Class Schedule

2013 Class Schedule All classes held at Koviashuvik, local organic meals provided for full day or overnight classes.

Canoe Paddle Making: Dip and Swing into Spring

Come experience the perfect synergy of two traditional tools: the draw knife and the shave horse. You will carve a traditionally shaped Maine Guide Paddle. In between woodworking you will experience life at Koviashuvik with home-grown food, wall tent with wood stove accommodations, open fire cooking, stories and songs. You will leave with your own paddle ready to “dip and swing”. (No prior woodworking experience necessary.)

Date: April 20th and 21st

Time:9am Sat- 2pm Sunday

Cost: $195

Homemade Spoons: We will use coals to hollow the spoons, then a sharp knife to carve the handles. You will depart with your own beautiful wooden spoon and the skills to make many more.

Date: Saturday, April 27th

Time: 9-12 pm

Cost: $15

Rocket Stove Building Workshop: Rocket stoves are small wood-burning stoves that give a tremendous amount of heat for cooking, while using very little wood. In this class you will make your own portable rocket stove from large-sized coffee cans. At Koviashuvik we cook all our summer meals on a rocket stove and take them on camping trips. We highly recommend them!

Date: Sunday May 5th

Time:2-5pm

Cost: $35

Don’t Wait for Lettuce! Introduction to Early Wild Greens:

Come taste the first tangy greens of spring. We will identify and gather several leafy greens, then prepare a big salad and enjoy a simple meal of salad and local bread. (For a more in-depth wild edibles class see “Wild Greens for the Common Table.”)

Date: Friday, May 10th

Time: 4-6: 30

Cost: $20 (includes supper)

Wild Greens for the Common Table: Learn about amazing local plants that will grace your table, feed your family, and connect your spirit to the springtime. Plants we’ll look for may include Trout Lily, Colt’s Foot, Chickweed, Violet, Dandelion, Fiddleheads, Knotweed, Basswood, Stinging Nettle, Lambs’ Quarters, Sorrel, Burdock, Indian Cucumber, and Cattail. The class culminates with open fire cooking and a three-course “wild” lunch. Plants are taught with an emphasis on observation skills that will enable you to continue gathering on your own.

Date: Saturday, May 18th

Time: 9:30am-2pm

Cost: $45

Ice Cream and Open House! Come help turn the crank and make old fashioned ice cream with ice from the new Koviashuvik ice house and local cream. There will be live music, delicious ice cream, and tours of the school grounds. The tour includes a stone root cellar, vegetable gardens, nut orchard, edible landscaping, earth-bermed greenhouse, rainwater collection systems, solar dehydrator, solar hot water system, alternative cooking technologies, composting toilet, log cabin, and ice house.

Date: Saturday, May 25th

Time: come anytime 10am-2pm, tours at 10:30am and 12:30pm

Cost: Free

Hand Tool Sharpening: Nothing is more satisfying than working with a truly sharp tool. Learn all about how to sharpen edge tools, including chisels, drawknives, axes, block planes, knives, etc. Bring one of your own whittling or kitchen knives to practice on.

Date: Friday, May 31st

Time: 4-6pm

Cost: $15

Deerskins into Leather: Come learn, through doing, about all the steps and stages that transform a raw hide into soft, fuzzy, smoked buckskin. It’s easier than you think!

Date: Saturday, June 15th

Time: 9am-4:30pm

Cost: $55

Moccasin Making (with optional rubber soles!): What a feeling to make your own shoes! You will stitch a pair of traditional moccasins with hand-tanned leather, then, if you want, coat the bottom with a mixture of tire shavings and rubber glue that will extend the life and versatility of your moccasins. Participants leave with their own needle, thread and awl for finishing details and future projects.

Date: Saturday, June 29th

Time: 9am-5pm

Cost: $85 + $15 optional rubber coating

Humanure 101- Make a Composting Toilet and Learn How to Use It: This class answers your questions about composting, humanure and otherwise, and provides you with a set-up to get started at home. Participants learn basic carpentry and build their own simple and beatuiful wooden toilet from local hardwoods. The toilet may be used indoors or out with no odor and is emptied into a thermophilic compost pile. We will also tour the composting systems of Koviashuvik and build a compost pile together. Participants leave with their own toilet and a copy of “The Humanure Handbook” a 300 page treatise on the subject!

Date: Saturday, July 13th

Time: 10am-3pm

Cost: $65

Woodswork, Wildcraft and Tree ID: In this class we work on thinning the forest for its sake and ours. The morning will be spent in the woods learning to identify the local trees and understand their specific roles in the forest. We will cut some trees with hand tools to improve the health of the stand, then spend the afternoon making baskets from the bark of the trees we thinned.

Date: Saturday, July 20th

Time: 9am- 4:30pm

Cost: $55

Family Sustainability Stay: An Educational Vacation for All Ages:

If you and your family have a desire to simplify life, provide for some of your basic needs, or strengthen your connection with the earth this experience is a great place to start! For three days you will enter into a ready-made sustainable living system. We will work with you each day on skills of your choice. You may make your own rocket stove, build a compost pile or make solar fruit leather. Your kids might make a bow and arrow, fire with friction, or string from tree bark. Whatever activities you choose you will certainly harvest food from the garden, cook on a fire, carve spoons and eat with them, grind grain and bake bread, use a composting toilet, take a solar shower, and sleep soundly after a good day of conscious living. There will also be time to explore local hiking options and swimming holes, and to just be as a family.

Accommodations include a spacious white canvas wall tent with wood floor and composting toilet. We are also able to host 2 families at a time for a reduced price if families are willing to share the sleeping space.

Dates: August 2nd - 4th, August 9th- 11th, August 23rd- 25th (Please inquire about additional dates to meet the needs of your family.)

Time: 10:30 am Friday-Sunday afternoon

Cost: $750 for single family, $550 per family for 2 families

Fermentation Fiesta- Kimchi, Sauerkraut, Pickles and Dilly Beans: The Old World food storage method of lacto-fermentation is extremely simple, does not involve vinegar or canning, and provides a food that is delicious and alive with all its nutrients. We begin with kimchi and sauerkraut, then progress into pickles and dilly beans. You’ll get to taste- test finished ferments and make your own to take home. All ingredients will be provided, however you are also welcome to bring your own cucumbers/green beans and large jars to make a batch of your own pickles!

Date: Friday August 17^th

Time: 2-6pm

Cost: $25

Processing Acorns into Flour: Acorns- the amazing, bountiful, ancient staple of humanity! But did you ever try eating a raw acorn? Ptewy! You probably spit it right out! However, it just takes a little processing to transform acorns into a truly delicious staple that could have a major role in transforming our diet, and culture. This is real food, we eat hundreds of pounds a year! Learn about harvesting, drying, shelling, leaching, and grinding acorns. We’ll end the day by baking some tasty acorn treats and sharing recipes.

Date: Saturday, October 5th

Time: 10am-3pm

Cost: $35

Packbasket Weaving Weekend: With a brown ash pack-basket you can carry the world! During this weekend you will weave a whole packbasket, learn the art of “pounding ash” to make the basket material, and enjoy the fall harvest foods at every meal. Participants leave with their own packbaskets on their backs!

Date: October 12th-13th

Time: 9:30 am Saturday to 4pm Sunday

Cost: $245