Historic Skills Classes

Fall 2024

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 restrictions for each class.
• Classes require a minimum number of participants or a class may be canceled or rescheduled.

Foodways Classes

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

Bacon, Cornbread & Honey Butter 

• Wednesday, September 4, 5:30 p.m. to 7:30 p.m.
• Tangen Home (Meet at Visitor Center)
• $75 per person ($67.50 member)
• Ages 16 and up

Learn a from scratch cornbread recipe to bake in the 1876 Tangen House wood-burning stove. Churn fresh butter while it bakes and whip in some honey for a treat.  To round out the evening, fry up some bacon in a cast iron skillet, to enjoy the best combination of 19^th century sweet and savory tastes.

Apple-Cinnamon Scones & Tea

• Wednesday, September 11, 5:30 p.m. to 7:30 p.m.
• Tangen Home (Meet at Visitor Center)
• $75 per person ($67.50 member)
• Ages 16 and up

Mix, roll out, and bake a traditional tea scone with a fall flavor flair. Pair it with apple butter and a steaming cup of tea for a light evening treat! Please bring an apron, water bottle, & containers or baggies to take home any left – overs.

New! Fall Flavors: Wood Stove Edition

• Sunday, September 15, 12:30 p.m. to 3:30 p.m.
• Tangen Home (Meet at Visitor Center)
• $100 per person ($90 member)
• Ages 16 and up

Enjoy the tastes of fall and expand your knowledge of cooking and baking on the 1870s wood stove.  Students will prepare a savory menu of pork, apples and onions, yeast bread, and a spicy pear dessert.  Fry, bake, knead, and stew in one afternoon of fall goodness.

Apple Cider Doughnuts & Hot Cider

• Wednesday, September 18, 5:30 p.m. to 7:30 p.m.
• Tangen Home (Meet at Visitor Center)
• $75 per person ($67.50 member)
• Ages 16 and up

Victorians loved doughnuts for breakfast, for tea, and for snacks.  Mix and fry this favorite fall treat doughnut on top of the wood stove, roll in cinnamon and sugar, and enjoy with hot spiced cider.

New! Open Fire Cooking: 3 Sisters Stew and Cornbread

• Saturday, September 21, 4 p.m. to 6 p.m.
• 1700 Ioway Farm (Meet at Conference Center)
• $75 per person ($67.50 member)
• Ages 16 and up

Many indigenous cultures in the Midwest built their food culture around the 3 sisters—corn, beans, and squash.  Mix together a hearty 3 sisters stew and cornbread then cook them in cast iron over an open fire at the 1700 era Ioway Farm. Dress for being outside in the fall weather.

Fall Flavors: Hearth Cooking Edition

• Sunday, September 22, 12:30 to 3:30 p.m.
• 1850 Pioneer Farm (Meet at Conference Center)
• $100 per person ($90 member)
• Ages 16 and up

Enjoy the beginning of cooler weather at the 1850 era Pioneer farm, by combining a historic soup and stew seasoning combined with the experience of basic open-hearth cooking.  Participants will use 1850s era recipes to make a hearty fall ham and bean soup, bread, and a dessert.  Dress for being on a farm, and for cooking!  Part of the class will be outside while you tour the farm. 

Apple Sanbakkel Tarts & Hot Cider

• Wednesday, September 25, 5:30 p.m. to 7:30 p.m.
• Tangen Home (Meet at Visitor Center)
• $75 per person ($67.50 member)
• Ages 16 and up

Mix and shape sweet crust for tart pans. Chop and spice fresh apples for this sweet treat.  Whip sweet cream for the top while it bakes in the wood stove.  Enjoy the results with a mug of hot cider.

Hearth Cooking with Kids

• Sunday, September 29, 12:30 p.m. to 3:30 p.m.
• 1850 Pioneer Farm (Meet at Conference Center)
• $75 per person ($67.50 member)
• Youth must be age 7–12 and accompanied by a paying adult.

