Pickings from Sanborn Mills Farm

Farm Pickings

News and Updates from Sanborn Mills Farm

— October 3, 2022 —

Available Workshops: October

The 2022 workshop season at Sanborn Mills Farm is winding down, but there is still a schedule of available workshops remaining in October. Click on the workshop title to learn more and to register. Please note that workshops often fill early. (Workshops that are already full are not listed. Full workshops can be wait-listed.) The Blacksmithing Basics Workshop scheduled for November 11-13 will close the 2022 workshop season at the Farm.

Autumn Ink Making with Natural Dyes: October 15-16

Blacksmithing – Intermediate Smithing: October 28-30 (just one spot left as of Oct. 3)

DAPNet Gathers at the Farm

Over two picture-perfect autumn days, with a snap in the air, beautiful blue skies overhead, and our hardwood trees beginning to flame with fall color, the Draft Animal Power Network — DAPNet for short — held its annual gathering this past weekend at the Farm. The first day was devoted to workshops and one-on-one training, while demonstrations of farming and logging took over the second day. The Farm’s teamsters — Ray Ramsey, Tyler Allen, and Lars Prillaman — stayed busy showing attendees how we use draft animals at the Farm for a variety of farming tasks and working in the woods. Lars’s new team of Black Percherons, named Pearl and Pete (that’s them in the photo above) got a good workout and performed flawlessly. 

“It couldn’t have gone better,” said Ray, who is also the Farm’s farm manager. “This is a group that really loves draft animals and working with them.”

The DAPNet annual gathering will return to Sanborn Mills Farm in 2025 after meeting next year at Shelburne Farm in Vermont and in upstate New York in 2024. 

Natural Dye

Study Group

There’s a new way to indulge your interest in natural dyes and naturally dyed fibers at Sanborn Mills Farm. The Natural Dye Study Group will create ways for people interested in natural dyes to share their work over the winter, ask questions, share resources, and deepen their connection to the Sanborn Mills Farm Natural Dye Program.

Included are online study groups, in-person learning, and the opportunity to assist with our natural dye workshops during the Farm’s 2023 workshop season. The annual membership fee for the Study Group is $25, and in-studio days are $100 per day plus materials. 

This is a great opportunity to take a deep dive into learning how to grow, make, and use natural dyes. Click here for more information. 

Photo Credits

Photos by Steve Bjerklie.

Natural Dye Study Group logo designed by Lea Rossignol.