Description: Do you need a refresher course on making bread from scratch? Would you like to try baking in a wood burning stove? If so, try your hand at biscuits, yeast bread and cinnamon rolls in an 1875 kitchen while learning the history of bread making. Afterwards, sit and enjoy your creations. Make sure to bring containers in which to take home leftover food. Advance registration required in order to have enough food! Recipes and all cost of materials included in cost of class.

Making Old Recipes New Again: Dessert Edition

Description: Previously Living History Farms has offered classes about adapting some of our favorite main dish and side dish recipes for a modern kitchen. However, if you’re more interested in sweet than savory, this class is for you! Join our staff as we make our famous 1900-era buttermilk chocolate cake and a fruit pie. Also learn to make our marble spice cake, orange cake, and brandied fruit sauce. These 19th century recipes may be old, but they are definitely meant to be enjoyed today as well. Bring containers to take any extra sweets you make home. Pre-registration required in order to have enough food! No reservations taken the day of class. All recipes and costs of materials included in cost of class.

19th Century Bread Baking

Description: Do you need a refresher course on making bread from scratch? Would you like to try baking in a wood burning stove? If so, try your hand at biscuits, yeast bread and cinnamon rolls in an 1875 kitchen while learning the history of bread making. Afterwards, sit and enjoy your creations. Make sure to bring containers in which to take home leftover food. Advance registration required in order to have enough food! Recipes and all cost of materials included in cost of class.

Death by Chocolate-Victorian Style

Description: Join Living History Farms staff for a sweet look at Victorian chocolate treats. Chocolate may have been less common in the 19th century, but there were still cakes, sauces and other delicious chocolaty treats to be had. After creating several of these treats, sit down to enjoy them with fellow classmates. Make sure to bring containers to take any extra goodies you make home. Pre-registration required in order to have enough food! No reservations taken the day of class. All costs of materials included in cost of class.

Classic Comfort Foods

Description: Join Living History Farm staff for some “stick to your ribs” comfort food and a cup of fresh coffee. Students will learn the art of making homemade noodles and other quick comfort items at the Victorian Tangen House. Student creations will be cooked or baked on a wood stove in the 1875 period kitchen. At the end, everyone will sit down to a late supper of their culinary projects. Recipes will be provided. Class size is limited to eight students; advance registration only. No registrations taken the day of the class. All cost of materials included in cost of class.

Ribbons and Bows: Making Decorations for Victorian Ladies Hats

Description: Victorian ladies loved to embellish their hats and clothes with a wide variety of ribbon trims. In this class, students will learn to make many of these basic trims, including two styles of ruching, a gathered rose, a folded rose, leaves, and a violet. Full instructions provided. Class fee includes the cost of most materials, but please bring basic sewing supplies- needles, pins, cloth scissors, etc. - with you to class.

Mortise and Tenon Joints - Make Your Own Table

Description: This class meets three times - Feb. 27 from 6-9 pm; Feb. 28 from 9 am - 5 pm; and March 1 from Noon - 5 pm.

Small class size guarantees lots of 1-1 instruction and attention! This is a project-based class in which you will walk away (hopefully!) with a simple end table. Participants will be able to customize the table to their size and style specifications (within reason!). Learn how to layout and cut tenons, and chip out mortises by hand as you work with the Living History Farms’ cabinetmaker. Several cutting techniques will be covered. Theories behind the strongest joints will be covered, as will decorative joints. This class is a lot of cutting, sawing, and chiseling. Tools will be provided, but you are welcome to bring your own. Cost of materials included in cost of class. Sorry; due to safety reasons, no one under age 18 please.

Basics of Cooking on a Wood Burning Stove

Description: Do you have a woodburning stove at home that you’d like to cook on, but have no prior knowledge of how to do it? Do you just want to try cooking like your great-grandparents? Roll up your sleeves and make beef stew, a vegetable side dish, bread, and a cake. Participants will learn the design of the woodstove and how to properly use it. After the meal is prepared, sit down to enjoy the food and ask last minute questions. Make sure to bring containers in which to take home left over goodies! Advance registration required in order to have enough food! No registrations taken the day of the class. All cost of materials included in the cost of class. And, yes, you will get recipes to take home and try!

