It is always a treat to hear David speak whether on horticultural topics or anything else for that matter. The first time I met Senor Bahia was when he was doing a slide show talk for the Succulent and Bromeliad Society at the Strybing Arboretum. He was showing gorgeous slides of places that he has traveled to that were jammed packed with 'succulent' horticultural treats. I have since heard him speak at various horticultural events sponsored thru the California Hort Society, On the various Hortisexuals tours and events , at the Arboretum and in writing here on The GardenWeb. He is an excellent speaker and when using slides to illustrate a point , they are beautifully composed and in perfect focus. He is considered "The" Horticulturist's Horticulturist. While on the last Hortisexual trip down to L.A., he was the most sought after person in our wild and crazy group for horticultural identification. And that says a lot considering whose who in that group.. ( some of the most knowledgable and talented horticulturists on both the east and west coast ) >>>> ( as a matter of fact Cady, I think you will be speaking with one of the east coast editorial Hortisexuals soon ) ,, good luck ! we'll put a good word for you.

Dcarch and Pilllog, Thank you for your responses. I agree with the interactive and sensory comments. I am hoping that having an IPad or a laptop on a router so it can be positioned anywhere will open a whole new world of "hands on" instruction. I found that when I watched the freeby knife skills course, I only retained the techniques the second time through when I stood at the counter, knives and chopping block at hand, and actually practiced the motions described. Lots of use of the pause button while I played with angles and motions. The first time I just watched and the information didn't "stick." The second time I actually learned some new skills--maybe!! (I know I rejected some!) I think the same will be true of the cooking courses. I may well take the Mother Sauces course, partly because I really like James Peterson. If I do, I like the idea of actually making what he is demonstrating. Easy to do with modern technology--pause and rewind and fast forward. FWIW, the Craftsy (what a dreadful name!) offers permanent access to all materials--no time limits for how long you can return to review. I like that idea. Pilllog-- I have not searched Youtube for demos. Sort of at a loss with how to use Youtube. I have mainly accessed only when it was linked to whatever I was reading. Maybe I should check that out more often. CathyChex-- I didn't know Craftsy offered special prices. Nice to know! I really like that there is no time limit on access to their lessons. Glad to hear you found Mother Sauces useful. That is the one I am considering. Can you comment on it? I noticed that it had won an award--not sure how significant an award, though. I agree the free KnifeSkills was good. A really clever way for Craftsy to entice people into their programs by offering such a good freeby. Have you tried to "cook along" with any of the classes? I am really intrigued by the possibility that with modern technology we might have a virtual chef to cook alongside us in our kitchen, just rewinding him/her if we get confused and fast forwarding when we don't need him/her :-) Truly, this seems to open a whole new vista of possibilities. It all will depend, of course, upon the content of the "class" and the ability of the instructor. I will welcome James Peterson into my kitchen! We shall see. I would love to hear if anyone has tried cooking along with any of these "classes." Or has any other input or suggestions into online demonstrations and instruction. This post was edited by Bellsmom on Thu, May 8, 14 at 11:43

They can be very good. I've taken lots and have only been disappointed once. you sign up, get a password for your class the Thursday before it starts, then you go and read your lesson, do whatever you're supposed to do, then you go to the forum specific to your class where you talk to all the other students, the teachers are always really quick to answer any questions that you have and there's a gallery where everyone posts their pics so that your teacher can see what you're doing and you get lots of encouragement from the others. Give one a try and see how you get on. I was really surprised by the free motion quilting class I took years ago. I didn't think I would really learn how to do it on-line, but I did!

I live in So. Jersey--which at one time, was a huge center for the glass industry. Now, there are a lot of high-end glass artists still around. One community college has a glass program--they teach both art and commecial glass working. A few years ago, I took a Pate de Verre workshop there from a very well-known artist. In between our P d V projects, she showed us how to make glass beads. It was a lot of fun. Wish it didn't take so much heavy duty equipment to do glass work--I'd have my own shop at home!