Join us at Kilts Farm for two days on September 12 and 13, 2025.

Instructors: Gwen Miner and Pamela Cooley

Participants in this hands-on two-day workshop will learn the basics of cooking with wood using the technologies of the early 19th and 20th centuries.

On Day One participants will learn the art and science of hearth cooking by roasting, broiling, boiling, and baking foods using recipes, tools, and techniques from the first half of the 19th century. The skills they gain preparing a hearty meal can be applied to cooking on their own hearths.

On Day Two, the early 20th century and cooking on a wood cookstove will be the focus. Using seasonal ingredients, and recipes, techniques (baking, stewing, steaming, and stove-top cooking), and equipment common in the early 20th century, participants will use the farmhouse's Kalamazoo wood cookstove to prepare a satisfying meal.

On both days, when all is ready participants will move to the dining room to savor the meal they have prepared.

Pamela Cooley has been cooking with wood for over 30 years. She demonstrates and gives workshops in the Hanford House Kitchen and has also presented woodstove and open hearth cooking classes at Genesee Country Village, Mumford, NY, the Farmers’ Museum in Cooperstown, NY, Howell Living History Farm in Titusville, NJ, and Newlin Mills Museum, Glen Mills, PA. Most recently she demonstrates butter making at the Bovina Farm Day and serves as Historic Culinary Consultant to Hyde Hall Historic Site in Cooperstown. She is retired from the New York State Archives.

Class size: up to 8, ages 13 and up

Cost: $200 ($190 for Kilts Farm Members)
Food is included in the course costs.

Info about local accommodations can be found here.