Whole Animal Harvest Class
When: Dates for 2026 coming soon
Where: Stannard, Vermont
Overview: This is a two- part class, and you are welcome to join one weekend or both.
Weekend 1: Whole Animal Harvest
In this class, we will walk through the full process of giving death through a hands- on harvest of a sheep or goat. We will skin, butcher, and process the animal. We will cook some of the meat over the fire during class, as well as process some meat into pastrami, jerky, sausage, bacon, and fermented meat. We will make bone broth, render fat, clean the intestines, save the blood for baking, bark tan the bladder into bags, cook the lungs, use the brains, and much more!
This class is designed to deepen both your practical skill and your relationship with the act of taking life, honoring the animal and learning to use and preserve every single part.
Weekend 2: Buckskin Tanning
This is three-day workshop transforming animal skin into buckskin. Buckskin is a soft, supple, buttery leather that is the most pliable, durable and sustainable fabric that exists. You will learn the wet scrape method, brain softening, and punk wood smoke tanning. This is a physically intense skill that requires endurance, and focus. You’ll leave with hands- on experience and a piece of the hide you worked on.
What You’ll Learn
Giving death
Butchering and skinning
Preserving meat
Pastrami making
Sausage making
Bacon making
Head cheese and lung bread
Intestine cleaning and use
Blood catching and use
Brain tanning
And much more
Class Details:
Meals: Dinners are provided and include meat harvested during the weekend, alongside locally sourced organic foods homed cooked by Kari.
Evenings: Expect a mix of woodland games, fireside storytelling.
Accommodations: This is a fully outdoor overnight course. Participants will sleep in tents among trees. Accommodations are rustic- a compost toilet, access to water, and a communal fire for cooking.
Instructors/ Hosts/ Cooks:
Cost of the FULL Two- Weekend Course: $1,400
Early Bird Discount: 1,250
Deposit: $300 non- refundable deposit required to hold your spot
*VSAC Grants accepted
Cost of a Single Weekend $650
Deposit: $250 non- refundable deposit to hold your spot
*VSAC Grants accepted
Kari
Kari teaches slaughter classes, as well as nose to tail animal processing classes. She cooks for students, gatherings, and cooks on the coals for backcountry trips. She is passionate about using every part of the animal, and making it truly delicious (even for the skeptics). As a death worker of human and animal alike, she believes in living closely with the lives that we take- and with that closeness comes health, gratitude, wisdom, inspiration, and sanity. Her family keeps animals, hunts, gardens, and puts up a lot of food. They also love tanning and crafting hides. She is excited to share some songs, some prayers, and some ideas about how to craft a culture of earth- belonging once again in our families.
Erik
Erik brings together his skills from many different backgrounds. As a full time actuary, he calculates risks and uses this knowledge to expand into the primitive realm where he communes with nature through hunting, foraging, gardening, and animal husbandry.
Coleen
find my bio on the ‘story’ page.
Not available for this years class? Sign up for our waitlist for next year.
What People Are Saying
“Your ability to connect the experience to its story influenced the way I think about how I touch the earth.In just two days , you opened a connection to our environment, an animal and each other with tenderness and compassion.”
— Denise
“I have learned that tanning is an art and science and gained invaluable knowledge and resources from the Sheepskin Tanning Class.”
— Tyler
“This weekend was life changing.”
— Anonymous
“Now I am able to convey to my students my knowledge of natural hide tanning and how elements of nature can be used sustainably, encouraging their own ecological stewardship and cultural awareness.”