Pickings from Sanborn Mills Farm

Farm Pickings

News and Updates from Sanborn Mills Farm

— September 6, 2022 —

Available Workshops: September and October

The 2022 workshop season at Sanborn Mills Farm is beginning to wind down, but there is still a full schedule of available workshops in September and October. Click on the workshop title to learn more and to register. Please note that workshops often fill early — for example, there are just two spots available in the October 28-30 Intermediate Blacksmithing workshop. (Workshops that are already full are not listed.) Click here for a month-by-month calendar of 2022 workshops at the Farm. Full workshops can be wait-listed.

Explorations in Vessel Making with Fiber:September 8-9

Blacksmithing Basics: September 23-25 (just one spot open as of 9/6/22)

Foraging For Color:September 29- October 1

Blacksmithing Basics: September 30-October 2

Beginners Hand Spinning with Raw Wool Processing: October 1-2

Blacksmithing – Traditional Joinery: October 8-9

Traditional Felt Making with Raw Wool Processing: October 8-9

Draft Animal – Logging with Oxen: October 15-16

Blacksmithing Forge Welding – A Closer Look Into Process and Product: October 15-16

Autumn Ink Making with Natural Dyes: October 15-16

Blacksmithing – Intermediate Smithing: October 28-30

Featured Workshop:

Hand Spinning with Raw Wool for Beginners

Our workshop coming up at the beginning of October offers a great introduction to hand spinning raw wool into yarn. If this is something you’ve thought you might like to try but never have, this workshop will help you learn the skills to go from beginner to accomplished hand-spinner. Click here to register. 

Glass Begins to Be Installed in the Greenhouse

The carpentry team at Sanborn Mills Farm has begun to install the glass in our classic hundred-year-old Lord & Burnham Greenhouse. Reconstructing this beatiful greenhouse, which was donated (in pieces) back in 2019 by a generous friend of the Farm, has been a steady work in progress. First, a brick facing was laid to support the framing and glass, then the framing was reconstructed (several missing parts had to be made by hand by our carpenters), and now the glass is being added. When completed later this fall, the 18 x 32 greenhouse with curved glass eaves and rack and pinion vent openers will provide shelter and warmth for starting plants during the cold months, extending our New England growing season. The building is sited above the Ornamental Garden to take advantage of winter sunlight and solar power — so much so that we can look forward to fresh vegetables -carrots, spinach, lettuce, herbs, broccoli, etc., in mid-winter.

Photo Credits

Watermelon photo by Lea Rossignol.

Hand-Spinning photo courtesy Prin van Gulden. 

All other photos by Steve Bjerklie.