BREAD BASKETS AND TRAYS: BEGINNER

We are thrilled to announce a very special partnership with Black Cat Organic Farm ~ the Black Cat Makerie: Farm to Craft. This new set of retreats marries Black Cat’s and the Makerie’s mutual love of creativity, exquisite organic farm-to-table meals, and life on a working farm. Each unique retreat combines creative learning opportunities led by renowned artists and teachers, and James Beard finalist Chef Eric Skokan’s extraordinary ‘as fresh as farm gets’ Front Range cuisine. Our retreats vary in scope and scale as we explore different formats to bring you one-of-a-kind experiences on-site at the magical Black Cat Farm located just outside the city of Boulder, Colorado.

Working with willow, you’ll learn to make a simple and beautiful bread basket approximately 12” x 9.5”. You’ll also have the opportunity to make at least one or two larger serving trays. This is a great course for beginners or anyone wishing to fine-tune their willow basketmaking skills. We’ll start the course by learning about the different willows available to us and the most essential tools. You’ll learn about how the willow is prepared and how to select rods for the task at hand. We’ll guide you through weaving a simple serving tray, where you’ll learn the rhythm of the weave and the way to pressure it just in the right place to make an elegant turn around the hoop. This will be a gentle introduction before we learn to make the bread baskets. This small shallow bread basket was first learnt by Annemarie and Tom on a research trip to Alison Fitzgerald in Armagh, Northern Ireland. This trip to Northern Ireland informed much of the work we have done with frame baskets. It is a pleasure to know that these old ways will be passed along again and again. To make the bread basket you’ll first learn to cleave or split larger willow rods, initially using a knife and then by simply pressuring the willow with your fingers. There will be plenty of time for trial and error as you begin to get to know how the willow rods respond. Once the ribs are split and shaved and you’ll learn different methods, depending on your previous experience, to attach the ribs to the basket frame. As soon as these are in place you’ll learn a simple system for weaving into the frame to create a balanced weave. We’ll explore simple methods to stabilize the basket shape. As you near completion of the basket, you’ll also learn to ‘sew’ the central weavers to create a seamless join between one end and the other. For the trays and basket we will provide pre-made hoops which have already had time to set. We will however guide you through the process of hoop making so you can take home your own hoops to weave at home. Over the course of the retreat, we’ll take time to look at the historical uses of frame baskets, who made them, how they have changed over time. We’ll examine baskets made by travelers or gypsies across Ireland and Europe as well as ‘fancy’ baskets made on jigs by professional basketmakers.

WHAT YOU WILL LEARN

How to prepare and select willow for weaving
How to split, prepare, and attach ribs
How to weave and wrap a frame basket
How to control the shape of a frame basket
How to weave tray
How to trim and finish willow
How to make a hoop

VENUE
The workshop will be held on Black Cat Organic Farm, the most ambitious farm-to-table operation in the United States. James Beard Award finalist Chef Eric Skokan and his wife Jill have created a 425-acre organic and regenerative farm that supplies the bounty of their farm dinners, the downtown Boulder restaurant Bramble & Hare, the recipient of a coveted and rare Michelin Green Star, which honors restaurants that demonstrate true commitment to sustainability, CSA’s, and a Boulder Farmers’ Market Booth. Depending on the weather, classes will either be held in a renovated 19th-century cozy boutique barn that used to hold a community blacksmith shop, or on a brick verandah surrounded by gardens and acres of fields of vegetables, herbs, legumes, and grains. Mountains capped with snow for much of the year decorate the farm’s western horizon. The setting itself, however, is extremely pastoral, with sloping fields full of vegetables, fruit trees, a broad strawberry patch, and flowers everywhere when in season. Black Cat Organic Farm’s Toulouse geese, Akbash guard dogs, and strutting groups of chickens wander the property all day, evidence of the constant symbiotic relationship of life on a working farm.

CUISINE
Using Black Cat’s Certified Organic farm as a source of creativity, Chef Eric Skokan creates an award-winning cuisine vibrant with seasonality. The culinary team behind Bramble crafts our Black Cat Makerie meals, all of which closely reflect the seasons. The kitchen draws heavily from the farm’s more than 250 varieties of organic vegetables, legumes, grains, herbs and flowers, as well as its large flock of heritage sheep and its robust population of heritage pigs, paving the way for a limitless palette of flavors, colors, and textures from which to build each food experience. From artichokes to chickpeas, tomatoes to arugula, basil to wheat to winter squash and much more, Black Cat Organic Farm nurtures it all, transforming these stellar ingredients into gorgeous dishes. Each day of the retreat begins with a delicious homemade morning snack, followed by a hearty, fresh-from-the-fields lunch, and a delectable afternoon nibble. New this year! One very special farm dinner will be shared with our retreat community as part of the Black Cat Makerie experience. Surrounded by pastoral beauty and pampered with warm hospitality, guests who attend Black Cat Farm Dinners enjoy culinary experiences unlike any other in Colorado. The farm team devotes hours every day to harvesting these ingredients, then crafting them into outstanding dishes that mirror what is thriving in the fields. Many guests dine in private, glass-walled cabanas spread out across the farm, with views of rolling hills, organic agricultural fields and snow-capped mountains. We can’t wait for you to experience it all for yourself.