, health & wellness, history, nature & outdoor education, or science. All experiences value hands-on, experiential teaching and learning, and are facilitated by and for the members of the community.

See the complete Spring Session schedule here.