EartHand Gleaners Society

art ~ ecology ~ people

  • Baba Yaga’s Slippers

    MacLean Park Fieldhouse, 710 Keefer St. @ Heatley, Strathcona
    2 Monday nights 2019 Feb 25, Mar 4, 6-9pm
    $130
    Register on PayPal

    This workshop using the diagonal plait technique is challenging but extremely rewarding, and gives participants a pair of slippers unlike anything else in the woven world. Starting off with paper samplers to understand how diagonal plaiting works, participants are encouraged to supply their choice of materials and colour for final product (ie/ felted sweaters, leather, bark or other flexible strips). Heather brown commercial felt and fur trim will be available (feature photo shows shoes made of salvaged cherry bark strips). Participants should expect 4-6 hours of practice weaving time and material prep between classes to complete on second session. Bring your dinner. Course fee includes handouts and some materials. 

    Instructor Rebecca Graham learned this technique thanks to Russian master basket weaver Vladimir Yarish’s book, Plaited Basketry with Birch Bark, highly recommended. Thanks to @ladyursus for suggesting the colourful workshop title.

  • Oil-Tanning & Talk with Lotta Rahme

    Trillium North Park, Malkin @ Thornton, Strathcona
    2019 Sunday 7 April, 1-4pm
    All tool use and materials included
    $165
    SOLD OUT

    We are delighted to welcome the world-renowned tanner Lotta Rahme to Vancouver! Whether you’re a beginner or have been making leather for a while (perhaps intimidated by how tough it is to soften oil-tanned skins?), this is an incredible opportunity to learn how to make gorgeous, light-coloured leather in a single day using grocery store supplies, with the guidance and insight of a highly experienced artisan. Lotta will share her research about fish leather from all over the northern hemisphere, and lead participants through oil-tanning a skin to take home. Lotta’s week-long workshops in Sweden regularly sell out months in advance, and her book Fish Leather Tanning and Sewing is EartHand’s recommended resource book.

  • The EartHand Weaver: basic basketry with invasive species and garden clippings 2019

    MacLean Park Fieldhouse, 710 Keefer St. @ Heatley, Strathcona
    NEW CLASS ADDED:     2019 Monday March 11, 6-9pm
    All tool use and materials included
    $40
    Sold out AGAIN!  please email runnawick at gmail dot com to get on the wait list for the next session

    EartHand is famous for our use of invasive species and garden clippings in basketry, thanks in large part to Sharon Kallis & Todd DeVries’ work leading The Urban Weaver Project.
    This is an introductory workshop for those new to the practice and a brush-up for those who haven’t woven in a while and would like to get back into it — especially for those of you interested in the Commuters’ Pack Weaving workshop later in the spring!

    We’ll cover harvesting, storing and preparing different commonly-available materials, how to start a basket, how to do twining technique, and make small ivy baskets to take home.
    You’ll leave with a whole new appreciation for both the basketry skills of our ancestors, and the generosity of our local weeds.

    Participants are welcome to bring their own tools, such as secateurs, utility knife like a small boxcutter, and/or garden scissors, if desired.

    Instructor: Rebecca Graham

  • Open Studio Sessions 2019

    Come and connect, get into the flow of conversation with your hands, and maybe get a good tip or suggestion from a neighbour.

    Open Studio at Means of Production Garden, E 6th Ave & St Catherines St, Mount Pleasant:
    Saturday March 30th, 10am-2pm — help prep plant materials and pack solar dye jars with barks from spring tree pruning. The fibres from dye jars will be revealed at the July 6th Celebration when the new stairs are complete

    Open Studio at Trillium North Park,  Malkin & Thornton, Strathcona:
    Monday evenings 6-9pm, July 8, 15, August 19, 26
    Summer Evenings to come hang out and work on personal projects,  be creatively inspired and get technical advice from your peers. Picnic dinners encouraged.

