The Acadians, a thrifty people, wasted nothing that could be put to other use. Using scrap fabric to braid and sew rugs, there was always the delight in making utilitarian objects colourful and attractive. Learn to master the old craft of 5-strand plaiting, then sew the braids together and finish a rug for your own kitchen, hall or bath. Along with the rug-making, comes the story-telling. See how these "colourful lengths of material take form, intertwining with each other and unfolding like a beautiful flower."

Anne remembers watching her grandmother Charlotte plaiting five strand braided rugs while sitting in front of the stove during winter evenings. In 1995, after several years living "away" Anne returned to 'Acadie' and decided to research and revive this forgotten art, which is how her adventure with Acadian Rugs began. In passing on this tradition to a younger generation, others will gain the pleasure it has brought her.

Two-day Course fee $125.00 Includes a materials kit with enough fabric to complete a 60 x 75 cm rug, together with an illustrated instruction manual. Instruction in both French and English if requested.

Learning about Fibre: Spinning, Dyeing, Felting You may register for one, two or three daysDay one of this 3-day workshop will include hands-on preparation of a wool fleece, a discussion of wool types, shearing methods, skirting, sorting and washing of fleeces. Bring along any fleece you already have for an evaluation. Following will be an introduction to the art of hand spinning. Using locally produced wool, learn how to card with hand carders and a drum carder. Learn how to make a drop spindle, and then spin with it! Progress to the spinning wheel, and feel the rhythm of producing handspun yarn! Wheels will be provided, or bring your own.

Day two: You will learn the ancient technique of wet felting to produce both practical and whimsical textiles. Projects will include beads, balls, flat felt pictures and a felted vessel. Be sure and wear old clothes!

Day three: This day will provide a thorough-going introduction to dyeing wool with natural dyes. The method of using plants to naturally dye wool can be both fun and easy. Using environmentally friendly techniques, we will collect local dyestuffs, and then dye handspun wool. Be inspired by the colours of nature. This workshop will be conducted outside, so please dress appropriately. Bring your own skeins of handspun wool, or purchase supplies from the instructor.

Wendy Kearnes has been working with textiles since she was 13. While enrolled in Fashion Technique and Design at Sheridan College, she decided to major in knit design and realized her true passion. Working with varied colours and textures, and developing lines of natural garments, Wendy became a well known textile artist. She discovered another passion in farming sheep. Using wool which she has grown and processed, or other locally produced fibre, Wendy designs original, beautifully hand crafted garments.

Woolen supplies are available for purchase from the instructor on site. Register for the full 3-day workshop: $179. Register for a single day, $75, or for 2 days $125.

This day-long workshop will provide basic instruction in the construction of a cloth doll using muslin and stuffing. The primitive dolls we will build will be tea-dyed or painted black according to your preference. Keep your eyes open this summer for old "quilt" scraps, a bit of lace, an old tablecloth, or a whimsical piece of fabric to create a dress or jacket. If you have a portable sewing machine, bring it. Muslin and stuffing and other findings will be provided.

Judy lives in Round Hill, Annapolis County. For the past eight years, as a hobby, she has enjoyed making primitive dolls. "Seeing individual faces and personalities develop I was hooked on creating little characters." Judy prefers to work with natural fibres like wool, cotton and mohair, as well as vintage fabrics. She attends two or three craft shows a year and sells her work locally and to collectors far and wide.

Fee: $75. Includes basic materials. Participants are encouraged to bring their own findings.

Participants will be provided with a spoon blank, which by day's end, will be fashioned into a finished spoon, ready to take home for final sanding. They will also work at gouging out a bowl blank and learn how to select and properly season the wood for carving. Bill will demonstrate using his own collection of antique hand tools, and everyone will gain experience using curve knives, chisels and hammers, gouges, and spoke shaves, as well as learning to work on a shave horse. The lost techniques of sharpening tools and keeping them in working order will be covered. Participants should have some experience of woodworking.

Registration is limited to eight to provide for personalized instruction and the opportunity to work with the full repertoire of tools.

Bill is a professional gardener with an extensive history in forestry, gardening and estate management in Scotland and in Canada. Self-taught, Bill has achieved a mastery of the craft that allows him to ex-ploit the simple beauty of the utilitarian wooden objects once found in pioneer kitchens by working in the same fashion as the craftsmen of an earlier era. His work is much in demand at the Annapolis Royal Farmers Market and at select shows in the area.

Course fee: $75.00.

Country portraiture and documentary photography in the Annapolis Valley. Visit a cobbler's shop, a fishing wharf, a sheep farm… Stop in at the "Exhibition" for the ox pulls and "Cow-pattie Bingo". Under expert guidance, learn to use light, composition, and the wonderful faces of the countryside to create magical photographs. Bring your 35mm or digital camera and prepare to work in the field at first light and in the late afternoon.

Nance's photographs have appeared on the covers of TIME, Canadian Geographic, and Canada's national magazine, Macleans. She has had her work in the New York Times, International Herald Tribune, and Sports Illustrated. Formerly a photo editor at the Montreal Gazette, her photographs have been displayed at Aperture in New York, the McCord Museum in Montreal and Museum of Civiization in Ottawa. Well known for her documentary work and her portraits of women, Nance also works with the Smithsonian's National Museum of the American Indian photographing native communities of the Americas. Learn about her current work at www.woman-kind.com.

