Courses

Lace up your baking shoes and get ready for an artisan breads baking marathon. Combining the skills of our popular Artisan Breads I and II courses, this two-and-a-half-day intensive course allows students to dig deep into hand-crafted, long-fermented, and hot-hearth baked breads. We’ll explore pre-ferments and a long cool rise…

Looking for a great at-home hobby? Dive into cheesemaking! In this online introduction to the craft you will learn the basics of cheese making through videos, demonstrations, and live Q and A. We’ll cover milks, starters, bacteria, molds, and common household equipment for cheese making that you probably already have…

Cranks wind, gears turn, dragons chomp, and birds fly. Welcome to the whimsical world of automata: simple wooden machines that delight and amaze. Join Cecilia Schiller for a five-day exploration of the art of making wooden machines and the mechanisms that make things move. Starting with the design process in…

Fall means apples in abundance! In anticipation of the season, join Chef Graden for an exploration of the versatile applications of a fruit that is both ubiquitous and under-utilized. This class will cover preparing (and eating!) all of these recipes, and more: apple and cran-apple ciders, apple pie, apple cider…

Learn the planning, layout, and joinery necessary to construct a traditional timber frame (post and beam) structure, such as North House's blacksmith shop, bread oven shelter, fish house classroom, and other structures around campus. The course begins with the basic mortise and tenon joint, and then expands on these techniques…

Learn the planning, layout, and joinery necessary to construct a traditional timber frame (post and beam) structure, such as North House’s blacksmith shop, bread oven shelter, fish house classroom, and other structures around campus. The course begins with the basic mortise and tenon joint, and then expands on these techniques…

Minnesota’s history is interwoven with the history of hat-making. Europe’s hunger for beaver-felt top hats drove the voyageurs into the heart of fur country. Most of the fur traded at Grand Portage eventually became felt hats. There is no softer, warmer, or more pliant fiber than fur-felt. We will use…

Carry around your studies, tools, or groceries in this beautiful and functional large birch bark tote basket. Students will learn about sustainable techniques for legal harvest and then use hand tools to prepare their 1 inch wide bark strips, and weave them into a tote base. The bag will be…

Discover the sturdiness and the beauty of birch bark by weaving a medium table top basket; perfect for organizing or displaying with its large base, shallow walls, and sturdy rim structure. This rim design will elevate your weaving skills by adding a three-dimensional pattern that mimics the zigzags of the…

From birds to beads, there are so many possibilities when it comes to birch bark. Join accomplished weavers Jack and Julie to learn to weave a variety of small projects, including garlands and a three dimensional star and more. Learn about the ecology of this iconic northern tree and leave…

This course will introduce students to the world of bird carving. This is a great class for beginners and experienced carvers alike. We will focus on song birds commonly found in the sub-boreal forest of the Lake Superior region. Of course, each bird is different but the general form, anatomy,…

The black ash pack basket: it's beautiful, highly functional and can be made using simple materials. The first part of the class will be spent preparing black ash splint for your basket by pounding a locally harvested log. Next, you'll weave the basket and finish it with a rim, handle,…

Outfit your own blacksmithing tool chest while developing and refining your skills on the forge. In this course, you will create the set of tools needed to become a backyard blacksmith, while simultaneously learning the basics of blacksmithing. Initial tool projects will include tongs and fire-tending tools. Heat treatment, forging,…

This course is an introduction to the basic skills of the blacksmith, including safety, fire control, tools, and equipment in both a classroom and "on the forge" setting. Student projects will be tailored toward individual skill levels. The class will begin with basic projects such as decorative nail-in hooks to…

Make the wood chips fly!  This course is for students ready to stand at the chopping block and to learn to use classic wooden bowl-carving hand tools—the adze, axe, gouge and push knife. Topics to be explored include selection of wood stock, elements of bowl design, strategies for hand-hewing, use…