  • Community Food Forest Stewardship Guild 2019

    Means of Production Garden, E 6th Ave @ St.Catherines, Mount Pleasant
    2019, 9 Saturdays over three seasons, 10am-1pm
    All tool use and materials included
    $310 for all nine sessions
    REGISTER on Paypal for all nine sessions
    Or see links below description to register for seasons individually

    Want to get your hands dirty with some permaculture practice right in the city? At Means of Production Garden, leader Ryan Vasseur will guide Guild members in key skills for maintaining a community food forest in good health and maximum productivity.  Pruning fruit trees, building soil and other fundamentals of permaculture are included in these hands-on seasonal programs that support our community’s food bounty in Mount Pleasant. Learn the garden’s different elements with respect to food production, medicine, and so much more! Understanding the hillside design of MOP and how closed loop systems function is built into the nine learning/work sessions. Guild Members take home mini-harvests of seasonal bounty, from flower bouquets to fresh herbs or fruits as available. Snacks and tea provided each day.

    Spring:  Mar 23, Apr 27, May 25 — tree tending, soil building, and sowing seeds
    $113
    REGISTER for Spring on PayPal

    Summer: June 22, July 27, Aug 24 — Soil tending, bee habitat awareness
    $113
    REGISTER for Summer on PayPal

    Autumn: Sept 28, Oct 26, Nov 16 — Tree tending, mushroom inoculation, soil building
    $113
    REGISTER for Autumn on PayPal

    About our Instructor

    Ryan Vasseur is a permaculture, rainforest, and healthy soil enthusiast and completed his Permaculture Design Certificate (PDC) in 2018. He is passionate about food forests and gardening and looks for opportunities to combine them whenever possible. Ryan enjoys teaching about forest systems, soil health, and empowerment through growing and foraging food. Food forests are bio-diverse, multi-functional spaces that can produce food, medicine, habitat for animals and soil life, and are a model for truly sustainable and regenerative Earth care. During a food forest stewardship session you can expect to learn about building healthy soil, pruning and caring for food producing trees, foraging, mycology, and many more exciting topics. Ryan believes that human beings can be responsible stewards of this planet and create a regenerative future that allows life to flourish.

  • EartHand Gleaners Society AGM – 2018 in Review

    Strathcona Community Garden Eco Pavilion, 759 Malkin Ave, Vancouver
    Entrance in amongst the espalliered fruit trees
    3-4pm Saturday 2 February 2019

    Join us around the woodstove in the Strathcona Community Garden EcoPavilion for the ‘short and sweet’ Annual General Meeting of the EartHand Gleaners Society, reviewing our massive 2018 year; followed by a screening of some of Martin Borden’s documentaries of the Land & Sea Project. Bring a bowl and spoon — Soup, popcorn, tea, and anything else we can think of to cook on the top of the stove may be served.

    If you signed up through Eventbrite or PayPal to participate in any of EartHand’s programs in 2018, you automatically became a member of the EartHand Gleaners Society.

  • Trillium Stewardship & Studio Days 2019

    Trillium North Park, Malkin @ Thornton, Strathcona
    2019 Saturdays, 10am-4pm
    Tool use and materials, tea & lunch provided
    $10
    Register each session with the links in the descriptions

    Take a breath of fresh air, reconnect with the land and find good company in this playful eco-art program. Engaging in seasonal tasks and linking them with a variety of making skills, from basic weaving with dwarf willow to coil basketry and solar dye jar experiments, this program is a re-mix of our FORAGE program and the 2018 Trillium Community Dyers Club.
    Sponsored by Vancouver Park Board Arts Culture and Engagement, the $10 non-refundable booking fee goes towards snacks — and helps us know you will show up and not leave a space empty that someone else wanted.

    Feb 16 – Winter Willow Harvest, tension trays and random weave – REGISTER

    Feb 16 – Winter — A “willow tasting” of the three varieties that EartHand stewards between Trillium and MOP, this session is perfect for anyone curious to ‘meet’ willow and try their hand at weaving with it in a fun, exploratory atmosphere. Sharon and Rebecca will introduce a selection of forms and techniques  suitable for beginners, including Catalan style tension trays, random weave, and if the willow permits, stripping and weaving with bark strips. This is a free program sponsored by the Vancouver Park Board, the $10 registration fee goes towards a homemade lunch for the group.

