STANWOOD, Wash. – The annual Country Living Expo and Cattlemen’s Winterschool Jan. 31 will offer more than 185 workshops and classes in skills from cheesemaking and beekeeping to agribusiness, landscape design and small-scale solar power.
The full-day expo will be at Stanwood High School in Stanwood, Wash., and will include a trade show with more than 65 vendors. To register and view classes, visit http://skagit.wsu.edu/CountryLivingExpo.
Keynote speaker Temple Grandin will discuss her work on understanding animal behavior and her desire for animals to have more than just a low-stress life. She wrote a book about being autistic and is a world-renowned authority on animal behavior.
She has been included on TIME magazine’s list of the “100 most influential people in the world,” and her life was the subject of the Emmy Award-winning movie, “Temple Grandin.”
“Our program has grown to include not only rural farmers and cattle producers but also homeowners, backyard farmers and urban apartment dwellers,” said Joan DeVries, program coordinator with Washington State University Extension in Skagit, Snohomish and Island counties. “Many people in the area are making the decision to grow and harvest their own fresh, healthy food.”
Registration is $70 for adults (early bird special of $65 before Jan. 1) and $40 for youths. A discounted rate of $10 is available for the first 200 youths aged 12-18 needing scholarship help. Registration includes coffee and pastries, five classes and choice of prime rib or vegetarian lunch. Some classes have a materials fee, but there is no charge to attend the trade show.
Classes include:
• Improving the Fertility and Tilth of your soil
• Raising Rabbits or Chickens for Meat
• Constructing a Home Water Feature for Your Landscape
• Basic Bowmaking (archery)
• Necropsy: Sheep and Poultry
• Backcountry Horseback Riding
• Edible Wild Plants of NW Washington
In addition to the Saturday events, Friday will feature “The Way I See It,” with Grandin at the Everett Civic Auditorium at 7:30 p.m. Tickets may be purchased online for $25 at http://templegrandin.brownpapertickets.com.
On Sunday, tours to either a beef farm or an Arabian horse farm will be available to expo attendees for $10 per family.
Hosted by the Stanwood FFA, the Country Living Expo and Cattlemen’s Winterschool is presented by WSU Extension, Livestock Master Foundation, Tri-County Cattlemen’s Association, WSU Center for Sustaining Agriculture and Natural Resources and U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Sustainable Agriculture Research and Education program.
Contact:
Joan R. DeVries, WSU Skagit County Extension, 360-428-4270, Ext. 240, joand@wsu.edu