Current Sessions Available

May 30th, 2026

Tickets: $675; limit 8 students. 

Starting at 9 am, Brandon will demonstrate the humane sticking (killing) and bleeding methods. There will be no stunning involved, which only registers more pain and longer consciousness in the animal; we only need a very, very sharp knife.

You will then take that knife in hand as Brandon leads you through the clean and efficient hanging, skinning, and eviscerating methods. We’ll extract all the offal and talk about the homesteader’s culinary use of the whole animal.

In the lamb butchery and cookery, we will waste nothing and let the physiology of the sheep inform our cutting. The logic of traditional meat cookery will become clear, enabling you to cook every cut perfectly. Learn to quarter any quadruped using these methods. We’ll be cutting lambs slaughtered the previous week, as well as the lambs we slaughter together, allowing you to see the continuity of the entire process.

We’ll also learn some basic tying tricks and display aesthetics for your various crown roasts, rolled loins, boning out, and any other ideas you bring to the table.

As always, this is a very intimate and memorable teaching setting with Brandon. Working at your pace, we’ll let your questions guide the day. With many lambs to work with there is plenty of material to learn from. Bring your notepads and filming devices. All instruction is entirely translatable to any other ruminant harvesting, including goats, deer, elk, beef, etc.

My family and I learned so much from the in-person, hands-on beef class. My teen boys were able to get right in there with the rest of us to slaughter, skin and eviscerate the carcass. Brandon takes the art and craft of butchery at home, which can seem very intimidating, and makes it doable. From handy tips and tricks for backyard slaughter techniques, to fabrication of meat cuts and preparing a feast in the kitchen, we were brought along for the entire process. He kept reminding us that if we keep our end goal in mind (how we’ll prepare it in the kitchen), the cutting of the carcass will make much more sense. With that in mind, we were reminded that WE get to make the decisions about how to cut and prepare the carcass and that it doesn’t have to match with ordinary retail meat cuts. Both Brandon and Lauren were so hospitable and we greatly enjoyed the fellowship around the table. It’s definitely worth the trip to take an in-person class.

―Christie, Illinois

“The utility of this information will have immediate and long-term use. As a home chef, I expect to use it regularly for my domestic culinary investigations and pleasure. The long term impact of the class will continue to reveal itself with age. So much of the material (and the experience) is detailed, inter-disciplinary, bloody, emotional and tasty! It is one of the those experiences that will always be a culinary, social, emotional reference point to tie to other experiences. This is one of the principal values of the class in my mind.”

―John, Alaska

“I’ve flown halfway across the country to attend a class of yours and watched your videos numerous times. The desire was already there for me to take on the life of sustainability, self-reliance, and kitchen economy. You all just provided the direction and spark… I’m all in because of you folks!”

―Jay, Arizona

“I’ve participated in two hog processing classes. The classes and videos gave me the courage to raise my own hogs. We partnered with the Meatsmiths to host a class and harvest two of the 5 hogs. With the help of friends we processed three hogs on our own, cured three prosciutto, smoked and cured our own bacon, and made head cheese. In all that, the best part of all the learning is the growth of my family and friends. I can’t tell you how many wonderful people we call friends because of the porcine adventure.”

―Jon; Shelton, WA

“You guys have a played a major role in our farm/homestead development of which pigs are the driving factor. Definitely have empowered me and my family. we have done some butchery since watching your videos. I hope to reference you for future marketing development for our farm. And one day get you to do a workshop (fingers crossed) I’m in west Tennessee in case you needed a gage of how far your outreach is. Thanks a million.”

―Justin, Tennessee