Historic Skills Classes

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? Historic Skills Classes let you work in small groups to learn a specific skill or trade that was common in centuries past, like blacksmithing or baking in a wood-burning oven. With a small class size, you are guaranteed individualized instruction and plenty of opportunity to participate.

At a Glance

Important notes

• Registration fees include the cost of supplies.
• Members receive a 10% discount.
• Ages vary. Please check age ranges for each class.
• Classes require a minimum number of participants or they may be canceled or rescheduled.

Foodways Classes

• Please bring these items: apron, water bottle, containers/baggies to take home possible leftovers.
• Cooking classes use historic recipes, so substitutions for food allergies may not be possible.

Hosting Sponsor

Exploring Old Cookbooks

• Saturday, February 28, 9 a.m. to noon
• Murray Conference Center (12234 Douglas Parkway)
• $125 per person ($112.50 member)
• Ages 16 and up

Grandma’s recipes were the best, and that church cookbook knew exactly what you needed! But now and then, vintage and historic recipes need some tweaking for a modern kitchen. Join us for a recipe exchange, a look at how to read decipher old terms and measures, and a chance to cook a few of our favorites in a modern kitchen. Bring a favorite found or inherited recipe on an index card to share!

Modern Cast-Iron Cooking

• Saturday, February 28, 1 p.m. to 3:30 p.m.
• Murray Conference Center (12234 Douglas Parkway)
• $100 per person ($90 member)
• Ages 16 and up

Virtually indestructible, cast-iron cookware was a staple of 19th-century kitchens. The original nonstick pan, a well-maintained cast-iron skillet is one of the most versatile tools in any kitchen. Learn to use your great-grandma’s skillets and kettles on an electric stove in our modern kitchen. Explore different techniques while learning the basics of seasoning, cleaning, and caring for cast-iron pots and pans. Feel free to bring your cast-iron cookware along! Class is taught in a modern kitchen.

Quick Rolls and Butter

• Wednesday, April 15, 5:30 to 7:30 p.m.
• Tangen Home (Meet at Kemin Cultivation Center, 11121 Hickman)
• $75.00 per person ($67.50 member)
• Ages 16 and up

Cozy up to the woodstove in the 1876-era Tangen Home kitchen for an evening of baking, tastes, and smells. Mix and knead a fast-rising yeast roll recipe. Bake your rolls in the wood oven and churn cream into butter while you wait!

Basics of Pioneer Hearth Cooking

• Saturday, April 25, 9 a.m. to 1 p.m.
• 1850 Pioneer Farm (Meet at Murray Conference Center, 12234 Douglas Parkway)
• $175 per person ($157.50 member)
• Ages 16 and up

Learn the basics of hearth cooking, while exploring how new settlers in Iowa produced, prepared, and preserved food. You will use 1850s-era recipes to make your lunch. While your meal is cooking, tour the 1850 Pioneer Farm. After eating your meal and cleaning up, everyone will go home with copies of recipes, and information on how to care for cast-iron cooking utensils. Note: You will eat your meal around 12:30, so plan accordingly.

Winner, Winner, Chicken Dinner!

• Sunday, April 26, 1 to 4 p.m.
• Tangen Home (Meet at Kemin Cultivation Center, 11121 Hickman)
• $140 per person ($126 member)
• Ages 16 and up

Expand your cooking skills with a skillet-fried chicken meal on the wood-burning stove. Learn to control the stovetop temperatures by adding just the right amount of wood for frying—without burning the dessert in the oven. You will brine, bread, and fry chicken on the stovetop and make two veggie side dishes, along with a sweet fruit dessert.

Textiles Classes

Please bring these items:

• Good cloth-cutting scissors
• Thimble(s)
• Bag to take home your project

Introduction to Knitting

• Saturday, February 21, 10 a.m. to noon
• Kemin Cultivation Center, 11121 Hickman
• $56 per person ($50.40 for members)
• Ages 16 and up

Learn to begin a knitting project with casting on, how to do the basic knit and purl stitches, how to increase and decrease stitches, and how to read a knitting pattern. We will begin making a simple dish towel, and you will leave with your own knitting needles, yarn, and several other beginner patterns!

Spinning with a Drop Spindle

• Saturday, February 21, 1 p.m. to 4 p.m.
• Kemin Cultivation Center, 11121 Hickman
• $110 per person ($99 for members)
• Ages 16 and up

Interested in learning to spin wool? A drop spindle is a great place to start! Learn to process wool by cleaning and carding, then begin spinning on a drop spindle. You’ll go home with your own wool carders, drop spindle, and some wool to keep practicing!

Trades Classes

• Dress for weather. Shops are heated with wood-burning stoves.
• Dress for a work environment. Your clothes will probably get dirty!
• Footwear: You must wear closed-toe shoes or boots.
• Bring a refillable water bottle.
• Blacksmith classes only: Bring heavy-duty gloves and eye protection.

Letterpress Printing: Calling Cards

• Wednesday, March 25, 5:30 p.m. to 7:30 p.m.
• Print Shop (Meet at Kemin Cultivation Center, 11121 Hickman)
• $75 per person ($67.50 for members)
• Ages 16 and up

Get up-close and hands-on with the job printing machinery in the 1876 Advocate Newspaper Print Shop! Learn basic hand-setting of moveable type and see if you can proofread backward. Design calling cards with your name and print on 19th-century hand- and foot-powered proof presses.

Blacksmithing Basics

(Choose one session)

• Saturday, March 28, 9 a.m. to noon OR Saturday, April 11, 9 a.m. to noon
• Blacksmith (Meet at Kemin Cultivation Center, 11121 Hickman)
• $125 per person ($112.50 for members)
• Ages 18 and up

Interested in blacksmithing but never tried it? This class is for you! You will get a hands-on, 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, equipment, and beginning techniques for shaping metal. Small class size guarantees lots of one-on-one instruction and lots of time at the forge!

Advanced Blacksmithing: Items for the Home

• Saturday, March 28, 1 p.m. to 4 p.m.
• Blacksmith (Meet at Kemin Cultivation Center, 11121 Hickman)
• $125 per person ($112.50 for members)
• Ages 18 and up
• Participants should have taken Blacksmithing Basics or have other previous knowledge of blacksmithing

You will make at least two of the following decorative projects for the home: candleholder, napkin ring, hook, decorative paper towel holder, letter opener. Participants will learn and practice these skills: drawing out metal, making decorative bends, twists, and more.

Broommaking: Child and Whisk Brooms

• Saturday, April 11, 1 p.m. to 4 p.m.
• Broom Shop (Meet at Kemin Cultivation Center, 11121 Hickman)
• $140 per person ($126 member)
• Ages 18 and up

Get swept up in our broommaking class! Use 19th-century broommaking equipment to craft a small round cake tester on the foot-powered binding machines. Then apply those techniques to make a child broom and a whisk broom.

The Historic Skills Classes program is funded in part by the Silos & Smokestacks National Heritage Area.