Wild Lore Folk School starts up in South Minneapolis

Founders hope to build traditional skills such as soap-making, weaving, tanning and more

by Tesha M. Christensen

A group of South Minneapolis residents interested in traditional skills have started the Wild Lore Folk School, a collectively operated non-profit.

One of the founders, Alicia Hoven, pointed out that in our modern industrial society people spend less and less time making things.

“We buy all the things we need and they were made in factories on the other side of the world,” Hoven remarked.

She hopes that Wild Lore can help shift that perspective by giving people the tools and skills to see things differently, and maybe even adopt a different set of values about the world.

“Even though we live in the city, we are still a part of the earth and I believe that as humans we need to redevelop our connection to the rest of the world,” said Hoven. “Things like growing and harvesting food in sustainable ways, making items for daily use that are not coming from industrial production, and simply gaining knowledge about our local flora and fauna are all a part of that shift.”

WEAVING, TANNING, SOAP-MAKING, AND MORE

Wild Lore has been offering a class or two each month on a variety of topics. In September, it was on how to bind books and how to canoe.

The group’s first big event was held at the Longfellow Recreation Center, and several of the organizers and teachers live in the Longfellow neighborhood.

The most recent event was a craft fair and skill share on Sept. 26 at the Corcoran Recreation Center that pulled together a basket weaver, soap maker, spinner, bowyer, tanner and more. Participants learned how to brew a cousin of Kombucha called Jun, which is made with green tea and raw honey, and asked questions about wilderness first aid. A benefit square dance followed the workshops and demonstrations.

These are the sorts of traditional skills Wild Lore aims to build through democratic education and resource sharing in an urban community.

“We want to be learning these skills and talking about these ideas without traveling many hours by car,” said Hoven. “We want to place that learning here in Minneapolis where we live and not remove it from our day-to-day lives.”

On Oct. 3 and 4, Wild Lore will host a Earth (Pizza) Oven Class from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. During this workshop participants will get a hands-on experience building an earth (cob and clay) oven. The workshop will allow participants to experience each stage of the building process, and cover oven design and dynamics. Each participant will gain the knowledge and experience to confidently complete their own oven project. The class is being taught by Derek Maxwell and the fee is $50.

Wild Lore also hopes to host regular craft nights where people can just get together without a structured class environment.

“Gatherings of that sort are important to us because part of what we envision is building more community and dialogue about traditional skills and healthy relationships with the natural world,” explained Hoven.

Organizers want to do more than teach classes and share skills. They want to do it in the context of their underlying values.

“We’re less interested in showing someone how to make a birch bark napkin holder from a kit and sending them on their way,” said Hoven.

They dream about finding a space that can serve as a classroom, resource center, and gathering space. They’d love to have a reference library, tools to borrow, materials to trade, spur-of-the-moment skill shares, week-long “field trip” classes to the woods, and more.

IDEA BORN DURING SPRING HARVESTS

The idea for the Wild Lore Folk School was planted last spring shortly after a number of the collaborators spent a month and a half in the woods living in wall tents to harvest maple syrup ,and then headed up to Duluth for the smelt run.

“I think that the momentum of those harvests and that community of people helped get Wild Lore going,” noted Hoven.

They started meeting in the middle of April and spent a lot of time just talking about big ideas, values, and dreams of what this could be. At some point they decided to create the folk school. The first class was Black Ash Basketry on June 22 taught by Zac Fittipaldi.

Fittipaldi has been working on wilderness skills since 2003 when he killed his first deer and figured out how to turn the skin to leather. He has traveled the country learning, practicing, and passing on skills including basket weaving, hide tanning and leather craft, wild food gathering and ax craft, and teaches at many gatherings nad schools. Fittipaldi completed a basketry apprenticeship at the Ancient Arts Center of Coast Range, Ore.

Hoven grew up in a rural area in the woods, and has always had a connection to the wilderness and the natural world.

In the past five or so years she has started being more and more intentional about learning traditional and wild crafting skills. She has been involved in some other small collective projects, enjoying the collaborative process and creating something new together.

“I really value sharing knowledge and creating accessible learning and teaching spaces,” said Hoven.

“I am excited to help create a space when I can learn and hone some really great skills.”

For more, browse www.wildlore.org, email info@wildlore.org or leave a message at 612-lotus18.

This story appeared in the September 2015 Messenger.