We are hosting Katie Groves, basket weaver, to teach a workshop here Sunday, April 8. One reason we have invited her as opposed to other basket weavers is that she uses local materials that we can easily harvest ourselves. We’ll be learning to use cattails, daylily leaves, bittersweet, grape vines and other grasses. I am posting the information about this workshop below.
There are just a couple of openings if anyone is interested. It will be 9-5, and the $85 includes materials, instruction, and lunch. You can contact us at ancientponies@gmail.com if you are interested.
We have planted our 4 American Chestnuts. One of them is starting to show through the top soil. We plan to put them out some time in June. We got these seeds from the American Chestnut Foundation. As you may know, this area was once covered with American chestnut trees and the nuts were a staple for local indiginous people. A blight killed all of the mature, nut-bearing trees and prevents them from growing into maturity. The foundation is working to create a blight resistant tree and these precious seeds are the result of their efforts. We will keep you posted!
Backyard Basketry: Coiling with Cattails, Grasses, and More
Coiling is an ancient and versatile basketry technique in which a wrapping strand of yarn or fiber is sewn around coils of plant material to build a form. It is used all over the world to create beautiful vessels that can be either decorative or functional. Once you learn the technique there is a lot of room for creativity; your preferences, as well as which materials and type of wrapping strands you choose, will determine the overall look, size, and shape of your basket. Each person’s creation will turn out completely unique!
During the workshop we will discuss how to identify, harvest, and prepare local plant materials, all while practicing a variety of coiling stitches and embellishments. Weather permitting we will also take a harvesting walk nearby to identify and harvest some supplemental materials to add to your basket. If you are excited about learning to make baskets with locally wild harvested natural materials then join us for a day of creativity, fun, and learning.
Everyone will leave with a completed basket, handouts with information covered during the workshop, and inspiration to explore your local landscape.
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Random Weave Basket with Grapevines and Bittersweet
Grapevines and bittersweet are some of our most common natural vines and their wild quality and abundance makes them ideal for creating the perfect market basket. In this workshop participants will make an easy and fun basket and well as learn everything they need to know to gather the right vines in their own backyards. You will learn a hoop frame construction and the technique of random-weaving to create a basket that reflects your love and appreciation of nature and handmade objects. All the secrets of harvesting, preparation, and storage of grapevines will be covered and participants will go home with a basket they made with their own hands as well as instructions and inspiration to create many more. Moderate hand strength required.
And yet, the signs of spring are starting to be everywhere. Walking across a snow-free area of the pasture, we see dots of robins searching for worms. The crocus is coming up! The buds of the lilac leaves are tight but green.
Another sure sign is that I saw Zoe drive by my window on Cubby, our little mower tractor. Seeing this, I can be SURE spring is coming! No matter how unlikely that seems today. We had Cubby, and the manure cart packed away in the Brenderup horse trailer for the winter. Zoe used it to take a first spring cartload of manure out to the garden.
We’ve also started planting some seeds indoors. Leeks, lettuce, celery, and other tender greens. Zoe had help doing this from Bob Winston our friend, a fellow farmer, and mycology sage.
My good friend Harry Rockland-Miller has been gardening for many years. He has been talking to me about his “solar cones” and how much they extend his gardening season. A good friend of both Harry and I, and a fellow gardener here at Ancient Ponies Farm, Jeff Weston, volunteered to make solar cones for us. You can find the design for them in the book Solar Gardening. This Sunday, Harry is coming over to give us a workshop on how to work with these solar cones in our garden.