These are for 2021 -
Check back mid-winter for 2022 offerings.
Limited Space In Each Workshop - First Come, First Served
Pre-registration required
We are very family friendly and all ages are encouraged to come. Kid workshops are geared to 6-12 year olds (or anyone who is a child at heart). The rest of the workshops are for adults and interested teens.
After registering please e-mail your workshop choices to 68pennyg@gmail.com
Check the schedule to make sure your choices do not overlap.
Most of the materials for these workshops are gathered from the land by the instructors. This takes time and skill and thought to do responsibly. Since each project takes a different amount of effort to find and prepare materials, each one has a different materials fee, payable directly to the instructor at the start of each workshop. The fee is listed below the workshop description.
Black Ash Berry Basket
with Penny THIS CLASS IS FULL
Saturday morning and afternoon
This is a two-part workshop that requires both blocks to finish.
Weave a square to round, 6"x6" basket with an optional leather strap and in the process learn one of the oldest crafts in human history. For thousands of years baskets served as indispensable objects in every culture. Carry on the tradition and take home a beautiful, durable and useful basket crafted from local and responsibly harvested, hand pounded, black ash splints.
Materials fee: $25
The Wooden Spoon: Carving with Axe & Knife
with Sean THIS CLASS IS FULL
Saturday morning and afternoon
This is a two-part workshop that will require you to attend both blocks.
This workshop will provide you with the skills to craft your own cooking & eating utensils, from start to finish. We will begin with wood selection and axe work, learning how to work with the grain to efficiently split out stock material before proceeding to rough shape our spoons with axe and saw. Along the way we will discuss design layout and drawing to help plan out our shaping. We will learn proper axe safety measures and chopping technique to take the logs from their “raw” form to the stage where knifework becomes more viable.
In the second half of the course we will swap out our toolset for carving knives to further refine our roughly shaped spoons into objects of beauty and utility. Once again, proper safety through knife control and technique will be the focus of this segment, learning to use straight knives to shape the outside curves of the spoon and hook knives to hollow out the bowl. We’ll touch on different decoration techniques and how to finish your spoons as we approach the finish line- participants will complete the class with a functional spoon and all the skills necessary to carve more!
No materials fee.
Cedar Bark Hat
with Prin THIS CLASS IS FULL
Saturday morning and afternoon
Learn to weave your own hat from the inner bark of eastern white cedar. Note that this class takes two blocks.
Materials Fee: $35
Shrink Pots
with Lucian THIS CLASS IS FULL
Saturday morning
This is a very old method of making containers. The center is carved out of a green piece of wood, making a tube. Then a groove is made around the inside, near the bottom and a dry bottom board is carved to fit loosely in the groove. When the green wood dries and shrinks you have a container that can be used for storing dry goods. We will carve pots out of some local wood. All materials and tools will be provided but if you have a carving knife or spoon knife you like, bring them.
Material fee $10
Block Printing
with Erok THIS CLASS IS FULL
Saturday morning
Want to make an impression? Try Block Printing! Sure to bring relief! Ok, bad printing puns aside, in this workshop we will cover the basics of block printing from idea to ink. We'll cover materials, including wood, linoleum and masonite, as well as tools and techniques. And if all goes well, we'll each leave with an original print of our own making and design!
Materials Fee: $5-10 sliding scale
Coptic Book Binding
with Nancy THIS CLASS IS FULL
Saturday afternoon
In Coptic Book Binding, participants will learn the whole process- from start to finish- to create a unique handmade book. We will select beautiful handmade papers for the hardbound covers, and sew the exposed-spine binding using a traditional paired-needle, Coptic technique. This form of Coptic Binding creates a lovely chain stitch at every sewing station and results in a structurally strong book with high quality mixed-media pages for writing, drawing, doodling, or whatever your heart desires! This promises to be a full-immersion experience in book-binding; participants will leave with a handmade blank book and a wealth of knowledge.
Materials Fee $18
Burl Bowl Carving
With Luke THIS CLASS IS FULL
Saturday afternoon
Carve a one of a kind bowl from a soft wood branch harvested spruce burl using various gouges and hook knives.
Materials Fee: $10
Whisk Brooms
with Mary THIS CLASS IS FULL
Sunday morning
Throughout history, folks of different cultures have crafted brooms from natural materials. In this whisk broom workshop, we’ll dip into the basics of broom making, drawing on traditional Shaker techniques. We’ll cover knots, materials and tools specific to the craft, while tying your own pair of whisks - a plaited handle whisk broom, and the curvaceous turkey wing.
Materials Fee: $40
Knife Handles
with Lucian THIS CLASS IS FULL
Sunday morning
In this workshop we will burn wood handles onto blades and shape them to fit your hand. A choice of local hardwoods will be available. You can bring your own blade (must have a rat-tail tang) or there will be blades available to buy. All tools will be provided but if you have a whittling knife or rasp you like, bring it.
Material Fee: $10
A variety of hand forged blades will be available for $30 each. Some will be for general use and some will have a Scandinavian grind for whittling.
Rope making
with Luke THIS CLASS IS FULL
Sunday morning
Twist up a long durable tree fiber rope in this participatory demonstration. Also learn plant fiber cordage basics and make your own bracelet with a tree bead to take home.
Materials Fee: $5
Birch Bark Jewelry
with Prin THIS CLASS IS FULL
Sunday morning
In this workshop we'll make beads and bangles with materials and techniques that are more commonly associated with basketry. We'll use some of our favorite northern basketry species including white birch and black ash to weave a bracelet. We'll also make simple beads with birch bark that can be incorporated into bracelets, earrings, or necklaces, depending on time and student preferences.
Making jewelry is a great way to start learning basketry techniques. It's also a great way to expand on what you can do with the techniques you have if you are already a basket maker. For all of us it'll be a fun and productive way to spend a morning, with some unique jewelry to bring home at the end of it.
Materials Fee: $10
Diagonal Plaited Willow Bark Baskets
with Penny THIS CLASS IS FULL
Sunday Morning
Learn the technique of diagonal plaiting while creating a beautiful and useful vessel of willow bark. You will have some options in color and shape to make your own unique basket approximately 5"x4".
Materials fee $20
Bark Baskets for Kids
with Justin THIS CLASS IS FULL
Saturday morning
Learn to make a pine bark survival basket! Kids will learn to process white pine bark, and fold it and stitch it into beautiful and functional berry baskets or water baskets. Ages 6 and up, 12 student maximum.
Wild Adventures, Games and Singing
with Erok THIS CLASS IS FULL
Saturday afternoon
Stories and Games
with Ross THIS CLASS IS FULL
Sunday morning
We'll listen to folk tales and survival stories, spin yarns that tangle your brains and tickle your toes. We'll collaborate and vegetate in a narrative world where anything goes. We'll also learn to play the Norse board game Hnefatafl (A.K.A. Viking Chess). Then we can run and hide and sneak until our legs give out.
No materials fees.
Morning Walks
Saturday and Sunday mornings
7AM - meet at the pizza oven
Join us for an hour of wandering through the farm and forest. We will talk about the trees, plants, habitat, and animal sign we encounter, and listen to what the birds have to say. All participants welcome -- kids under 10 with a parent/guardian, please.