Explore the Pioneer kitchen, while cooking with your kids!  Learn how heat travels in a hearth, and what pots and pans were available to an Iowa pioneer.  This basic cooking class is designed to get kids and parents/grandparents busy in the Pioneer kitchen together. Prepare from scratch a kid-friendly stew, cornbread, and a sweet treat for dessert.  Along the way, learn about how pioneers in Iowa raised crops and livestock for food for themselves and other Iowans.

Note:  You will be eating around 3:00 p.m., so plan accordingly

New! Taste of Molasses: Cakes & Cookies

• Wednesday, October 2, 5:30 p.m. to 7:30 p.m.
• Tangen Home (Meet at Visitor Center)
• $75 per person ($67.50 member)
• Ages 16 and up

Enjoy baking sweet treats?  Try your hand at wood stove cookies and a cake.  No chocolate chips in these recipes though!  In the 19th century, molasses and ginger spice were more popular than cocoa and vanilla.

NEW! Victorian Mourning Traditions & Superstitions

• Sunday, October 6, 1 p.m. to 3 p.m.
• Tangen Home (Meet at Visitor Center)
• $75 per person ($67.50 member)
• Ages 16 and up

Explore the superstitions and traditions of a Victorian funeral.  The rituals for burying, mourning, and remembering deceased loved ones were complex in 1876. A family with means was expected to dress themselves and the house in black. A funeral required food and even invitations! Mementos of the dead could include photos and even cherished locks of hair. Tour the 1876 era Tangen house and experience the black draping, covered mirrors and stopped clocks of a home funeral.  Bake funeral biscuits on the wood stove and create a horsehair flower to remember your afternoon.

Quick Rolls and Butter

• Wednesday, October 9, 5:30 p.m. to 7:30 p.m.
• Tangen Home (Meet at Visitor Center)
• $75 per person ($67.50 member)
• Ages 16 and up

Cozy up to the wood stove 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 wood stove and churn cream into butter while you wait!

Basics of Cooking & Baking on a Wood Burning Stove

• Sunday, November 3, 12:30 p.m. to 3:30 p.m.
• Tangen Home (Meet at Visitor Center)
• $100 per person ($90 member)
• Ages 16 and up

Do you have a wood burning 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 hearty meat stew, a vegetable side dish, bread, and a cake.  Participants will learn the design of the wood stove and how to properly use it.  After the meal is prepared, sit down to enjoy the food and ask last-minute questions.

Setting a Victorian Holiday Table

• Wednesday, November 6, 5:30 p.m. to 7:30 p.m.
• Flynn Home (Meet at Visitor Center)
• $75 per person ($67.50 member)
• Ages 16 and up

Thanksgiving, Christmas and New Year’s Eve are right around the corner!  The holidays bring out our best china and flatware.  Are you confident about where to put your soup spoon on the table?  Set and decorate the Flynn Mansion dining table for an elegant 19^th century party and discover the multitude of knives and forks involved.  Finish the table by learning a fancy napkin fold.

Wood Stove Cooking with Kids

• Sunday, November 10, 12:30 p.m. to 3:30 p.m.
• Tangen Home (Meet at Visitor Center)
• $75 per person ($67.50 member)
• Youth must be age 7–14 and accompanied by a paying adult.

Explore the Victorian kitchen while instilling a love of cooking in your kids. Learn to read a recipe, measure and mix ingredients, and roll out dough the old-fashioned way! Wash and dry dishes and bring in wood for the wood box. This class is designed to get kids and adults busy in the kitchen with kid-friendly recipes and hands-on tasks.

New! Tea Sandwiches through Time

• Wednesday, November 13, 5:30 p.m. to 7:30 p.m.
• Flynn Home (Meet at Visitor Center)
• $75 per person ($67.50 member)
• Ages 16 and up

Tea sandwiches began as three bite concoctions of delicious snacking joy to tide you over until dinner. Join us in the Flynn historic kitchens and explore how ingredients and tastes for these treats changed over time. We will prepare four different recipes from varying time periods to enjoy informally with a pot of tea.

19th Century Bread Baking

• Saturday, November 16, 12:30 p.m. to 3:30 p.m.
• TangenHome (Meet at Visitor Center)
• $100 per person ($90 member)
• Ages 16 and up

Looking to explore bread baking from scratch?  Would you like to try baking in a wood burning stove?  If so, try your hand at biscuits, muffins, yeast bread and cinnamon rolls in the 1876-era Tangen House kitchen.   Afterwards, sit around the table and enjoy your creations while learning more about the house and the type of family that would have lived there.

