Join us for a hands-on weekend of deer hide tanning using all-natural methods.

On Saturday, participants will scrape and prepare the hides. The second day will be devoted to stretching and drying the hides, and then tanning them using a deer brain and possibly an alternative method.

Using a solution of brain and water to tan deerskin is a traditional, all-natural method. Though labor intensive, the result is an extremely soft and absorbent hide.

Come prepared to work inside and outside. Hides and tools are provided. As space is limited, advance registration is required. Fee: $95 per person/$80 members.

About Steve Cayard: Steve says of himself, “I have roamed the woods for many years, starting in the hills of West Virginia where I grew up. It was there that my German mother and grandmother taught me to love nature, and there that my Texan father taught me to work with my hands.

I first moved to Maine in 1973, where the woods still felt like home, just a little further up the Appalachian chain. I roamed a while longer, until I met and married fellow West Virginian Angela Derosa, and together we settled on a backwoods homestead in Wellington, Maine in 1987.”