“Save the Hide for Something…”
OUR Workshop is now FULL!
2 Sessions, Saturday and Sunday,
November 11 & 12, 10am-4pm
Co-Hosted by Laurica Farm & Fraser Common Farm:
25775 12 Avenue, Langley, British Columbia V4W 2J7
Living within the circle of life means ensuring that that the things we don’t eat* — hide, bone, and more — are returned to the earth or transformed into things that contribute to our self-sufficiency.
We invite you to join Meg Cur of Crow’s Nest Wildcraft for a two day workshop transforming local farmers’ sheep hides into washable sheep skins. The weekend will include hands-on demos of preparing fresh hides and discussion of recipes, stretching skins on racks, and completing the softening process to produce soft, washable sheepskins.
Hide tanning involves continuous physical labour; some participants may choose to partner to work on one larger hide, and share it.
Please be prepared with adequate rest, clothing, and food/water.
Presented by EartHand Gleaners Society and co-hosted by Fraser Common Farm Co-op and Laurica Farm.
Alternate Registration or bursary application, contact Rebecca, runnawick@gmail.com
About our Partners:
Laurica Farm embraces the principles of permaculture, rotational grazing and holistic land management. There is a variety of crops and a young orchard as well as pasture raised livestock onsite. Laurica Farm has been recognized by the Greater Langley Chamber of Commerce for its Environmental Leadership and co-hosted Feast of Fields in 2016. The farm is currently undergoing huge change as the family builds the first hempcrete house built to code in BC.
A community farm that has been cooperatively owned and managed for nearly 40 years, Fraser Common Farm maintains a unique balance of food production, habitat conservation, communal & individual housing, and a sincere desire for long term sustainability.
Meg Cur of Crow’s Nest Wildcraft was trained in smoke-tanning traditions of the Great Basin area. She apprenticed with tanners for two years: during hunting season, they skinned deer, elk, and antelope for hunters, and after hunting season they tanned away the winter. Meg also researched and explored her ancestral tanning traditions and now practices bark-tanning. Hide tanning revivalism goes hand-in-hand with education. The concepts of permaculture, sustainability, and decolonization take on tangible dimensions in this practical art. Meg has been a community educator for five years, teaching workshops on how to tan and how to apply the ethics of this skillset to other landbased ventures.
*actually, the things we DO eat go back to the local soil, too — Fraser Common Farm has an excellent humanure system! — and it’s part of the conversation for another day 😉
Sheep photo: Cathy Finley, 2017