Discover how simple ingredients can unlock a world of flavor. In this hands-on workshop, we’ll start with mustard—one of the easiest, most flexible condiments to make at home—and explore how this humble seed becomes a canvas for global flavor.
You’ll hear about Crown Hill Farm, how we grow mustard seeds in WNY, and how a few spices or herbs can transport a jar from classic Dijon vibes to bold flavors inspired by Japan, the Middle East, or France. You’ll create your own custom jar to take home and build your confidence to experiment in your own kitchen.
From there, we’ll expand into salad dressings and marinades—another simple, powerful way to play with flavor at home. Once you understand the basic structure (fat + acid + seasoning), you can shift your meal into any cuisine you love using ingredients you probably already have.
Along the way, ask questions and we’ll talk about food, farming, and flavor—from my life at Crown Hill Farm to the joy of cooking from scratch.
You’ll Learn:
how to make mustard from scratch (it’s easier than you think)
flavor pairings to evoke different world cuisines
the core formula for salad dressings + marinades
simple ways to experiment with your own ingredients
how to courageously build confidence in your creative cooking
You’ll leave with a recipe card, a world flavors chart, and your own jar of custom mustard to take home.
INSTRUCTOR: Missy Singer DuMars of Crown Hill Farm
ABOUT MISSY…
I never set out to be a farmer. It was never a dream of mine. I grew up as a ’suburban/city-girl' where playing outside was on a golf course and manicured yards — not ponds and forests and fields. Animals were at zoos, not my backyard. Beyond the occasional houseplant, I had never grown a thing. I’ve had a range of careers in my life from the corporate entertainment industry to massage therapy and business coaching and undoubtedly, what always leads me is my insatiable curiosity and thirst to understand.
I stumbled my way into growing food. I’ve always had a passion for cooking, that began with helping my grandmother prepare holiday meals. Now, as an adult, I have chosen a specific dietary path and pay close attention to nutrition, health and the role food can play in natural wellness management. Growing food is a natural step in that quest to bring together more awareness of what goes into my body and creating beautiful, delicious meals.
I was definitely hesitant because farming was so far outside of anything I’d ever done before. I think it still scares me sometimes to take this venture on! Every day, I think I have no idea what I’m doing. I feel a deep responsibility to honor the sacred lives that are a part of this farm and often agonize over every decision, unsure if it is a good, wise, best choice. I think most farmers feel that regularly, whether seasoned multi-generation farmers or new like myself. Change is the one constant, but I have faith and trust in continuing to listen to what the land asks of me.
Farming has been rewarding beyond what I could imagine. I get to be outside every single day, breathing fresh air and deeply experiencing the changes of season and cycles of nature. I think that every lesson we need is available in the natural world: resiliency, beauty, abundance, gratitude, growth, change, death, rebirth and more. There is great pleasure in cooking food I have grown and nothing more rewarding than sitting down to a meal, looking at my plate and knowing every little detail of what went into that food. And, I’m so overjoyed to share that with others and witness their face light up at the same experience of delicious, simple nourishment of body and soul.
ABOUT CROWN HILL FARM…
While Crown Hill Farm is a farm, it’s a lot more than that. The purpose of this farm is simple: nourishment. Our vision is to create a sanctuary for community, food, animals and a business that are all mindfully grown. A visit to the farm is really immersion in a way of life centered around connection between all of the systems that sustain and enrich life. From pastoral quiet that invites you into peaceful reflection to food that grew just a minute’s walk from where it is eaten, the farm provides, and my mission as caretaker is to extend this nourishment of body, heart and soul to everyone who comes to visit and stay.
Crown Hill Farm represents my first full-time farming opportunity, so there’s a lot of learning every day of the year. The spirit of continuous improvement, and hands-on experiential learning runs deep in everything that happens on the farm. In learning, I’m committed to practices that are kind to the land, regenerate the natural resources here and can sustain in a way that gives to the land while receiving it’s gifts.
From the many chapters of my life, I bring an unorthodox pastiche of skills. With a deep background in business and technology, a life-long involvement in the arts, and a varied spiritual background, I channel the power of connecting people, cultivated aesthetics, sacred awareness, and inspired leadership to every endeavor I undertake.
Winding up in the farming world grew out of a desire to dig deep into health, wellness, and connection to the land. In an unconventional way, life at Crown Hill Farm is the sum of all the lessons learned along the way, fused with the incredible responsibility of working with the Earth’s natural rhythms. Every part of life on the farm is sculpted around conscious being, with extreme care and attention paid to empowering health, wellness, and simplicity.