Course fee: $140. Limited registration.

"Confidence with the brush comes with drawing" Explore and interpret the beautiful landscapes of the Valley. Work from nature and in the studio with an emphasis on drawing and preparing studies under the guidance of an acknowledged master. Learn how to see the elements and features of these landscapes, while developing your techniques in drawing and painting. Participants may work in watercolour or oils as they choose. 

Quebec-born Cluny Maher has a Bachelor of Arts (1963) and a Bachelor of Education (1964) from Loyola College in Montreal, and taught for twelve years in the public school system. In 1973 he received a Bachelor of Fine Arts from Sir George Williams (Concordia) University, and in 1978 settled in Tupperville. where the rural landscape continues to inspire him. Cluny has exhibited and sold his work throughout Canada and the United States and has his own gallery in Lunenburg, N.S.

Course fee: $75. Participants should bring their own supplies.

Bees are an important part of the rural economy of the Valley: beside providing honey, they serve the critical function of ensuring pollination of orchards and fruit farms. Pierre will lead a visit to a working apiary. The focus will be on basic bee-keeping management and extracting honey using traditional hand-powered equipment. Explore the old techniques for keeping bees; how comb honey is prepared, how the wax is handled, and learn to build an old-fashioned bee-box. Extracting honey with hand-powered equipment, we'll prepare a sample to take home.

Pierre has been in the bee-keeping business for 26 years and in Annapolis County since 1993 where he manages about 130 hives. Keenly interested since adolescence, he can remember the first book he read about bees, a book from France, when he was about 13 years old. By age 15 he had two hives. He learned his skills from a monk who kept bees at a monastery near Pierre's home in Dieppe. Pierre spent a year in France studying entymology and afterwards apprenticed near Arles with a beekeeper and producer of unifloral honeys.

Course fee: $75. Instruction available both in French and English

This is a workshop in seeing and assessing the character and possibilities of one's own property and its location. Questions to consider are the house; its architecture; its orientation to views; to the arc of the sun and to prevailing winds; the setting and its special features, such as specimen trees; plus the requirements of an active household or the retiring family. Issues of privacy, of the public face, of recreational habits, gardening for a self-sustaining life-style, or for pure aesthetic pleasure, or a mix.

Participants are asked to bring photos of their location, taken from every aspect, as well as note pads and tracing paper, pencils and colour (pens, crayons, watercolours). Part of the day will be spent visiting one or more neighboring properties to visualize the principles to be applied.

Lorraine's previous career encompassed weaving and instructing in textile techniques, but for more than 20 years, since coming to the Annapolis Valley, Lorraine has been unrestrained in her impulse to garden. She consults on gardens, does extensive research on plant material, and grows, cuts and arranges flowers for businesses and for special occasions.

Course fee: $75.

Spend two days during the loveliest weeks of a Nova Scotia autumn touring an orchard, harvesting apples; making cider with traditional gear and seeing what a commercial-grade operation looks like. Make jams, jellies, apple and herb vinegars, dried apples and apple desserts. Learn about traditional varieties and the requirements of organic growing and marketing from small holdings.

Danny Bruce and Sandie Troop operate Bruce Family Farm, where they grow certified organic beef and lamb, and produce jams and preserves to traditional recipes. Jim and Loretta Inglis own and operate Inglis Orchardview Farm in Tupperville. Stopping for a cool drink of their cider on a summer's afternoon is a local tradition.

Course fee: $109.00, includes costs of materials and ingredients and lunches both days, and you will, of course, be able to take your 'produce' home, as well as some dandy recipes and memories of crisp fall days and warm country kitchens.

Learn how the Acadians collected clay from the banks of the Terre Rouge river, mixed it with sand and salt marsh hay, and constructed their ovens for baking bread, biscuits and casseroles. This same material, torchis, was also used in the construction of some of the early Acadian houses. Bring old clothes and prepare to work "hands on" through every step of the construction. You will learn that it is possible to construct a functional oven in the Acadian style, and sample a freshly baked loaf of bread at the end of the day.

Jef Achenbach and Perry Everett, through their company, Annapolis Thatching Co-op, Inc. have conducted considerable research into 17th-18th Century Acadian construction techniques. They have applied their knowledge of pre-Expulsion Acadian crafts and construction methods to a number of projects over the years including the reconstructed 1671 replica Acadian cottage in the Historic Gardens, Annapolis Royal

Course fee: $75.00 includes an illustrated oven construction manual.

Thatching is one of the oldest methods of roofing a building. Reeds and different grasses have been used in this way around the world. Learn how local Phragmites can be harvested and prepared; how it is laid on, fastened down and finished to give a durable weatherproof cover. Learn how to construct a thatched roof over your own picnic table or gazebo.

Jef Achenbach and Perry Everett, through their company, Annapolis Thatching Co-op, Inc. have conducted research into 17th-18th Century Acadian construction techniques. Evidence of their thatching skills can be seen on a number of reconstructed Acadian buildings throughout the Valley, as well as at Iona, Cape Breton Island, and on a project commissioned by Parks Canada at Pleasant Bay, Cape Breton Highlands National Park.

Course fee: $75.00: Includes an illustrated manual.