New! Turkey Croquettes: A Victorian Leftover Solution

• Wednesday, November 20, 5:30 p.m. to 7:30 p.m.
• Tangen Home (Meet at Visitor Center)
• $75 per person ($67.50 member)
• Ages 16 and up

Dreading a refrigerator full of leftover poultry? Join us in the Tangen kitchen to learn the delights of croquettes, the 19^th century way to make chopped turkey, chicken, pork or beef shine again!  We will mix and fry up balls of chopped turkey mixed with breadcrumbs and other seasonings in a searing hot cast iron pan on the wood stove.  Then taste your treats with fresh cranberry sauce.

Holiday Trifles

• Wednesday, December 11, 5:30 p.m. to 7:30 p.m.
• Tangen Home (Meet at Visitor Center)
• $75 per person ($67.50 member)
• Ages 16 and up

Assemble a classic Christmas dessert in several holiday flavors.  Bake a pound cake from scratch. While it cools, create a fruit filling and a chocolate filling. Combine with freshly whipped cream in individual trifle glasses to take home!

Pepparkakor

• Wednesday, November 18, 5:30 p.m. to 7:30 p.m.
• Tangen Home (Meet at Visitor Center)
• $75 per person ($67.50 member)
• Ages 16 and up

Enjoy the tastes and smells of cardamom, pepper, cinnamon and cloves as you mix and bake this intense Scandinavian style of crisp gingerbread cookie in the 1870s wood stove.

Blacksmithing 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: Refillable water bottle, heavy-duty gloves, eye protection.

Blacksmithing Basics

• Saturday, October 12, 9 a.m. to noon OR Saturday, October 19, 9 a.m. to noon
• Blacksmith (Meet at Visitor Center)
• $125 per person ($112.50 member)
• Ages 18 and up

This class will give someone with little or no metalworking skills 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 will include safety, proper use of tools and equipment (such as an anvil), and beginning techniques for shaping metal.

Blacksmithing with Teens

• Saturday, October 26, 9 a.m. to noon
• Blacksmith (Meet at Visitor Center)
• $100 per person ($90 member)
• Ages 14 and up

A parent/grandparent will work with a teen age 14-17 as they learn historic blacksmithing techniques in a historic setting. Begin by learning about proper safety in a workshop environment. Then everyone will make several small, hands-on projects, such as dinner triangles and S hooks.

Advanced Blacksmithing: Items for the Home

• Saturday, November 2, 9 a.m. to noon
• Blacksmith (Meet at Visitor Center)
• $125 per person ($112.50 member)
• 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: candleholder, napkin ring, hook, paper towel holder, letter opener. You will learn and practice these skills: drawing out metal, making decorative bends, forge welding (if doing rings), and more.

Advanced Blacksmithing: Make a Boot Scraper

• Saturday, November 2, 1-4 p.m.
• Blacksmith (Meet at Visitor Center)
• $125 per person ($112.50 member)
• Ages 18+
• Participants should have taken Blacksmithing Basics or have other previous knowledge of blacksmithing

Just in time for winter! Every 19th-century farmhouse had a boot scraper by the porch to remove mud or snow before entering the house. Even if you don’t have a farm, a boot scraper is a handy item. You will forge a useful boot scraper while learning metalworking skills.

Advanced Blacksmithing: Make a Camp Tripod

• Saturday, November 9, 1-4 p.m.
• Blacksmith (Meet at Visitor Center)
• $125 per person ($112.50 member)
• Ages 18+
• Participants should have taken Blacksmithing Basics or have other previous knowledge of blacksmithing

Get a workout as you learn historic blacksmithing techniques. Forge a large camp tripod that doubles as a rotisserie or decorative plant hanger (online retail $50-$120)! The finished project will stand 4-5 feet tall and is based on a Civil War-era design, great for campers or re-enactors. You’ll learn and practice these skills: drawing out metal, making eye bolts, and advanced forging techniques.

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