Sourdough Bread

Description: Ever wonder what makes bread rise? Come and learn the science of leavening while baking a loaf of sourdough bread on a wood burning stove. Create another tasty treat while working by lamplight in an 1875 kitchen. Learn about the history of sourdough and the different uses for it. All recipes and materials for this class are provided, but be sure and bring a container to take home some sourdough starter for your kitchen and be ready to get started baking. Advance registration required in order to have enough food! No registrations taken the day of the class.

1875 Victorian Hats in Miniature

Description: This class meets three times: March 4, March 11, and March 18.

Learn the basics of hat construction by making a small Victorian hat, perhaps for a doll or home décor! Students will construct their hat form from buckram, cover it with the foundation and fancy fabrics, then trim it and line it. Design principles to consider when constructing miniature items will also be discussed. Materials to construct the hat form will be provided. In order for participants to customize their hats, a list of additional supplies to purchase will be handed out during the first class session. Please bring basic sewing supplies - needles, pins, cloth scissors, etc. - to each class.

The Next Level of Blacksmithing: Forge Welding

Description: Designed for adults, this class will “forge ahead” of the basic blacksmithing class to the next level of skills. Begin by learning how to forge chain, and then progress to other techniques for welding metal in a blacksmith shop. Participants must have taken the LHF “Basics of Blacksmithing” class or have similar experience. Cost of class includes all materials. Bring excellent eye protection, bring welding gloves, and wear warm work clothes. Please, no one under 18, for safety reasons. Small class size again guarantees lots of one-on-one instruction!

The Next Level of Blacksmithing: Forge Welding

Description: Designed for adults, this class will “forge ahead” of the basic blacksmithing class to the next level of skills. Begin by learning how to forge chain, and then progress to other techniques for welding metal in a blacksmith shop. Participants must have taken the LHF “Basics of Blacksmithing” class or have similar experience. Cost of class includes all materials. Bring excellent eye protection, bring welding gloves, and wear warm work clothes. Please, no one under 18, for safety reasons. Small class size again guarantees lots of one-on-one instruction!

Making Old Recipes New: Adapting LHF Dinner Food

Description: Have you come to one of the very popular teas or dinners at Living History Farms, and wondered, “How can I do that at home?” Join Living History Farms’ cooks as they step from the lamplight to the electric light and show you how to prepare selected historic recipes in a modern kitchen. Participants will cook meat, vegetables, desert, and, or course, our famous dinner rolls! Afterwards, enjoy your meal with the other participants. Bring along an apron, a container to take home left-overs, and an appetite! Pre-registration a MUST in order to have enough food on hand! No registrations taken the day of the class. All cost of materials included in cost of class.

19th Century Bread Baking

Description: Do you need a refresher course on making bread from scratch? Would you like to try baking in a wood burning stove? If so, try your hand at biscuits, yeast bread and cinnamon rolls in an 1875 kitchen while learning the history of bread making. Afterwards, sit and enjoy your creations. Make sure to bring containers in which to take home leftover food. Advance registration required in order to have enough food! Recipes and all cost of materials included in cost of class.

Historic Soups on a Wood Burning Stove

Description: Join Living History Farm staff for some warm and savory soups, biscuits, and a cup of fresh coffee! Students will learn how to make a classic cock-a-leekie soup along with several other soups, ranging from elegant to everyday comfort, on a wood burning stove at the 1875 Tangen House. At the end, everyone will sit down to a late supper of their culinary projects. Recipes will be provided. Advance registration required in order to have enough food! No registrations taken the day of the class. All cost of materials included in cost of class.

Norwegian Baking on a Wood Burning Stove

Description: Discover how to make Norwegian baked goods as they would have been prepared in the nineteenth century. Instructors will lead class members in baking flätbrod, kringle (not kringla), smørdkake, and traditional rye bread on a wood burning stove, and in the process participants will learn the history of these foods. Of course, participants will get to eat their handiwork at the end of the evening. Make sure to bring containers in which to take home left over treats! Advance registration required in order to have enough food! No registrations taken the day of the class. All recipes and cost of materials included in the cost of class.