    Due to the cold snap this session takes place at MacLean Park Studio — indoors! — at 710 Keefer St in Strathcona

    April 27 – Spring Dye Session – REGISTER

    August 17 – Summer Coil Basketry with grasses and vines – REGISTER

    September 28 – Autumn Dye Session – REGISTER

    This program is sponsored by the Vancouver Park Board

  • Fence Weaving Sessions 2019

    Though it’s highly unlikely that we’ll get the chance to weave in snow again, we’ll still have just as much fun in 2019 practicing (or learning new!) techniques for weaving  pathway fences at our gardens using willows grown on site!
    Obviously, dress for working outdoors with good footwear for rough terrain.     Tools provided
    Free Programs with limited space, so if you take a ticket, please show up!

    Trillium North Park, Malkin & Thornton, Strathcona
    Wednesday 1 May 2019, 6-8pm — REGISTER

    Means of Production Garden, E 6th Ave & St Catherines St, Mount Pleasant
    Sunday 5 May 2019,  1-4pm — REGISTER 
    Thursday 16 May 2019, 6-8pm — REGISTER


    Fence-weaving for Homeschool Families

    Means of Production Garden, Friday 31 May, 1-3pm — REGISTER 
    (A ticket for each child, 8+yrs)

    This session is an adaptation of our community fence weaving workshops, focused on teaching or further developing core weaving principles of under/over and twining while defining new pathways and fences in the mid-level area of Means of Production under the willow arches. This program will be particularly enjoyed by participants from the Seasonal Lessons from the Land program, but is open to all homeschool families, children aged 8+. Instructor: Sharon Kallis

    Please note, tickets are for children, we expect parents to be with a child, max of 2 children per adult for children 10 and under. MOP is uneven terrain, closed toe shoes only please, note no washrooms on site. Rain or shine! Dress for the weather, if the forecast is very dire a notice of reschedule will be sent out 24 hours beforehand

    This free program is offered with support from the Vancouver Park Board Neighbourhood Matching Fund

     

  • Winter Willow Workparties 2019

    Means of Production Garden, E 6th Ave @ St.Catherine’s St, Mount Pleasant
    2019 Saturday 19 January 10am-2pm
    2019 Sunday 3 February 1-4pm
    FREE
    Please REGISTER on Eventbrite

    Bring a snack to share and a cup for tea.

    Help bring in the willow crop at MOP. Learn about  coppicing methods for annual harvests,  rose twist knots for bundling, and try your hand at willow splitting. All are welcome.

    Dress for the weather, rain or shine! Participants can leave with a small bundle of willow for personal projects.

  • Commuters Pack Weaving Guild

    Trillium North Park, Malkin @ Thornton, Strathcona
    and
    MacLean Park Fieldhouse, 710 Keefer St. @ Heatley, Strathcona
    2019, Saturday/Sunday May 25, 26; June 1,2,15; 10am-4pm
    All tool use and materials included
    $305
    REGISTER through PayPal

    cof

    What containers do you pack for your daily journeys – do you use a fold up bag, sling a book bag over your shoulder, or improvise packs for your bicycle? This research group will focus on individual solutions for individual needs, harnessing the power of collective design brainstorming and technique sharing.

    You are encouraged to think of what daily bags you use or need – from lunch boxes to laptop sleeves or custom designed bike baskets or hip packs. Members are expected to design projects suitable for their time and skills. Various fibres will be available for use and participants may want to supplement depending on their project. Potluck program, these full days provide tea and some snacks, please bring something for lunch that can be shared at break time.

    Day 1: May 25 @ Trillium – focus on multiple techniques and materials for refresher including netmaking, tension tray, coiling, twining

    Day 2: May 26 @ Maclean – Group design lab – bring your ideas and use your travel habits to inform the project you take on. Images of different types of baskets, bags and carry methods will get us going as we work as a group and individually to  brainstorm our projects.

    Day 3,4,5: June 1,2,15 @ Trillium – weaving and making dates. These are group studio times to work on your project and get technical advice and assistance.

    Host and Lead: Sharon Kallis

    Technical advisor: Rebecca Graham

    So you know… this  series comes from Sharon’s desire to weave something akin to a paperboy basket for the back of her cargo bike, so Sharon will be designing and weaving along the group on studio days.