Blacksmithing and other old ways

Went up the Farmer's Market in Heathsville yesterday which is sponsored by the folks who saved Rice's Inn from the ravages of time and termites.



They have done some really cool stuff up there including renovation of this inn, the construction of a blacksmithing shop behind the inn and what I think is a community meeting room/teaching facility which is also behind the inn . They run a small museum and a restaurant out of the renovated Rice's Inn and now are taking on even bigger projects.

I learned that they are currently teaching blacksmithing to anyone interested for FREE! They want to build up a small army of volunteers who can teach other old skills as well. They have ladies who do quilting and hand sewing of garments. But no spinners.

And yes, you know I went and talked to them about spinning. I was sort of hoping there was someone already teaching that but I know if I stick my neck out there someone will come along who DOES know more than I do and can then be arm-twisted into teaching ME! But I can see where this could easily spill over into other areas like dye classes, knitting, tatting, herbalism and even mead making or soap making. It's kind of amazing how many old skills I really do have... even as a dabbler, I'm ahead of a lot of other folks.

You know, I haven't done any tatting in a long while. I wonder if I could spin fine enough to make thread for that... hmmm... later perhaps.