CURRENT HOURS: Programs by reservation November-April
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.
| FOODWAYS | TEXTILES | TRADES |
Date | Time | Class | Location | |
| Sat Jan 24 | 9-11a.m. | Doughnuts and Coffee | Tangen Home | |
| Sat Jan 24 | 12:30-3:30 p.m. | 19th Century Bread Baking | Tangen Home | |
| Sat Jan 31 | 9-11a.m. | Sausage, Biscuits, and Gravy | Tangen Home | |
| Sat Jan 31 | 12:30-3:30 p.m. | Soups & Sides on a Wood Burning Stove | Tangen Home | |
| Sat Feb 7 | 10 a.m.-noon | Introduction to Embroidery | Conference Center | |
| Sat Feb 7 | 1-4 p.m. | Introduction to Crochet | Conference Center | |
| Sat Feb 21 | 10 a.m.-noon | Introduction to Knitting | Conference Center | |
| Sat Feb 21 | 1-4 p.m. | Spinning with a Drop Spindle | Conference Center | |
| Sat Feb 28 | 9 a.m.-noon | Exploring Old Cookbooks | Conference Center | |
| Sat Feb 28 | 1-3:30 p.m. | Modern Cast-Iron Cooking | Conference Center | |
| Wed Mar 25 | 5:30-7:30 p.m. | Letterpress Printing: Calling Cards | Print Shop | |
| Sat Mar 28 | 9a.m.-noon | Blacksmithing Basics | Blacksmith | |
| Sat Mar 28 | 1-4 p.m. | Advanced Blacksmithing: Items for the Home | Blacksmith | |
| Sat Apr 11 | 9 a.m.-noon | Blacksmithing Basics | Blacksmith | |
| Sat Apr 11 | 1-4 p.m. | Broommaking: Child & Whisk Brooms | Broomshop | |
| Sat Apr 15 | 5:30-7:30 p.m. | Quick Rolls and Butter | Tangen Home | |
| Sat Apr 25 | 9 a.m.-1 p.m. | Basics of Pioneer Hearth Cooking | Pioneer Farm | |
| Sun Apr 26 | 1-4 p.m. | Winner, Winner, Chicken Dinner! | Tangen Home |
Victorians loved doughnuts for breakfast, for tea, and for snacks. Mix and fry a few of our favorite spiced doughnut recipes on top of the woodstove, then roll in cinnamon and sugar, and enjoy with freshly brewed coffee.
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Would you like to bake bread from scratch in a wood-burning stove? Try your hand at biscuits, muffins, yeast bread, and cinnamon rolls in the 1876-era Tangen Home kitchen. Then sit around the table and enjoy your creations while learning more about the house and the type of family that would have lived there.
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In 19th century Iowa, people often needed a hearty breakfast to start the day. Share in the tradition by joining staff at the 1876 Tangen House to mix and bake a fluffy baking powder biscuit in the woodstove. Then stir up a milk-and-sausage gravy in a cast iron skillet to go over the top. Scrambled eggs on the side and a pot of coffee round out the morning’s cooking.
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Cold weather demands comforting food, even in the 19th century! Discover the magic combination of hot soup and fresh breads at the 1876 Tangen House. Class will make three soups with differing consistencies—exploring soaking dried beans and peas, root vegetables pureed for creamy textures, and lively broths. Then, accompany the soup with dumplings cooked in the boiling pot and a quick baked biscuit.
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Sometimes Grandma’s recipes were the best! Other times that Church Cookbook knew exactly what was needed. But now and then, those vintage and historic recipes need some tweaking before they can be used in a modern kitchen. Join LHF staff 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!
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Virtually indestructible, cast-iron cookware was a staple of 19th century kitchens. The original non-stick pan, a well-cared for 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 cooking 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 will be taught in a MODERN kitchen.
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Cozy up to the woodstove in the 1876 era Tangen House kitchen for an evening of baking tastes and smells. Mix and knead a fast-rising yeast roll recipe. Bake your rolls in the woodstove and churn cream into butter while you wait!
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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 their meal and cleaning up, everyone will go home with copies of recipes, and information on how to care for their cast iron cooking utensils. Note: You will be eating your meal around 12:30, so plan accordingly.
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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—at the 1900 Farmhouse. You will brine, bread, and fry chicken on the stovetop and make two veggie side dishes, along with a sweet fruit dessert.
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Please bring these items:
Hand sewn embroidery has returned in popularity. Learn the basic decorative stitches commonly used including running stitches, lazy daisy, satin stitch, French knots and others. Materials for a simple beginning project will be provided.
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This class will teach you several crochet stitches, how to select the correct crochet hook and yarn for projects, how to read a crochet pattern, how to switch colors in a pattern, and learn how to make Granny Squares! Leave with a crochet hook, some yarn to continue practicing, and several patterns!
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This class will teach you how to begin a knitting project with casting on, show 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, some yarn, and several other beginner patterns!
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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!
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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.
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(Choose one session)
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!
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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.
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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. You are guaranteed to be a sweeping success!
| Purchase |
The Historic Skills Classes program is funded in part by the Silos & Smokestacks National Heritage Area.
11121 HICKMAN, URBANDALE • 515-278-5286
— THANK YOU TO OUR 2025 PREMIER PARTNERS —
Mary and Dale Andringa
Bayer Crop Science
BRAVO Greater Des Moines
Cole-Belin Education Foundation
Coons Foundation
Corteva Agriscience
Iowa Economic Development Authority
Iowa Machine Shed
John Deere
Kemin Industries
MidAmerican Energy Company
Nelson Foundation
R.W. and Mary Nelson
Prairie Meadows
Todd and Connie Rueter
Charles and Kathy Safris
Stephen Smith
Sukup Manufacturing Co.
City of Urbandale
