COOKING/COLOR: preserving the garden and playing with pigment
COOKING/COLOR: preserving the garden and playing with pigment
Slowing down and honoring the season’s abundance.
Monday September 28 - Sunday October 4, 2026
Worlds End School | Esperance, NY
Price for the week: $1,400-$1,904 (depending on lodging choice)
Instructors: Leah Guadagnoli and Julia Norton
In the Northeast, our growing season is brief. For a few fleeting weeks, we get peak produce and incredible, vibrant colors in the flower garden. This tends to lead to a pleasure panic! How do we squirrel as much of the garden away in our winter pantry and can we sit with the aching beauty of flowers and their pigments before the impending frost takes them away…
Acknowledging this tendency towards frenzy, instead we will intentionally slow down and honor the moment through various seasonal kitchen acts and craft work. Pickling, fermenting, freezing, foraging, pigment blending, dye-bathing and more. By implementing a 'nose-to-tail' approach to the harvest, we will explore how to extend the season's bounty and culminate our efforts by building toward a joyful and lavish communal feast at the end of the week.
PREPARATIONS / CONSIDERATIONS
SCHEDULE
Day 1 ✴︎ Arrival
Students arrive after noon on Monday, are settled in and are then asked to be at dinner at 7:30pm. We typically eat together in the large breezeway of the barn.
Day 2-6 ✴︎ Instruction
The week will be structured around harvesting and foraging during morning farm walks. Coffee and breakfast on your own before then. Break for lunch at noon.
Afternoon sessions (generally 2-4pm) will be split between the kitchen and the studio. In the kitchen, you’ll learn preservation techniques like fermenting, canning, drying herbs and edible flowers. From there, you’ll use some of those same materials alongside soil pigments for paint-making and frottage, creating colorful inks and dyed fabrics.
Free time will be built in throughout the week. Roam the fields with our sheep dog, Tess (don’t forget her frisbee), take a dip in the pond, or rest in your rustic cabin room.
The week culminates on Day 6 with a communal meal made from what we’ve preserved, baked and created together, served at the table dressed with napkins and runners we dyed in the studio.
Day 7 ✴︎ Departure
Students are welcome to end the week with lunch at coyotecafe, the farm’s monthly drop-in cafe, leaving by 4pm.
MEALS
WHAT TO EXPECT
Worlds End School’s campus is nestled within a diversified, handscale working farm. We raise Icelandic sheep and chickens in addition to growing vegetables and flowers.
If you reserve a bedroom in the communal barn we will provide all the bedding and blankets you need.
Class is limited to 6 students.
This course is unique in that it is food-centered. While usually our courses are self-catered (meaning that students are responsible for sorting out their own meals within our communal kitchen and vegetable gardens) this class has kitchen-focused course work that results in many shared meals.
Part of the joy of these long courses is participating in a cohort of students living communally with our full time residents and staff! More information on meals and food-specific accomodations will be shared by the facilitators closer to the date!
LODGING
LODGING OPTIONS ARE FIRST COME/FIRST SERVED
1) COMMUNAL BARN - with three shared bathrooms and full electricity. There are 4 private bedrooms each with a double or queen bed.
2) CAMPING - there is a flat camping area in a field 5 minute walk from the COMMUNAL BARN. Bring your own tents, tarps, gear.
3) Stay OFFSITE and COMMUTE to Worlds End Farm. There is a Quality Inn & Suites 10 minutes away in Central Bridge, NY or a handful of airBnB rentals within 30min driving time.
All students will have access to shared bathrooms and our communal kitchen. Note: For this course, many meals will be provided since the course work is cooking related. There is wifi and excellent cell phone service for most networks.
COST
$1,904 includes instruction, access to the communal kitchen and lodging in a private bedroom, shared bathrooms, and NY state sales tax.
$1,400 includes instruction, access to the communal kitchen and students will camp or arrange their own lodging offsite
Payment plans available upon request; please write admin@saipua.com.
INSTRUCTORS
Leah Guadagnoli
Leah is a culinary artist, farmer, and celebrator of seasonal nourishment and community gatherings.
Learn more at fancyfeastsupperclub.com
Julia Norton
“I am a multimedia visual artist, educator, and researcher with a primary focus on natural materials. In my art practice, I aim to work with imagery and materials that correlate with my interest in life cycles and regeneration.
As an educator I believe in fostering creative exploration, self determination, cultural connections, open inquiry, and a critical mindset as I engage with students of all ages and backgrounds.
Learn more at julia-norton.com