CURRENT HOURS: Open for classes & special events only • Touring season resumes in May 2022
Want to know more about something you saw at Living History Farms, interested in learning a new skill, or just want to have fun with friends and family? Sign up for one of our Historic Skills Classes!
You will work in small groups to learn a specific skill or trade that was common in the 19th century, from baking to blacksmithing. With a small class size, you are guaranteed individualized instruction and plenty of opportunity to participate.
Tickets go on sale October 19.
DATE | TIME | CLASS | LOCATION |
| Saturday, Nov. 20 | 12:30–3:30 p.m. | 19th-Century Bread Baking SOLD OUT | Tangen Home |
| Sunday, Nov. 21 | 12:30–3:30 p.m. | Wood Stove Cooking with Kids | Tangen Home |
| Sunday Nov. 28 | 1–3 p.m. | Baking Cookies with Kids on a Wood Stove | Tangen Home |
Do you “knead” 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 1876-era farm kitchen while learning the history of bread making. Afterward, sit around the table and enjoy your creations while learning about the house and the type of family that would have lived there.
Explore the Victorian kitchen while instilling a love of cooking in your kids! Learn how to read a recipe, measure and mix ingredients, and roll out dough the old-fashioned away! This basic wood stove cooking class is designed to get kids and adults busy in the kitchen together. Prepare a kid-friendly chicken dish, macaroni and cheese, biscuits, and a sweet treat for dessert—all from scratch. Then sit down and enjoy your creations. And yes, you get recipes to take home and try! Note: You will eat around 2:45/3 p.m., so plan accordingly.
What is better than the smell of fresh cookies from the oven? Making them with your child! In this class, adult and child will work together to make a variety of cookies using recipes from the 19th century. After mixing the dough, bake cookies in a wood burning oven. Then, when they come out of the oven, everyone gets to taste. And yes, you will get recipes to take home and try!
Ticket go on sale August 23 for members, August 30 for non-members.
DATE | TIME | CLASS | LOCATION |
| Sunday, Sept. 19 | 1– 4 p.m. | Blacksmithing Basics | Blacksmith Shop |
| Sunday, Sept. 26 | 1– 4 p.m. | Blacksmithing with Teens | Blacksmith Shop |
| Sunday, Oct. 17 | 1– 4 p.m. | Blacksmithing Basics | Blacksmith Shop |
| Sunday, Oct. 24 | Noon– 4 p.m. | Blacksmithing: Make a Camp Tripod | Blacksmith Shop |
| Sunday, Oct. 31 | 1– 4 p.m. | Blacksmithing Basics | Blacksmith Shop |
| Sunday, Nov. 7 | 1– 4 p.m. | Blacksmithing: Items for the Home | Blacksmith Shop |
| Sunday, Nov. 14 | 1– 4 p.m. | Blacksmithing: Make a Boot Scraper | Blacksmith Shop |
This hands-on class will give someone with little or no metalworking skills a fun “be a blacksmith for a day” experience. Explore the basics of forge work in a blacksmith shop while making a decorative iron project to take home. Topics include safety, tools and equipment, and beginning techniques for shaping metal. Small class size guarantees lots of one-on-one instruction and lots of time at the forge! Dress for working in a shop with a dirt floor, and for the weather—shop is heated by a wood-burning stove.
This hands-on class will allow a parent/grandparent to work with a teen as they learn blacksmithing techniques in a historic setting. Everyone will make several small projects, such as dinner triangles and hooks. Begin by learning about proper safety in a workshop environment. Dress for working in a shop with a dirt floor, and for the weather—shop is heated by a wood-burning stove.
Students will get a good workout as they learn historic blacksmithing techniques. Participants will forge a large camp tripod that doubles as a rotisserie or decorative outdoor plant hanger. (Retail value over $65!) The finished project will stand between 5 and 6 feet tall and is based on a Civil War-era design, great camping or re-enacting. Students will learn these skills: drawing out metal, making eye bolts, and advanced forging. Small class size guarantees lots of one-on-one instruction and lots of time at the forge! Dress for working in a shop with a dirt floor, and for the weather—shop is heated by a wood-burning stove.
Just in time for the holidays—making items that you can give as gifts! You will make at least two of the following decorative projects for the home: candleholders, napkin rings, hooks, paper towel holder, or letter opener, or suggest a project when you register. Helpful if you have taken a blacksmithing basics course. Small class size guarantees lots of one-on-one instruction and lots of time at the forge! Dress for working in a shop with a dirt floor, and for the weather—shop is heated by a wood-burning stove.
Just in time for winter! Every 19th-century farmhouse had a boot scraper next to the porch to remove mud or snow. Even if you don’t have a farm, a boot scraper is a handy item by the door. You will forge a useful boot scraper while learning metalworking skills in our 1870s blacksmith shop. Helpful if you have taken a blacksmithing basics course. Small class size guarantees lots of one-on-one instruction and lots of time at the forge! Dress for working in a shop with a dirt floor, and for the weather—shop is heated by a wood-burning stove.
Living History Farms, 11121 Hickman Road, Urbandale, IA 50322, (515) 278-5286
THANK YOU TO OUR 2022 PREMIER PARTNERS:
National Endowment for the Humanities | Bravo Greater Des Moines
John Deere | Iowa Department of Cultural Affairs
