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At Sanborn Mills Farm, preserving the past and planning for the future go hand in hand!
November 2017 eNews
2018 workshops start next April . . . We’ve just finished up the 2017 workshop season and extend thanks to everyone who made it possible. We held 26 workshops and reached over 110 students. Special thanks to our instructors, gardeners, and to our cooking staff led by Ann Crowley, who provided hearty farm-to-table lunches throughout the season.
Even as we hang storm windows and put the gardens to bed for winter, we are already looking ahead to 2018. Workshops will start up again in April and go through early November. The 2018 schedule is now available for you to explore on our website www.sanbornmills.org. As the holidays approach, remember gift certificates for next season’s workshops are available for family and friends. Click here to learn more.
In 2018, the focus of our workshops continues to be on traditional coal fired blacksmithing, oxen skills, and fiber arts.
Farm Manager and oxen teamster 
You can view the upcoming workshops from the home page of the website www.sanbornmills.org but the best way to explore the line up is to go to the Calendar section. Just scroll forward to 2018!
Making a comfortable chair . . . Good lumber for furniture making is best if it has straight grain, without knots or bends. However, because humans have lots of curves, we prefer to sit in a chair that has some curves too. If a furniture maker wants to make a chair that is comfortable, he or she has basically two choices – either carve the curves into the wood or figure out a way to bend it. 
(clockwise left to right) home built steamer, Kevin Schurman getting ready to bend a piece in the jig, laying out the seat, a finished chair.
Our carpenters have been testing the limits of bending wood through a process of soaking, steaming, and clamping. Using a steam box powered by a propane tank, Kevin Schurman and his team have been steaming strips of red oak logged and milled right here at the farm and then bending them in a jig made out of angle iron and a house jack. The goal is to make comfortable folding chairs that are also easy to store for our new function space. The results so far are impressive – and comfortable! For more on steam bending wood, check out the Wikipedia article here.
Update on the new entryway . . . 
Finished trompe l’oeil Progress has been steady on creating an entry way to the Main House and new Carriage Barn that complements both the mission and the 19th century heritage of Sanborn Mills Farm. Artist and designer Robert Braun began the project by researching 19th century snickarglaedje architecture as inspiration for the painted ceiling. 
19th century architectural filigree – snickarglaedje (left), sketch for the painted ceiling of the entry way (right).
For his design of the painting over the door leading to the new Carriage Barn, Bob researched 19th century and contemporary seed catalogues to find interesting and beautiful varieties of vegetables and fruit for his compositions. Heirloom seeds were ordered and planted by Sanborn Mills Farm gardeners Jenn Merrill and Michelle Smith in the spring and harvested in the fall. Vegetables grown included Giraumon squash, Deadon cabbage, and a few varieties of tomatoes, beets, onions, and eggplant. 
19th century illustrations (left) Deadon cabbage growing (right)
Doorway leading to the new Carriage Barn before being painted (left) and the partially completed entry way (right). After sketching out the concept, the vegetables were harvested, arranged above the door on a temporary shelf and then photographed. The image was printed out to serve as a life size pattern for the trompe l’oeil painting. Bob’s mastery with a brush brought the painting to life with the colors, textures, light, and shadow needed to create a truly three-dimensional illusion. The next step will be to add collages of 19th century agricultural prints.
Click here for more on Robert Braun’s interest in painting historic architecture and heirloom animals.
Photographs for this eNews:
Banner image is a detail of the slatted seats of our new chairs made from red oak harvested & milled on the farm. Entry way images by Robert Braun
All other images by Lynn Martin Graton.
Sanborn Mills Inc. | 603-435-7314 |
A traditional New Hampshire farm and nonprofit organization dedicated to sustainability, creativity, and preserving folklife skills and agricultural knowledge so that the best of the past can help shape our future.
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