In this class, you will learn to make apple cider vinegar from scratch using juice from apples grown on the farm. But you will also learn to make vinegar from wine or beer, or brown bananas or anything you would like. Did you know vinegar can be made using anything containing fermentable sugar?

Vinegar is a culinary staple that complements dishes in a way not many condiments can, adding a complexity of flavor that is unrivaled. Vinegar can be smooth and sublime (not just the abrasive and sour the industrialized product would lead you to believe.) Your homemade vinegars introduce you to flavors you didn’t know possible as a base ingredient moves through the fermentations. There is a delicious world out there just waiting for you to discover it. Take your fermentation journey to the next level by learning to make your own vinegar from traditional apple cider or wine to beer, brown bananas or citrus peels.

Not only will you learn about making vinegar, but you’ll also get a chance to see how we process our apples for cider making.
You will go home with a vinegar mother to start your own delicious vinegars to make on your counter

Get to know Kirsten Shockey
Hi, I'm Kirsten and I ferment things. I began fermenting on our 40-acre small-holding over 2 decades ago. I didn't have the language to say that was what I was doing, I just taught myself to preserve everything that we grew. I didn't have a clue or the internet but I had plenty of passion and idealism to figure out how it was done "old school" and maybe, most importantly,

I had nobody that told me I couldn't do this.

The passion for food systems has been with me for over 3 decades and at some point, the two collided, and my responsibilities to raising children waned. I found myself sharing the passion and joy of working with microbes to create delicious healthy food first locally then globally. In this desire to see everyone have access to fermentation  I've co-written (with my husband Christopher) the books Fermented Vegetables, Fiery Ferments, Miso, Tempeh, Natto, and Other Tasty Ferments, The Big Book of Cidermaking, and forthcoming Homebrewed Vinegar.

I have a lot of great fails. I think working with tempeh has given me the most humility as I've learned to push it past soybeans. The most expensive fail was the 30 gallons of sauerkraut that were fine in all ways except the texture--which was spreadable like butter. There is no market for spreadable kraut--yet.

I am delighted to be able to share what I know with you here.

Plan Your Trip


The ferry schedule and directions to the farm are found here for your reference.
If you are coming from off island for an overnight, consider reaching out to with one of the local vacation rentals offered by Stay & Sea (20% discount code is FULLBLOOM), RecRetreats, Lummi Island Vacations, Airbnb or VRBO. If you're interested in sharing a vacation rental with another workshop attendee, please make sure to select this as an option when checking out and we will connect interested parties via email as they sign up.

Tickets are nonrefundable, but they are transferable