Anna's Workshops! The Veggie Tree

Anna from The Veggie Tree has three fantastic workshops coming up, all hosted at her home in Kaeo, Northland. If you are lucky enough to live close by, or can make the trip from surrounding areas, go for it! They all sound amazing! I have attended one of Anna's foraging afternoons and had the best time, we made an array of dishes and I learnt so much about what we can eat growing right on our doorstep.

Anna’s Veggie Tree Cook Schools are hands-on, informative, and full of fun. They’re designed to help you feel more confident and creative, whether that’s learning how to make exceptional food from vegetables, understanding the basics of fermentation, or discovering how to make your own natural medicines. 

The classes coming up are .. Quick Fire Fermenting, Mexican Fiesta with a shared meal, Sourdough and Plant Based Cheese and a Nature's Medicine Cabinet workshop.

Alongside cooking classes, Anna also offers foraging sessions, plant medicine workshops, and classes focused on creating your own natural remedies and products.

The Veggie Tree classes have been running in Kaeo, Northland for eight years, with over a thousand people attending so far!  Anna is a trained chef and has been vegetarian for 32 years, drawing on decades of cooking, eating, experimenting, and researching plant-based food. Her teaching is practical, generous, and a lot of fun!

One workshop I’m especially excited about is Quick Fire Fermenting. If you love fermented foods (or are curious but unsure where to start), this hands-on class shows you how to make delicious, flavour packed ferments that naturally support gut health and elevate everyday meals. 

Then there’s the Mexican Fiesta Class, which sounds delicious and fun. This is a relaxed, hands-on cooking class followed by a shared meal, with options to be vegan and/or gluten free depending on participants’ needs. You’ll learn how to make homemade tortillas, mole jackfruit, classic South American rice and beans, jalapeño guacamole, Mexican-inspired flame-grilled dressed sweetcorn, and hone your chargrilling skills with a beautifully smoky chargrilled salsa.

Another hands-on class is the Nature’s Medicine Cabinet Workshop, which will be a treasure trove of practical, empowering knowledge. Humans have used plants to support health and treat illness for thousands of years, and this workshop brings that wisdom back into everyday life. Anna shares her tried-and-true medicine cabinet staples, guiding you through making remedies such as elderberry tonic, immune-supporting tinctures, fire cider, wairākau (medicinal teas and infusions) for colds and flu, and an iron-rich, liver-supporting oxymel made from one of the most underrated weeds that many of us already have access to. You’ll also make a skin-healing salve, bump balm, or bone and tissue healing rub.

And finally, there’s the Sourdough and Plant-Based Cheese Workshop. In this class, Anna guides you through mastering sourdough bread from scratch, covering kneading techniques, troubleshooting common issues, and understanding different flours and why they matter. Alongside this, you’ll make your own plant milk and turn it into a simple, everyday plant-based cheese that’s quick, easy, and genuinely delicious.

These workshops are more than just classes, they’re an invitation to slow down, reconnect with traditional skills, and bring more nourishment, flavour, and self-sufficiency into your life.

If any of this speaks to you, I highly recommend learning with Anna, you’ll come away inspired, informed, and well fed.

For all the details on Anna's upcoming workshops, including dates, times, pricing, and how to book, click here.